The problem of unequal sports participation will only be addressed if sexism and racism in recreational sports and exercise are taken seriously. That's what cultural anthropologists Jasmijn Rana (Leiden University) and Kathrine van den Bogert (Utrecht University) write in an opinion piece in the Dutch Newspaper Trouw.
In the opinion piece in Trouw of 10 February 2023, Jasmijn Rana and Kathrine van den Bogert react to policy research and media focusing on the contradiction between migration background (and Islam) and sports. Yet Van den Bogert's research on Moroccan-Dutch football-playing girls and Rana's research on 'women-only' kickboxing show that teenage girls do not experience it this way themselves. Focusing policy on migration background or Islam as a counterpart to emancipation and sport in fact creates inequality.
