Making “space” for women and girls in sport: an agenda for Australian geography

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, I argue that there is need to rethink how sport is inherently spatial and political. I outline the importance of doing research on the spatiality of inequality in sport and consider the ways in which ideas about affective atmospheres and textures can support nuanced understandings of sport, particularly for girls and women. From change rooms to board rooms, sporting fields to dance halls, sport happens somewhere—it is inherently spatial. Australian geographers continue to make scholarly and practical impacts of social and cultural significance by focusing on spatiality, but the geography of sport has yet to be fully developed in that respect, notwithstanding influential work on sport in rural communities and surfing and sporting events. Despite such contributions, there is still considerable work to be done, particularly in the area of women's and girls' team sport. Sport is an arena where geographers can make broader and, importantly, bolder contributions, and a concern with spatiality gives geographers unique and critical insights into sport and its manifestation across scales from the global to the local.