Are Women in Sports Still Being Marginalised?

Extra Salty

Amrita Ghosh and Bhakti Shringarpure evaluate a year's worth of sports scandals impacting women athletes in India and ask if women in sports matter at all. Women the world over cope with being marginalised in a lucrative sports industry designed for men. In India, it is much worse with issues such as poor coaching and sports facilities, zero or negative media coverage, and offensive gender scrutiny are pervasive. Meanwhile patriotic films glorifying women athletes are very popular, pointing to the fact that sportswomen are hyped as symbols but not treated well in real life. Journalist, film critic and runner Sohini Chattopadhyay joins the conversation. She speaks about the challenges of pursuing running in urban India, a story that turned into the book The Day I Became a Runner: A Women's History of India through the Lens of Sport. She also weighs in on the recent debacles with the wrestling federation and offers an urgent solution for the sports industry.