Michelle O'SheaandSarah Duffy

Opinion | Tokyo Olympics: are ‘first gender-balanced Games’ really a win for women?

There is a lot to be hopeful about at Tokyo, which will feature the most female athletes at an Olympics, write Michelle O’Shea and Sarah Duffy

But women still face sexist attitudes, abuse and harassment. Clearly much more needs to change before the Games can truly be described as equitable

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Canoe sprint world champion Nevin Harrison, 19, trains in the US ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, where new events will be held in a bid for gender equity. Photo: AP

Michelle O'SheaandSarah Duffy

Published: 12:59pm, 16 Jul 2021Updated: 1:24pm, 16 Jul 2021

If you believe the hype from the International Olympic Committee, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be a “landmark in gender equality” and the “first gender-balanced Games in history”.

The Olympics do not have a good track record when it comes to gender equality. At the end of the 19th century, when it was founded, the modern Olympic movement deliberately excluded women. Games patriarch Baron Pierre de Coubertin argued an Olympiad with women would be “impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and improper”.

With the postponed Tokyo Games set to start next Friday, what advances can we celebrate? And what still needs to change?

Members of the US Women's Olympic Gymnastic Team celebrate after completing trials last month. Photo: AP

The Tokyo Games will feature the most female athletes at an Olympics, with 48.8 per cent of competitors set to be women.

Noting this is actually shy of 50 per cent, this is nonetheless up from 45 per cent at the 2016 Rio Games and 44.2 per cent at London 2012. At the Tokyo Paralympic Games, 40.5 per cent of athletes will be women, compared to 38.6 per cent at Rio.

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