WOMENS SPORT, DEVELOPMENT, AND CULTURAL-DIVERSITY - THE SOUTH-AFRICANEXPERIENCE

In July 1995, the Rugby World Cup was won by South Africa and Nelson M andela appropriated the Springbok emblem in an effort to unite the nat ion. At around the same time, Ali Bacher secured an 8 million rand spo nsorship deal for boys' cricket in Soweto, and development programmes for township football were evolving. These events are conspicuous symb ols of the massive gender equalities in the sporting structures of the country and the strong association between sport and masculinity. In spite of the restructuring of sport in the new South Africa, there are no equivalent resources or efforts being put into female sports. In l arge part, this is because gender has tended to be treated as less imp ortant than race and ethnicity as a factor that effects equality, and because little attention is paid to the ways in which gender articulat es with race and ethnicity. This paper will address the specific diffi culties facing the development of women's sports in South Africa: it w ill look at the hidden history of women's sports during Apartheid; the effects of the legacy of apartheid; and the complexities affecting wo men will be considered. The particular relationship between gender and race is central to the analysis,but other factors, such as economics, politics, class, and religion interrelate in ways that illustrate tha t problems of sports participations are very different for different g roups of women. Cultural diversity is therefore a key idea. Because ve ry little has been written about women's sports in South Africa, the p aper is heavily dependent on original material gathered during a 4-wee k trip to the country during June/July 1995. Observation methods were used, interviews carried out, and documentary evidence examined. Altho ugh most women that were interviewed lack direct power, their energy, enthusiasm, and determination confirms the idea that recognizing human agency is vital in understanding women's sport in South Africa, and t hat gender relations of power are unequal but shifting. (C) 1997 Elsev ier Science Ltd.