Advancing Gender Equality in Sport Through Matricentric Activism: Examining the Practices of Women Sport Fans

Abstract In this article, we explore how sport fan practices can advance feminist aims and gender equity in sport contexts. Using a matricentric feminist perspective and thematic analysis of 19 in-depth interviews with mothers from Australia and North America, we examine the social and political dimensions of mother fans’ actions when responding to gender disparities in sport systems and cultures. We identify several ways in which mothers practiced a commitment to gender equity and social justice in their everyday sport fandom, including advocating for women’s sport; critiquing exclusionary and harmful sport cultures; and challenging the gendering of care labour while watching sport. By looking beyond instances of public activism by sport fans, this study develops new sociological and feminist insights about the political potential of matricentric activism to support gender justice through sport participation, as well as calling for greater recognition of sport as a social site for maternal empowerment.