The webinar: “With Gender Equality – Deconstruct Sport Towards Social Health”, was organised on 20 May 2025 by movingsport and WIDE+. It brought together experts and activists to critically examine the structures of sport through the lens of gender equality, decoloniality, and social health. The event featured two main panels: the first led by Steff Auf dem Berge and Knut Auf dem Berge from the NGO movingsport, and the second by Colombian scholar Dr. Angelica Saenz. Both discussions underscored sport’s potential as a transformative space but only if radically reimagined.
Panel 1: Sport as a Space for Social Change – or Exclusion?
Steff and Knut began by stressing that sport, while often celebrated for its unifying power, is in fact a deeply political and exclusionary space. From participation to representation, sport reflects and reproduces systemic inequalities, particularly along gender, race, and class lines. Women* and LGBTIQ+ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer; the “+” includes other diverse sexual orientations and gender identities) continue to face barriers in visibility, funding, leadership, and safety, besides being often excluded by rigid, binary sporting structures.
The speakers emphasized that sport, as currently practiced, reinforces capitalist ideals of performance, hierarchy, and control. This is not incidental: sport has historically been tied to militarization and nationalistic ideologies. Its highly selective and competitive nature encourages exclusion rather than inclusion.
According to them, we must shift the paradigm from performance to social health. Sport should focus on community building, lifelong learning, and physical activity for well-being, not winning or rankings. This requires innovative, non-violent, inclusive approaches, such as supporting underrepresented participants, minimizing environmental impact, and involving diverse, transdisciplinary perspectives.
Compelling examples were shared in a series of worldwide workshops in the context of the “#keep_on_moving” project (funded by GIZ and DOSB), developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A volleyball coach found a different approach to sport: he began to make offers for physical activities outside on the street in front of a large residential building with balconies. People came out to their balconies, started to move, joined by their neighbours. This took place regularly, and the neighbours looked out for each other more than before, made sure everyone was doing well, etc. This spontaneous, community-driven activity showed how physical movement can be reconceived outside institutional, competitive models.
The speakers challenged the notions of fairness and teamwork, arguing that these concepts often serve the logic of opposition, control and competition. But why should two people compete? “Teamwork” too often implies one team against another, reinforcing separation rather than unity.
Perhaps most strikingly, Knut reflected on his past as a football coach, admitting that even well-meaning coaches participate in violence when selecting teams or controlling players. He no longer believes sport can be reformed within its current system: it must be deconstructed.
Panel 2: Decolonising Sport – A Call to Action
Dr. Angelica Saenz deepened the discussion by introducing a decolonial lens. She emphasized that sport is not a neutral activity—it has been shaped by colonial histories, patriarchal values, and capitalist ideologies. Modern sport, largely born in the West, carries embedded hierarchies that continue to marginalize women, queer communities, black people, and others outside the dominant narrative.
She outlined several systemic issues: misogyny, LGBT+phobia, fatphobia, racism, ableism, and economic inequality. These forces shape who is seen as belonging in sport and who is not. Serena Williams, for instance, has faced consistent scrutiny not only for her performance but also for her body and identity.
Yet sport is also a powerful space for resistance. Historical moments such as Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ salute at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, or Raven Saunders’ protest in Tokyo 2021, show how athletes use their platforms to challenge injustice. However, these acts often come at personal cost, particularly under rules like Olympic Rule 50, which bans political expression. Sport is political, whether we acknowledge it or not.
Using examples from Colombia, she explained how language itself is a tool of exclusion. The use of universal masculine terms and gendered labels reinforces a culture where women are taught that certain spaces, like gyms or competitive fields, are not meant for them. These ideas are passed down through socialization and deeply entrenched cultural norms.
Both panels agreed on the need for an intersectional approach. Gender does not operate in isolation. Race, class, sexuality, and colonial legacies all intersect in shaping how people access, experience, and are represented in sport. For example, the experience of a white, Norwegian woman playing soccer is vastly different from that of a Muslim immigrant woman in Sweden. Such distinctions are often flattened in policy and data collection.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The discussion concluded with a powerful exchange of perspectives. Knut advocated for renaming sport entirely—perhaps “physical activity in a social environment”—to break from its exclusionary legacy. Angelica urged patience and strategic engagement, suggesting we diversify the faces and values in sport gradually but firmly. Both agreed: meaningful change begins with awareness, data, and action.
Activism in sport must also address the broader systems it upholds. For example, the 2022 FIFA World Cup saw migrant workers die under exploitative conditions. Yet it received little response from the international community, especially in the West. These human rights violations tied to mega-events highlight the urgent need for accountability.
Ultimately, all speakers expressed cautious optimism. By raising awareness, fostering transdisciplinary alliances, bringing transdisciplinary expertise into sporting spaces, we can begin to break down the exclusive sport structures and stop using sport as a tool to control colonised bodies. To do this, we need to abolish the binary gender system. We need a gender-just, anti-racist distribution of funds and many changes in the power structures of sport to transform it as a social space into inclusive, caring, and gender-just and non-violent spaces for community building and social health.
Written by: Erika Piazza, recent master’s graduate in Human Rights and Multi-Level Governance at the University of Padua, Italy. She is a volunteer at WIDE+ and a former intern.