On Women's Liberation In Chinese Competitive Sport

Women's liberation movement opened the gate for women to enter society and initiated a new journey for women to look for themselves and know themselves.Chinese women's liberation movement took the lead in introducing women to the arena of competitive sports,which provided an important field for women to further liberate their minds and bodies.Due to the protection of national policies,the women in the sports filed have more advantages than those in other fields,and they were in the frontline of Chinese women's liberation.Chinese women in sports field have created countless glorious achievements and remarkable sports magnificent feats with the attitude of “being excellent as men”.They not only hold up more than half of the sky in competitive sports by excelling Chinese men,but also rank a top level in the worldwide women's sports with “Chinese posture”,establishing a brand new image of Chinese women in the new age.While we are delighted about breaking out the traditional thought of “women are inferior to men” and joyful about the opportunities of participating in sports competitions and obtaining treatment as men do,cruel realities keep alerting us: in-depth social problems such as gender inequality and discrimination against women are hiding under the veil of “liberation and equality”.The methods of document literature,comparative analysis,questionnaire,scaling,content analysis,interviewing and mathematical statistics are used in the dissertation.Male and female athletes of various sports events,coaches and sport managers from six provinces,as well as audiences and female college students are the respondents for the dissertation to research the following contents:(1)global background for women's liberation and emergence of female sports;(2)the connotation of women's liberation in the field of competitive sports and the theoretical foundation for the research(gender role theory,empowerment theory,social mobility theory and body theory);(3)history of women's liberation in competitive sports(from the establishment of new China);(4)investigation on different groups based on six questionnaires,revised“Attitudes toward Women Scale”,“Female Athletes' Body Perception Scale” and“Women's Leadership in Competitive Sports Scale ”,as well as interview with female athletes are used to analyze the current situations of women's liberation in competitive sports based on data analysis results(quantitative and qualitative);(5)analysis on the problems and dilemma facing the women's “liberation” in competitive sports during history and current situations based on different theoretical dimensions to perform a“paradoxical” deconstruction;(6)combination of subjective and objective elements to reconstruct women's liberation path in competitive sports.The following conclusions are made after research and analysis:(1)Women's liberation and women's competitive sports development are interactive.Both of them are historical courses and they have different features at different stages.In addition,women's liberation in competitive sports is a subsystem of the overall background of women's liberation with both the common features of women's liberation and its own uniqueness.It is a comprehensive process combining the impacts of common features and individual factors.(2)The fundamental content and objective of women's liberation is the equalityof men and women.There are three levels in women's liberation in competitive sport:Level 1,equal rights between men and women,that is to say men and women have equal opportunities of participating in sports,equal status,treatment,resources and conditions;Level 2,equal power between men and women,that is to say,ensure women's rights to participate in politics;Level 3,equal in consequence between men and women.Differences of sexes and social culture between two genders must be respected to realize differentiate equality.Women's equal rights must be guaranteed to perform diversified,independent choices.Due rights and interests of women must be protected so as to promote their comprehensive and free development,as well as the harmonious development between two genders.The analysis shall be performed on the basis of gender role theory,empowerment theory,social mobility theory and body theory as its theoretical foundation.(3)In accordance with Chinese history(from the establishment of new China),the liberation of Chinese women promoted women's participation in competitive sports,while the participation also promoted the further liberation of women in the meantime.Women gained physical and mental liberation,realized their values,obtained social recognition and supports,achieved diversified development after retirement by participating in competitive sports.(4)According to the investigation of questionnaires and scales as well as the analysis of interviews,present women in competitive sports have also realized certain liberation in terms of self-value,gender advantages,physical empowerment,social empowerment,social recognition,upward social mobility and media publicity.(5)No matter in the past or at present,competitive sports provide the platform and paths for women to emancipate,display and develop themselves,expressing its“potential of assisting women's liberation”.However,the equal right of participating in sport is just a symbol of progress,and only the realization of the first level of women's liberation because in the course of promoting further gender equality,there are still numerous obstacles and problems.Based on the theoretical framework,it was pointed out sportswomen encounter the facts as: male gender assimilation,de-gendering political instruments and gender role conflict confusions;unequal situations are existing underneath female empowerment;silence of women in high levels,insufficiency of women's subject consciousness;dilemma caused by body discipline and body alienation of female athletes;confusions of regular physical trainings and physical dissimilation.All of these are practical issues in the course of liberation that make the liberation of the women in competitive sports have to be“paradoxically” deconstructed.(6)The liberation of the women in the field of competitive sports is a progressive process which is involved with effective measurements to further levels.Therefore,gender differences and women's choices should be respected,women's advantages should be exerted,by proposing such countermeasures as the subject consciousness of women,empowerment,protection of women's rights and harmonious development between two genders to reconstruct women's liberation path in competitive sports.