Olympic canoes - no place for a woman?

'All I am asking is that LOCOG answer two simple questions: Is it discriminatory for there to be five men's Olympic canoe events but none for women? Should that situation continue?' So Samantha Rippington announced the institution of her High Court action for judicial review against the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), adding that LOCOG was in breach of the Equalities Act 2010 (UK) through differential treatment of women and men's sport at Olympics level.

Samantha Rippington went on to observe that, being a canoeist 'who could potentially compete at the Olympics', she had her own answers, 'but why won't the people who are responsible for staging these Olympics give us their answers, too?'

'The people' of whom this world champion sportswoman spoke resisted her claim, asserting they had no obligation to respond because the Equalities Act 'has no jurisdiction over them' and, anyway, LOCOG has no control over what sports, played by whom, are included in the Olympics calendar. Furthermore, not only was the London Olympics programme long since settled, 'what sports and by whom' is already well on the way to being determined for Rio's 2016 Olympics. Although one year remains for final decisions to be made, critics assert that women's canoeing (not 'kayaking') is not a sport that should exercise the Rio decision-makers' time.

So, who are these people?

In 2012, an observer might be excused for thinking the line-up is a bizarre joke, published on the internet to provoke an outcry. However, that is not so: the listing of members is set out in all seriousness. Chair and deputy chair are Sebastian Coe and Keith Mills, both previously members of the London Bid Committee. All but one of the additional sixteen board members is male. The sole exception is Anne Windsor. There is certainly room for Equalities Act action here, a prospect which follows in relation to sporting organisations generally.

Australia's Women on Boards (WOB) makes the point. Albeit Australia's Olympics team 'will bring home 35 medals from London … more than half (20) won by our female athletes – three gold, nine silver and eight bronze … none of the National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) governing [the] sports [in which these medals were principally won] has more than 25 per cent female directors'.

'Canoeing' is listed by WOB as one of the sports featuring in the women's Olympic medal tally and governed by fewer than 25 per cent female directors. Yet this term, now used generically to cover canoeing and kayaking, does not resolve the claim at the heart of Samantha Rippington's court action.

Kayaking and canoeing are not the same. As participants and observers well know, canoeing and kayaking differ in the type of paddles used and, generally, in the sitting position of kayaker and canoeist. As even a casual eye on the Olympic calendar instantly confirms, the Olympic programme makes clear the exclusion of women from the sport of canoeing:

'The programme for London 2012 will consist of 12 events, eight for men and four for women. The 200m events will be an Olympic feature in London for the first time in the Women's and Men's K1 and the Men's Cl. Women will race over 500m in the K1, K2 and K4 and Men will race over 1000m in the K1, K2, K4 and C1 and C2.'

'K' followed by a number represents a kayaking event, K1 denoting that one kayaker is involved. 'C' followed by a number represents a canoeing event, C1 denoting the involvement of one canoeist.

Samantha Rippington is pursuing no willow-the-wisp in her bid for a place in a canoe at future Olympics.

Nevertheless, she has her critics. There is, reports Canada's Royal Canoe Club, 'mounting concern' within canoeing circles 'about the damage [the action] may inflict on perceptions of canoeing'. Whether this means that the critics believe canoeing is 'masculine' and women's entry will 'spoil' this vision, or a growing awareness that women are not only competent but champions in the sport will undercut its illusion of (sole) masculine prowess is not clear. Does the prospect of a woman in a canoe – rather than or in addition to a kayak – mean that the intrepid vision of 'man against the elements' portrayed in canoeing events as they currently stand will fall by the wayside? Is this just one more male bastion under threat of feminisation?

Other sports have clung to the notion that women have no place in the ranks, that women 'can't do it' (whatever 'it' may be), and even that men will 'move out' if women enter the particular sporting arena. The struggle by women to enter soccer and boxing exemplifies this approach. Women did not have sufficient agility, it was said, so simply could not play soccer 'properly'. Or they – along with women 'attempting' boxing - would suffer dire and irreparable bodily damage. Women, the argument appeared to be, should be protected from themselves or ought to use their legs and feet for activities more 'suited' to the female form.

Samantha Rippington's critics also protest that there is 'insufficient depth' in women's canoeing, whether slalom or sprint:

'The disciplines have tiny numbers of female competitors and both would require an unbelievable rate of growth to get to a point where they could justifiably be included in the Olympics programme.'

Furthermore, the High Court action may jeopardise canoeing as an Olympic sport, for despite the 'thrills and spills' of slalom – generating pronounced media-coverage and a high-profile for the sport and competitors – 'does not attract remotely the number of countries taking part' in other sports, such as athletics. As sports are now facing increasing pressure to justify their continued status in Olympic competition, critics are concerned that the publicity generated round Samantha Rippington will lead to canoeing events being excluded altogether.

There is, of course, a contradiction in the contention that additional publicity for the sport and attention being directed to more competitors – were women included – rather than fewer, so as to add to the profile of the sport, would some how lead to the sports' being excluded from the Games. Those genuinely concerned to ensure that canoeing (along with kayaking) remains a part of the Olympic calendar – rather than seeking to keep women out of Olympic contention – would surely welcome Samantha Rippington and her cohort, seeing more canoeists added to the competition. Sadly, those in opposition seem only to see 'women-in-canoes' as a threat, writ large.

In response to the critics, Samantha Rippington says Olympic status is essential to raising interest in the sport – for women and men – and will assist in the expansion of numbers taking it up and excelling to the point of Olympic competition. And as WinnipegFree Press acknowledges, if the sport were already included in the Olympic programme 'numerous Canadian athletes would be winning medals in London'.

Samantha Rippington is not alone in her call for the Olympic Games to live up to its purported principle of universalism in recognising excellence in sporting ability, with 'universal' defined to include women as equal participants in competition. Australia's Women on Boards (WOB) has a tripartite approach to the problem. Calling for 'post Olympic renewal, WOB is 'keeping the pressure up' to increase the number of women in leadership roles in Australian sport by:

• Tracking the number of women on sports boards;
• Assisting federal government portfolios to develop their Board Target Gender Balance Plans to achieve a minimum of 40 per cent women (and men) on all boards and committees by 2015 – a year ahead of the Rio Olympics;
• Writing to Minister for Sport Kate Lundy to recommend a 'more direct approach to improving numbers' on national sporting organisations' boards, 'given there has been little progress in the period 2010-2012'.

Additionally, Ruth Medd, director of Women on Boards, is participating in the inaugural Asia Pacific World Sport and Women (APWSW) conference seeking 'practical solutions to increase women's involvement in the business of sport'. Prophetically, given the response to Samantha Rippington's claim, the conference is entitled 'Activating the Future of Sport – Money, Members, Media, Marketing & Men'.

As Samantha Rippington has said:

'Not being an Olympic sport means lower levels of funding, support and training opportunities than the men, which makes progression, both individually and in terms of the sport itself, very difficult.'

Ironically, given that legal action to redress the balance in canoeing has had to be launched for notice to be taken, the most successful Olympic canoeist/kayaker in the history of the Games is Birgit Fischer, whose Olympic career spanned almost 25 years. As Canada's Royal Canoe Club notes, Birgit Fischer, German champion, reigned from 1980 to 2004, being 'both once the youngest- (aged 18) and the oldest-ever (aged 42) Olympic Canoe Champion winning eight gold and four silver medals, along with 28 World Championship golds, six silver and four bronze'.

Calls for a true commitment to and realisation of universalism are ongoing. On 12 August 2012 the Ligue du Droit International des Femmes and Coordination Francaise pour le Lobby Europeen des Femmes issued a 'List of Seven Demands' under the title 'London 2012: Justice for Women'. Before delivering the list to members of the Olympic Movement, the group staged a 'nautical burial ceremony' of the Olympic Charter, 'chucking it in the river Thames, because of its betrayal by the IOC'.

The coalition's demands include:

• Parity in all sports and Olympic events;
• Parity in the decision-making bodies beginning with the immediate application of at least 20 per cent women as determined by the IOC in 1996;
• Same recognition to women as to men champions (beginning by the conferring of the Gold Medal on the female winner of the Marathon by the President of the IOC as well as to the male winner);
• Exclusion of all male-only delegations and of countries forbidding women to freely play sport;
• Exclusion of all delegations wearing political and/or religious symbols;
• No more IOC support of the International segregated games for women organised by Teheran;
• Combatting gender stereotypes and violence.

Finally, says the communiqué, Justice for Women 'will be vigilant with regard to the election of the new IOC President to be elected in September 2013'.

Some may suggest exclusion of women from Olympic sports denoted 'for men only' is not discrimination or sexism, but simply a failure of the IOC to 'get around' to addressing the question. Yet this both avoids the reality that 'not getting around to' is itself an indicator of abject sexism and discrimination, and ignores the aeons of struggle by women to gain even a modicum of social, economic, cultural or political 'equality', including in sport, recreation and leisure. In any event, Samantha Rippington's court action is hardly her (or women canoeists) first step seeking change. How long are women to tolerate 'not getting around to' as an answer? Fortunately, some women, at least, refuse to accept such a risible contention as an excuse.

When, in the 1860s, Sophia Jex Blake and six other women sought the right to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, they were told that as they were 'not persons' they had no right to be there at all, much less to study in the male medical realm. The English House of Lords said that as 'no woman had ever applied' previously, it was 'obvious' that no woman was supposed to be a university student. Yet the more obvious stumbling block was that if no woman was allowed to enter university, then there was no point in making application. Fortunately, women ignored the House of Lords.

Undeterred, women continued making application to university and for entry into trades and professions from which women were barred – not by men 'not getting around to it, yet', but by man-made rules either explicitly banning women, or interpreted by all-male judges as meaning 'person' denoted men-only. Every step of the way, every change has taken women such as Samantha Rippington standing up and speaking out, resisting the admonishment to stay still, lie down, and be silent. Fortunately for all women – not only canoeists, sportswomen, champions and prospective Olympians – Samantha Rippington is demanding a place, her place – and the place of her fellow canoeists – in the Olympic canoe. When she takes her first gold, let's hope that men, as well as women, have cheered her on.