Aktuelle Version vom 27. Januar 2021, 09:35 Uhr

Gender within Motorsports - Digital

Within Motorsports with a focus on Formula 1, women have not played as much of an active role. The sport has been around for 70 years. Yet very few female drivers have competed and the number of female engineers is equally low. In 2019, the W-Series was implemented for women to compete and also to serve as a starting point to eventually reach the Formula 1 level. The lack of diversity, within motorsports and even in sports is caused by several factors. The two main factors that this building block will aim at is media and role models. The portrayal of women in motorsports and sports by the media is often focused on their appearance or family life instead on their competence. As such, women are not often portrayed in a position of power compared to their male counterparts which hinders the opportunity for these women to act as role models for the future generations. The aim of this building block is to shed light on why this lack of diversity exists within motorsports as well as understand how the media portrays gender. The goal is also to learn about what is currently being done to improve diversity in motorsports. The participants will be divided into small groups where they will discuss their opinions about gender within motorsports by interviewing each other about the quotes they chose and why they chose them from the articles made available in the preparation that pertain to the tool ‘Scissors of inequality’. The topic will be further explored through a second round of discussion with questions pertaining to the role of media.

Preparation and Follow-Up

Facilitators’ Preparation

Facilitators get familiar with the articles the participants also read. They also keep up to date with the current news pertaining to Formula 1 and what is being done currently to improve diversity within the sports to add more information to the follow up tasks. Facilitators also keep up to date with the news to keep participants up to date during the introduction part of the building block about the current situation within motorsports.

Participants’ Preparation

Participants complete the preparation task provided in 01- Preparation. They read three articles (one from each category) from the ones provided and find three quotes that best represent the tool “Scissors of Inequality”.

Participants’ Follow-Up

Participants read the highlighted part of the extract provided and analyse the image provided in Follow up Task 1 in their learning journal. Participants further read the article and Instagram post provided in Follow up Task 2 and do a reflection in their learning journal.

Schedule

Minute 00 - Introduction

Notes

Facilitators offer a brief summary of the topic to the participants and explain how the building block will take place using the prepared forum. Facilitators prepare breakout sessions with up to 4 people.

Slides

Overall aim of the building block

• Analyse why there is a lack of diversity within motorsports
• Reflect on how the media influences and portrays gender
• Learn about what is being done to improve diversity within motorsports

Schedule of Today’s Session

• 00:00 – Short introduction and summary of the topic
• 00:02 – Quotes Interview
• 00:05 – Feedback about the debate
• 00:14 – Introduction to the role of media
• 00:16 – Discussion of the role of media
• 00:25– Feedback upon the debate
• 00:28 – Conclusion and follow-up

Introduction to the topic

• in 70 years of formula one a total of 6 female drivers participated
• 2 out of 6 female drivers passed qualifiers and started the race itself
• 12% female engineering workforce in motorsports
• 9% of the workforce come from diverse backgrounds (People of Colour)
• All statistics provided were collected in 2020

Minute 03 – Quotes Interview

Notes

The aim of this task is to analyse why there is a lack of diversity within motorsports. Facilitators introduce the first task and explain its aim to the participants. Facilitators divide the big group into smaller groups by creating breakout sessions of 4 people. The participants discuss the quotes they chose in relation to the tool “Scissors of Inequality” from the preparation task. The other participants interview the participant after they finish presenting their quote and ask them questions about why they chose the quote they did and why they think it pertains to the tool ‘Scissors of inequality’. The process is repeated for each participant. The participants then post a short summary of the discussion as a group in the forum.

Slides

Task for the quotes interview - 16 min.

• Choose a person who posts a summary of the discussion in the forum
• Choose the first person being interviewed for 4 min.
• The interviewed person:
  • present one of your chosen quotes
  • wait for your questions
• The others:
  • listen carefully to the quote
  • write down questions you will ask the interviewed one (E.g.: Why did they choose this quote? What has it to do with the scissors of inequality?)
  • Ask your questions to the participant that just presented
• Choose a new group member presenting his/her quote
• Repeat the process for each participant
• Post a short summary of the discussion in the forum

Scissors of Inequality

Moreover, inequalities among people as a result of nature are not nearly as great as they become through education. Johann Gottfried Herder

The various human rights declarations stipulate with slight variations: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” (UN Human Rights Charter). Despite this, there is great inequality between people. These inequalities arise from gender, class, ethnicity, income, wealth, age, religion, parental home, level of education, sexuality, reputation, health as well as many other factors and they come along with either strong advantages or disadvantages. We are all born equal (though the circumstances of birth can be very different), but because of socialization people are made unequal: To what extent do we want to support this inequality as a society?

Minute 15 – Introduction to the role of media and gender

Notes

The facilitators introduce the topic of the role of media and gender within motorsports and sports by explaining the way in which the media portrays women and men. They also show what the focus tends to be when the media talks about men and women in sports. The aim of this task is to enable participants to reflect on how the media influences and portrays gender. The facilitators make this transparent to the participants.

The facilitators bring up the questions relating to the role of media and gender. They post the questions in the chat, so that the participants have access to them. They guide the participants throughout the discussion.

Slides

Introduction to the role of media

• Media portrays men as powerful, independent, dominating and valued as athletes
• Media tends to represent women athletes as women first and athletes second
• The focus of the media when portraying women tends to be on their physical appearance, their relationships, age or family life

Questions for the group discussion - 10 min.

• Do you agree with the media's portrayal of female drivers/athletes?
• What are the obstacles that women face with this portrayal but men don’t?
• What influence does that have on female drivers as role models?
• What would a quota for female drivers within motorsport change?
• Would a quota be the best solution for inequality in (motor-)sports?

Minute 27 – Conclusion and follow up task

Notes

The facilitators give a short conclusion and summarize the learning outcomes for the participants. Then they introduce the follow up tasks to the participants. The aim of the follow up tasks is for the participants to learn about what is being done to improve diversity with motorsports, in their personal life and the society.

Slides

Overview of follow-up tasks

• Task 1: Analyze and reflect how you see women in sports
• Task 2: Support women in men-dominated sports with friends/family/colleagues

Task 1: Analyze and reflect how you see women in sports

• Read the highlighted section from the research paper
• based on the criteria mentioned in the text, analyse the image provided in your learning journal
• potential guiding questions:
  • What is the main focus of the image?
  • What aspects are influencing how you think about this woman?
  • How can you change that these aspects influence your consideration?

Task 2: Support women in men-dominated sports with friends/family/colleagues/...

• Find a partner for this project
• Brainstorm how you as individuals can support women in men-dominated sports or could change the gender portrayals of the media
• E.g.: ask your uncle to join you supporting the little female cousin playing football, follow not only men but women sports on social media channels with your sports buddy, post about what is being done to improve diversity within Sports, …
• reflect your thoughts in your learning journal

Notes and Remarks

Authors’ Note

• Participatory building block for the TU Berlin module Blue Engineering.
• The building block requires a minimum of 12-16 participants to give a good balance in perspectives.

Further Notes

The data provided for the building block has to be constantly kept up to date due to the ever changing nature of the topic.

The building block worked out well and ran smoothly. The participants enjoyed the building block and understood the aim of this building block. The feedback received was mostly positive but some adjustments had to be made to the preparation task and the first task of the building block to offer more clarity to the participants. The main difficulties faced was hosting the building block and making sure all the tasks during the building block were clear. In terms of time management, it went by smoothly but it would have been better to have more time for each task to enable participants to discuss more and post in the forum.

The tasks of the building block themselves could be improved and for the preparation, summaries of each article could be done to reduce the time needed to prepare for the building block and make the articles easier to understand.

References

• Research paper titled ‘Drivers to divas: Advertising images of women in motorsport’ by Lynn L. Ridinger (only highlighted section in the follow up task 1 is to be read)
• Gender equality in sports media: https://en.unesco.org/themes/gender-equality-sports-media
• The W-Series: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/sports/autoracing/w-series-women-f1.html
• The female driver conundrum: https://medium.com/@mrdemmendaal/f1-and-the-female-driver-conundrum-b76e70d13a6
• Jamie Chadwick, F1’s first female hope in 43 years: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jan/19/this-is-my-adrenaline-fix-jamie-chadwick-f1-first-female-hope-in-43-years
• Girls in STEM: the importance of role models: https://news.microsoft.com/europe/features/girls-in-stem-the-importance-of-role-models/
• Cost breakdown to run a Formula 1 team for one season: https://drivetribe.com/p/heres-the-cost-breakdown-to-run-TOBDJtZfSUSmuboOoSOsIg?iid=IMM-eVyjTSKT1ZI55Ts-DQ
• Drivers to divas: Advertising images of women in motorsport by Lynn L. Ridinger
• Women in Motorsports provided by the FiA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile)
• Eight drivers set to do battle in next round of ‘FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars’ initiative at Paul Ricard: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.eight-drivers-set-to-do-battle-in-next-round-of-fia-girls-on-track-rising.5XfF0FTlKafHUhPAwnmsnY.html
• David Coulthard’s perspective about women in formula 1: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.next-female-f1-driver-has-to-be-able-to-take-on-hamilton-or-verstappen.1YGcBrksVffniyqtLyRDh9.html
• Lewis Hamilton’s perspective on women in formula 1: https://www.essentiallysports.com/f1-news-turkish-grand-prix-lewis-hamilton-urges-f1-to-do-more-for-women-in-motorsport-following-w-series-link-up/
• Tatiana Calder on unconscious male bias of the motor racing world: https://www.esquireme.com/content/42505-formula-2s-first-female-driver-tatiana-calderón-on-unconscious-male-bias-of-the-motor-racing-world

Material

Participants’ Preparation

Notes

Participants complete the following task to learn about the current diversity situation within Motorsports.

Slides

Task: Find Quotes representing the scissors of inequality

• Read at least three articles (one from each category) from the ones provided
• find three quotes within the articles that support/represent the tool scissors of inequality
• Articles: Different categories are characterized by italic written headlines

Articles about female representation in Fomula 1 and how media portrays women in sports

• https://en.unesco.org/themes/gender-equality-sports-media
• https://medium.com/@mrdemmendaal/f1-and-the-female-driver-conundrum-b76e70d13a6

Article about the importance of role models

• https://news.microsoft.com/europe/features/girls-in-stem-the-importance-of-role-models/

Articles about women in motorsports

• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/sports/autoracing/w-series-women-f1.html
• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jan/19/this-is-my-adrenaline-fix-jamie-chadwick-f1-first-female-hope-in-43-years
• https://www.esquireme.com/content/42505-formula-2s-first-female-driver-tatiana-calder%C3%B3n-on-unconscious-male-bias-of-the-motor-racing-world

Articles pertaining to the perspectives of men when it comes to women in Formula 1

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.next-female-f1-driver-has-to-be-able-to-take-on-hamilton-or-verstappen.1YGcBrksVffniyqtLyRDh9.html
• https://www.essentiallysports.com/f1-news-turkish-grand-prix-lewis-hamilton-urges-f1-to-do-more-for-women-in-motorsport-following-w-series-link-up/

Scissors of Inequality

Moreover, inequalities among people as a result of nature are not nearly as great as they become through education. Johann Gottfried Herder

The various human rights declarations stipulate with slight variations: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” (UN Human Rights Charter). Despite this, there is great inequality between people. These inequalities arise from gender, class, ethnicity, income, wealth, age, religion, parental home, level of education, sexuality, reputation, health as well as many other factors and they come along with either strong advantages or disadvantages. We are all born equal (though the circumstances of birth can be very different), but because of socialization people are made unequal: To what extent do we want to support this inequality as a society?

Participants’ Follow-Up

Notes

Participants do two follow up tasks. The aim of the follow up tasks is for the participants to learn about what is being done to improve diversity with motorsports, in their personal life and the society.

Slides

Overview of follow-up tasks

• Task 1: Analyze and reflect how you see women in sports
• Task 2: Support women in men-dominated sports with friends/family/colleagues

Task 1: Analyze and reflect how you see women in sports

• Read the highlighted section from the research paper
• based on the criteria mentioned in the text, analyse the image provided in your learning journal
• potential guiding questions:
  • What is the main focus of the image?
  • What aspects are influencing how you think about this woman?
  • How can you change that these aspects influence your consideration?

Task 2: Support women in men-dominated sports with friends/family/colleagues/...

• Find a partner for this project
• Brainstorm how you as individuals can support women in men-dominated sports or could change the gender portrayals of the media
• E.g.: ask your uncle to join you supporting the little female cousin playing football, follow not only men but women sports on social media channels with your sports buddy, post about what is being done to improve diversity within Sports, …
• for further research look here: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.eight-drivers-set-to-do-battle-in-next-round-of-fia-girls-on-track-rising.5XfF0FTlKafHUhPAwnmsnY.html
• reflect your thoughts in your learning journal