MASCULINE HEGEMONY, THE STATE AND THE INCORPORATION OF GENDER EQUITY DISCOURSE - THE CASE OF AUSTRALIAN SPORT

Although the impact of affirmative action, equal opportunity and gende r equity programs on the lives of Australian women have been explored in a number of areas, state interventions related to sport have receiv ed scant attention from public policy analysts. This paper examines ho w the Australian Sports Commission has framed its gender equity policy in the mutually reinforcing hegemonic discourses of masculinity and c orporate managerialism. It is argued that the Commission's articulatio n of gender equity policy in terms of 'market-oriented individualism' is both constituted by, and constitutive of, the shift from a 'patriar chal-welfare state' to a 'patriarchal-managerial state' in Australia. The paper also provides an example of the tensions between bureaucrati c and feminist discourses in the state sphere.