BSA Virtual Annual Conference 2022: Building Equality and Justice Now, 'Sports Diplomacy and Gender Politics in the Tokyo Olympics’
British Sociological Association Virtual Annual Conference 2022: Building Equality and Justice Now
Stream: Social Divisions / Social Identities
20 April 2022, 11:45 to 13:00
'Sports Diplomacy and Gender Politics in the Tokyo Olympics’
Tomoko Tamari
Abstract
The paper explores how representations of woman became a contested field in the institutionalized gender inequality and male-dominated politics. Focusing on sports diplomacy in the context of the 1964 and 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the paper examines how socio-politically constructed gender discourse helped to promote ‘soft-power.’ According to the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF), Japan ranks 121st out of 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap index, which is the largest gender gap among advanced economic countries. This makes us recall the resignation of the head of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, due to his sexist comment on women that thrust the current Japanese gender inequality situation not only into the local, but global public debate. As a consequence, the former female Olympian, Seiko Hashimoto became the president. In this context, she can be seen as a representative symbol of soft-power, an attempt to diplomatically promote the image of Japan as a gender-equal society.
Analysing representations of the ‘Oriental Witches’, the world champion Japanese female volleyball team in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the paper also scrutinizes the politically constructed ‘paradoxical’ gender discourse for the athletes. Comparing the two cases, the paper demonstrates the continuities in the (un)changing gender discourse and shows how the power of male-dominated and sexualized female discourse can oppressively objectify women.
Drawing on Butler’s notion of ‘gender performativity’ and ‘the idea of performative agency’ (McNay), the paper explores the formation process of gender discourse, by analyses instabilities of gender norms along with the reformation of identities and possibilities of agency.