Ch. 16; Minority Women of
Color: Unpacking Racial
Ideology
By Doris Corbett
Notes from Women in Sport, Greta
Cohen, Ed.
Melting Pot Premise Challenged
• Combat stereotypes: need working
knowledge of what they are first (“Hispanic,
Latino, Asian”)
• Demographic changes: multiple
unconnected neighborhoods: how is power
shared? How will immigrants fit into sport?
• Significant segment of White Americans
has fear of unknown, strangers, immigrants
White as a Racial Identity:
Implications for Women of Color
• Whites frequently unaware of the fact that
the White perspective is not the only one
• Tunnel vision fails to see non-White reality
• “Failure to identify “Whiteness” permits
White people to discount how races shapes
their lives and how racial privileges are
amassed” (Hyde, 1995, p.88)
Unpacking the Social
Construction of Racial Ideology
• Some Definitions:
• Ideology: rationalized and helps organize
particular social interests. Racist and Sexist
ideologies provide a vocabulary about race,
cultural and gender differences, and an idea
about what is normal
Culture Defined
• A collective name for all behavior patterns
that are socially obtained and socially
conveyed. Culture is transmitted in a
variety of ways including tradition,
language, and customs. Culture consists of
the way life is created by people in a
particular society.
Ethnicity
• The concept of ethnicity evolved as did the
concept of race. Immigrants were defined as
ethnic until they were acculturated into the
American society.
• Ethnicity focuses on culturally based
orientations and behaviors. It refers to the
cultural heritage of a particular group and is
not based on genetically determined physical
traits.
Minority Group
• The term minority group is a sociological
term used to refer to a socially identified
collection of people who experience
discrimination and endure social
disadvantages because of discrimination.
White Privilege
• White privilege applies to hidden rights
and advantages that are afforded White
people on the basis of skin color.
• These privileges reinforce and maintain
the construction of this country that
suggest White is normal and people of
color are outsiders
Stereotypes
• May be a characteristic of a group that is
applied to one person who is a member of
that group. Typically there is an element of
truth in many stereotypes, but applying that
trait to all members of that group is
erroneous.
• Often advanced by both the media and pop
culture and are not easy to overcome
Institutional Racism
• Systematic patterns of social inequality correlating
with race and ethnicity.
• Racial discrimination usually occurs when race is
used to determine access to status, power, rewards
and privileges.
• Behavior is discriminatory when institutional
practices, social conduct, codes of behavior, and
legal sanctions have an unequal impact, which
limit opportunities for people of color
U.S. Patterns of Racial
Discrimination
• In the U.S. racial discrimination usually
applies to African Americans, Puerto
Ricans, Chinese American, and Mexican
Americans.
• Racial discrimination occurs when people
of color experience subordination by people
who consider themselves superior.
Contemporary Racist Examples
• John Carlos and Tommy Smith were evicted
from the 1968 Mexico Olympic village for
their victory stand demonstration.
• They were protesting racism in sport and
American society.
The Williams Sisters
• The media has not embraced the cultural
difference tennis stars Venus and Serena
Williams bring to the sport.
• The media, reflecting the values of the
dominant society, has difficulty accepting
Black women in sport who value their
diversity.
Racism and Sport
• Racism in sport toward women of color
may be either formal or informal.
• Formal: rules, codes, laws of an
organization, or society that sanction
discrimination
• Informal racism refers to discriminatory
practices that are not officially sanctioned.
Historical Forms of Racism
• No longer accepted: slavery, Jim Crow
Laws, The Indian Removal Act, The
Japanese Internment during WWII, and the
Chinese Exclusion Act
• Racism has left its mark at the institutional
and organizational levels of sport.
Membership in Private Clubs
• In 1993 the Annandale Golf Club of Pasadena, CA
withdrew it’s name from the bid to host the U.S.
Women’s Amateur golf tournament.
• Minority athletes often get channeled into
stereotypically prescribed sports. For example,
Black girls and track and basketball.
Invisible Women of Color
• For many brown women of color, the word
beauty often translates into tall, thin, and
White. Impossible.
• Stereotypes don’t fit
• Knowledge
Hierarchies are Interlocking
• White women and men enjoy skin
privileges and have been conditioned to be
unaware of its existence (McIntosh, 1992)
• Whites, both men and women, are not
taught to recognize White privilege.
• Discrimination hurts people of color and
advantages White women and men.
Dailey Experiences of People of
Color
• No one listens to her, but everyone take notice
when a White female coach or athlete makes a
comment.
• Women of color speak with the understanding that
they will often not be listened to. Their motives
will be challenged.
• Their comments will not be taken seriously.
• Their judgment and trustworthiness are
questioned.
•
More experiences
• “Credit to their race” insult
• Expected to downplay or not call attention to their
language or cultural customs like hair style or
dress.
• Lateness blamed on their race
• “You’re a good friend. I never think of you as
Black.”
• Athletes and coaches feel burdened with the need
to demonstrate their competence
• Glass ceiling limits upward mobility
Racial Identity Topic Important
• Sport is one of the last arenas where racial
issues are not genuinely discussed.
• Many changes have occurred in sport
throughout the 20th century, but not enough
progress has been made.
Invisible Women of Color in
Sport
• Minority women of color must resolve
discrepancies in images of beauty promoted within
their specific ethnicities and in the ideals promoted
by the dominant culture.
• In the Black community having a larger frame
does not carry the same stigma as it does in the
White community.
• For Middle Eastern women, beauty does not mean
thin, blond, and tall.
• Image is important: gymnastics, and figure skating
Who Are They? Hispanic?
• Many different meanings and social values are
attributed to the term. Mexican decent, Puerto
Rican, Brazilian, Dominican, etc.
• Hispanic and Latino labels affect the meaning and
interpretation of citizenship.
• Hispanic White used sometimes by government,
schools or private agencies to describe people of
color. Mexican American who is new-born in
California has White on the birth certificate.
Little Research on Social Impact
of Sport for Latinas
• Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Mary Jo
Fernandez, and Gabriela Sabatini in tennis,
Nancy Lopez in golf, and Lisa Fernandez in
soffball are standouts in their sports.
• From a research standpoint we know little
or nothing about the social impact of sport
in their lives.
Asian American Women?
• Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipino, Indo
Chinese including Vietnamese,
Cambodians, Laotian, Thais, and ethnic
Chinese, and South Asian including the
countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, Kashmir, Nepal, Bhutan, and
Burma. Obviously, we should not believe
that all Asian Americans look alike.
The stereotypes of Asian Women
• Passive, submissive hard workers, “model
Minorities” and exotic sex objects. Polite
submissive, loyal, and family-oriented housewife.
• Figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi and Michele
Kwan; Pool player Jeanettee Lee, Golfers Se Ri
Pak and Grack Park, and Japanese Baksetball
Shooting Guard Linsday Yamasaki. Icons in the
Asian community.
• One BB league in Orange County has 500+ young
Japanese American women playing. Another,
1000
Native American Women?
• Stereotypes: strong, stoic, quiet, loyal,
untrustworthy, dishonest, indolent.
Diminished financial status, “They all
receive welfare checks.”
• Excel in running, archer, and lacrosse as
well as in many games and sports such as
field hockey, ice hockey, soccer, bowling,
wrestling, and racquetball.
Research: Native American
Women in Sport
• No win-at-all costs or self-serving attitude
in the sports arena.
• The focus on the importance of competition
for the group as a whole.
• Competition used to motivate individuals
and groups to develop self-limits and selfknowledge.
Native American Sports Council
• A member of the US Olympic Committee
• Provide culturally specific physical activity and
sport opportunities for Native American girls and
women.
• They offer a Sports Development Program for
athletes
• There is a Native American Women’s Track and
Field Program.
• Lila Osceola, Seminole Creek, Sac, and Fox
Tribes: University of Tulsa BB player role model
African American Women ?
• Trace their ancestry to the continent of
Africa from where they were brought to the
“new world” as slaves
• Many wrongly try to explain physical
ability of Black athletes in racial terms even
though race is a social construction and not
biologically based.
“Natural Skills” Stereotypes
• Speed, quickness, and jumping are the skills
that cannot be taught; and expressions of
physicality among Black people are signs of
intellectual inferiority
• No scientific foundation for the stereotypes,
but many people still cling to them
Family Influence Great
• Research indicates that the family’s social
social structure has been supportive of
Black women in sport who have been
successful.
• For example, elite athletes often credit their
families for much of their success.
Socialized Into a Few Sports
• Since the 1950’s Blacks have been relegated
to just a few sports.
• No or few Blacks in: archer, badminton,
cycling, field hockey, ice hockey, sailing,
alpine and Nordic skiing, softball, table
tennis, water polo, tennis, auto racing,
bowling, canoeing, and kayaking, yachting,
and many field event in track and field.
Nevertheless, Blacks Have
Excelled Everywhere
• Briana Scurry of the U.S. soccer team; Dominique
Daws, gymnastic Olympian; Annett Davis and
Jennifer Johnson Jordan in beach volleyball;
Dawn Ellerbee, hammer thrower; and the
Williams sisters in tennis.
• Robin Roberts, ESPN anchor women and sports
commentator; Benita Fitzgerald-Mosley, Director
of the Training Amateur Athletic Foundation of
L.A.
Glass Ceiling
• Elaina Oden: two time Olympian applied for
coaching position at University of Connecticut.
Impressive credentials, but no interview.
• Hiring practices of 292 NCAA universities
investigated: glass ceiling was revealed. Black
women barred from high-paying head coaching or
administrative positions. At professional level
only 3 out of 401 VP positions
Effects of Demographic Shifts in
Sport
• Tensions heightened among racial groups.
• Whites will be in the minority. Many White
Americans are not prepared for that
• Today women of color are challenging the existing
patterns of racially defined sports.
• The sporting result of cultural diversity increasing
is a complex pattern of racial and ethnic group
competition and demands for political power.
Unpacking Racial Stereotypes in
Sport
• Minority women in sport are not natural athletes
any more than other women in sport.
• Minority female athletes are students first and
foremost.
• We need to Provide an atmosphere of
inclusiveness and commit to minority
representation in positions of power: coaches,
administrators, etc.
Cultural Considerations
• Different behavior patterns in one culture
may be interpreted as unacceptable in
another.
• Behavior and communication may have
different meanings cross culturally.
• We need to find ways to avoid imposing
limitations on cultural expression.
Conclusion
• Women of color experience a form of
double jeopardy: racism and sexism.
• Challenging racism in sport is a good thing.
• As women, we already share a form of
oppression that is universally understood.
Let’s extend that understanding to
understanding racial oppression.