Gender, Race, and Identity in Contemporary Society SOC3020

Introduction

Cathy Freeman is a great Australian role model, who is famous because of her achievements in the field of sports activity especially for winning the gold medal in the 400 meters in the year 2000 as part of the Sydney Olympic Games. Gender and culture play a very important factor in Freemans life and career since she is an Indigenous Australian woman (Olympics, 2023). In this report Freemans gender and race issues of the past will be analysed and how the present affected both her identity and her role in society. Furthermore, the assessment shall involve the use of sociological theories to capture gender relations in her experiences, particularly using the intersectionality and the gender role theory.

Historical antecedent and present challenges

It can be said that Freemans journey to stardom in athletics is much more than a rite of passage of a black American woman but one shaped by her color and race. It is worth noting that Freeman had to confront both sexism and racism issues since childhood, these two forces influenced her and defined her destiny in a male and white-oriented field of sporting activities (Press, 2017).

Historical Influences: Gender and race are again also categorized here, yet this time they are not equal concepts with similar values and opportunities. It must also be recalled that during the 1990s, the plight of the Indigenous Australians especially the Indigenous women regarding the socio-economic marginalization faced in the Australian society had begun to unravel (Durey et al., 2023). Indigenous women have been a disadvantaged group in Australian society in terms of race and gender in general throughout history. Freemans journey as a female footballer in this regard can therefore be seen to represent challenges that native women go through in society today.

Applying the gender role theory, it is possible to define the issues that Freeman faced. In the past, the Australian society, like any other White Western society, used to provide a certain set of norms, standards, or limitations to what a woman, or more pointedly, women of color in this case, can or cannot do (Reardon, 2003). Freeman, being a female athlete, had to try and succeed in a world where women had no high bar set for them as compared to their male counterparts. Moreover, being an Indigenous woman, she was exposed to stereotyping, which became the odds on her way toward success and equal rights as a citizen of Australia (Birch, 2024).

Present Challenges: The first section is the analysis of the gender and identity aspects in the three movies. Freeman like any other athlete finds it hard to deal with life after retirement as she continues to struggle with her gender and race. Instead of career progression, she has stepped down to positions that market her as a tribal voice and a lobbyist. As a result, Freeman has always been faced with constructing the personae of both the successful Australian athlete and woman and Indigenous leader (Connellan, 2022). This dual identity creates conflict in her presentations as she appears as both the epitome of unity of Australians and at the same time the struggling Australian Aboriginal woman.

Gender role theory presupposes that womens behavior is determined by the norms that restrict them from choosing a career, making them more suitable for caregiving rather than leadership (Australian Government, 2023). However, in the case of Freeman the leadership she had in Indigenous communities can also be deemed as contributing to the existing stereotyped gender expectations whereas as a woman she had to become an advocator for Indigenous people to be treated and protected like how the welfare of people is a responsibility clanged on a woman (Olympics, 2023). This aspect of her life plays a part to this day in how she is regarded by the wider Australian society.

Application of sociological theories

Intersectionality becomes the key to analysing Cathy Freemans life. Intersectionality stands for how the modes of visible social categorization, including race, gender, or class, interact with each other to form complex processes of domination or oppression (Robards et al., 2020). This plan combines Freemans experiences as an Indigenous woman in society and lays her at the crossroads of both racism and sexism.

These existing writings also suggest that, in the context of a predominantly white sporting culture of the Australian nation, Freeman was an Indigenous woman. She was not only in a struggling situation to achieve athletic success but was also fighting racism and sexism present in the athletic culture and Australian society in general. These ever-intertwined identities made her experiences nuanced but at the same time, she was representing Indigenous women and indigenous people as well as women in sports (Kulkarni, 2024).

For example, Freeman chose to wave both Australian and Aboriginal Flags when she won the 1994 Commonwealth Games which was a way of protesting the society that looked down on Indigenous people and their culture. It also became a matter of a colored woman reclaiming her independence and freedom from the stereotypical roles imposed on her by her communities standpoint on what women of color should do (Baum, 2022).

Gender Role Theory

Another perspective that may be used in analysing Freemans athletic period is gender role theory, which defines how the expectations towards a persons gender influence their behavior and opportunities. While being a female in a male-dominated game, Freeman had to defy and lose herself from cultures cultural practices and norms that subordinate women by perceiving strength and competitiveness as negative attributes of the female gender (Knight et al., 2007).

Sport especially tracks and field athletics has been viewed as a male preserve and female athletes are expected to compete with male athletes, with undue focus being placed on the woman athletes body and performance capability. Despite these cultural beliefs, Freeman through sportsmanship defied those cultural beliefs (Jones, 2013).

Thus, even in the third stage of her career, retirement, gender stereotypes are still noticeable in Freemans persona as a public figure. She is depicted mainly as caring for others whether in her fight for education for indigenous children or as a mother and this was the conventional role of women. Gender role theory is useful in understanding how these expectations continue to define Freemans public persona, especially after her athletic career.

Conclusion

Cathy Freeman has lived through the true impacts of society, gender, and racism in her own life and thereby in Australian society. From being an athlete to a lawyer fighting for Indigenous rights, Freeman has had to transverse different social relations of gender and race. Thus, using the inter-sectionalist and gender role theory, it is possible to look at the challenges and accomplishments encountered by the protagonist of the story, Freeman.

Freemans experience indirectly presents the main aspects of the oppression of women, particularly Aboriginal women, in Australian society. It is pertinent to note that Freemans experience is not only an individual case, but it also reveals how the oppressive structures work and why these structures have to be combatted. Thus, her legacy of giving hope to future generations of women and Indigenous Australians is put under the lens of the gender and race equality struggle.

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