The invisibility of women in legislations and National Conferences of sport and leisure in Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on the premise that effective public policies can contribute to combating limitations in women’s access to, and participation in, different sports and related management positions, the public policies on sports and leisure for women in Brazil were analysed. This research uses the five most relevant Brazilian laws on sport and leisure, namely, Decree-Law 3,199/41, Law 6,251/75, Law 8,672/93, Law 9,615/98 and Law 9.981/2000 as well as the resolutions of the National Sports Conferences held in 2004, 2006 and 2010. Data were analysed based on Content Analysis. It was observed that in Decree-law, women were prohibited from participating in sports considered masculine, but this prohibition was not mentioned in other laws. At the Conferences, women’s participation was verified, in a general way, through social inclusion and guaranteed access to sports, independent of gender. The results evidenced the few actions focused on gender equity and the low presence of the word ‘women’ in legislation on sport and leisure in the country, which may imply the absence of sports-oriented public policies for women in various modalities. Moreover, the analysed documents are circumscribed by the representations of femininity and the roles socially constructed for women.