Abstract
In 2018, the Olympic shooting regulations were modified to increase the number of women’s shots from 40 to 60, equaling the number given to men. This research presented in this paper addresses two research issues: (1) has the performance of women’s shooting changed as a result of this increase in the number of shots? and (2) with the equalized number of shots in place, do women and men perform differently? This study included 292 shooters who competed in the 2016 and/or 2018 European Championships who all obtained top-50 results. Our sample included balanced quotas for sports (50% pistol and 50% rifle) and by category (50% women and 50% men). Both championships were held in the same facilities and in the same month of the season, but with the difference that in 2016, women had 40 shots and in 2018 they had 60 shots. We observed that women’s performances did not diminish for the pistol or the rifle category when their number of shots were increased. Men and women shot equally well with rifles, although the men’s performance with pistols was higher than that of women. We concluded that sports in which physical strength is a minor factor, as in the case of shooting, should revise their regulations in the interest of greater gender equality in sports.
Highlights
Effective equality between men and women is a social and political goal and is an international legal principle recognized in the Declaration of Human Rights
Gender gaps still clearly exist in the world of sport [1], even though gender equality in terms of participation, the number of available sporting events, salaries, and performance have been the subject of extensive discussion and debate
The only statistically significant difference we found in favor of men was in the rifle competition in 2016 when women fired 40 shots, but not in 2018 when they fired 60 shots
Summary
Effective equality between men and women is a social and political goal and is an international legal principle recognized in the Declaration of Human Rights. Gender gaps still clearly exist in the world of sport [1], even though gender equality in terms of participation, the number of available sporting events, salaries, and performance have been the subject of extensive discussion and debate. Because of the disparity in the Olympic Games program, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board is promoting effective equality between men and women by approving 25 measures in different areas, including nine for International Federations. The IOC’s strategic objective around gender equality calls for growing the number of female sporting events and increasing participation at the Olympic Games to 50 per cent [2].
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