Understanding Indo-Fijian girls’ experiences in sport, physical activity and physical education: an intersectional study

ABSTRACT

Whilst other sporting narratives of girls and women from the Global North have been well explored, there is limited research about girls from a Fijian background. Furthermore, within this ethnic/cultural group, their diverse voices are not well understood. Indo-Fijian girls who are of a South Asian background, and were born and reside in Fiji, are marginalised to a triple degree in the country’s sporting platforms: they face gender inequalities emanating from a patriarchal society; secondly, they are marginalised in terms of race and ethnicity, thus not having access to the same sporting opportunities that their iTaukei (Fijian natives) counterparts do, especially in mixed-race team sports. Finally, Indo-Fijian girls are economically disenfranchised, living in the peripheries of the Global South, where they struggle with a lack of funding, inequitable policies and an unstable political climate. This triple layer of marginalisation deprives Indo-Fijian girls/young women of real opportunities and rights in the sporting fields to play sports for better health and fitness as equal Fijian citizens. This study reports on a one-year ethnographic research and presents sporting narratives of young Indo-Fijian women aged between 16 and 25 years from the capital city of Fiji. The data was collected employing photo-elicitation interviews aiming to illuminate the experiences and trajectories within formal and recreational sport and physical activity of Indo-Fijian girls. The paper draws upon critical, intersectional and poststructuralist theories to thematically analyse the data. The young women’s narratives reveal that many times their athletic pursuits and passion disrupt the Fijian gender, racial and class orders as they consistently exercise their daily and sporting agency; sometimes these girls also find themselves complying with the hegemonic gender/racial order. This study amplifies local and marginalised voices of Indo-Fijian girls and emphasises the urgent need for inclusive and innovative educational pathways for Indo-Fijian girls in Fiji’s schools, thus fulfilling the country’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

KEYWORDS:

• Sports education
• global south
• Indo-Fijian women
• gender
• race
• intersectionality
• CEDAW
• photo elicitation interview

Introduction

The lives of Anglo-Celtic¹ young people in health and physical education (HPE) and physical activity (PA)² in ‘western’ countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US) (Azzarito, 2009; Hills, 2007; Macdonald et al., 2005; O’Flyn & Lee, 2010) have been widely explored in the past few decades. These studies have focused on students’ constructed meanings in relation to body image in physical education (PE)³ and sports⁴ and friendships and social networks as inclusive practices of girls’ PE experiences. Moreover, these studies have focussed on the role that gender race and social class discourses play in shaping physical education and sports practices. More recently, researchers have started to look into gender, ethnicity and other socio-cultural issues regarding students from ethnic minority backgrounds in HPE, physical activity and sports globally. For example, studies related to young Chinese-Australian students (Pang, 2018), South Asians in the diaspora (Pullia et al., 2022), non-indigenous women in the South Pacific Islands (Kanemasu, 2018), and Muslim girls in the UK (Stride, 2014). Also, studies challenge previous constructions of South Asian women as lacking physicality⁵ but rather report young South Asian women in the diaspora being active agents and negotiating PE and physical activity prospects (Kanemasu, 2018; Stride, 2014). The conclusions emanated from these studies within diverse ethnic groups make evident that the voices of minority and/or marginalised groups are often times ignored and silenced within dominant sporting discourses.

This study specifically puts to the forefront the voice of ‘the other’ in the Fijian sporting context – in relation to the social justice agenda in sporting realms, broad physical activity contexts and PE practices in schools (Fitzpatrick, 2013; Pang, 2021; Spaaij et al., 2019). It focuses on Indo-Fijian girls who are of a South Asian background and were born and reside in Fiji; they are minorities and are marginalised to a triple degree in the country’s sporting platforms. These young women are firstly marginalised in terms of gender as they hail from a patriarchal society (Kanemasu, 2018; Shandil, 2016). Secondly, they are marginalised in terms of race and ethnicity in sporting opportunities due to racial stereotypes of them lacking physicality and sporting prowess (Kanemasu, 2018; Sugden et al., 2020; Teaiwa, 2005). Finally, Indo-Fijian women are marginalised in terms of their economic background – living in the diaspora, which is located in the peripheries of the Global South (Kanemasu, 2018; Kanemasu & Molnar, 2017). This triple layer of marginalisation deprives Indo-Fijian girls/women of real opportunities and rights in the sporting fields (Kanemasu, 2018; Sugden et al., 2020) to play sports as equal Fijian citizens.

In response to the inequalities, the Fiji government ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1995 (FWRM, n.d.) (www.fwrm.org.fj). Launched in 1979, the CEDAW is one of the most relevant documents to not only protect but also improve the lives and the rights of girls and women across all dimensions of their social, cultural and educational lives. Despite the fact that the CEDAW is now part of the country’s legal structure, women in Fiji still struggle with several aspects of gender equality and discrimination (Kanemasu & Molnar, 2017; Tora et al., 2006).

This study discusses the narratives of 12 Indo-Fijian young women (aged 16–25) about their experiences either in school Physical Education, organised sports competitions (Dorovolomo & Hammond, 2005), recreational sport (Olive et al., 2015) or in different sorts of unstructured physical activity (Kanemasu, 2018). The study reports on participants’ reflective discussions and by drawing on a critical and poststructuralist perspective (Hylton, 2008; Solorzano & Yosso, 2001) we intend to prioritise local voices and explore the diverse and multilayered nature of oppression, and the nuanced power dynamics of the Fijian sporting context, understood as broadly as possible. By capturing, describing and discussing these practices, we aim to build a body of knowledge that can later inform changes in school PE and both formal and informal sporting practices in Fiji. These objectives are in line with the CEDAW, which unequivocally confirms in its article 10- that State parties will take all appropriate measures to ensure women equal rights to men in the field of education. Moreover, in particular, to ensure equality of men and women, item (g) specifies ‘the same opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical education’.

Indo-Fijian women hail from different social, cultural (ancestors from different parts of India), geographical (spaces they have occupied in Fiji), religious (Hinduism, Christianity and Islam), and caste⁶ (for Hindus) backgrounds, which interconnectedly influence their sporting trajectory. Therefore to gain a comprehensive view of how Indo-Fijian young women perceive and deal with the obstacles that marginalise them on the sporting field, the first author undertook a one-year ethnographic study with 12 young Indo-Fijian women in Fiji. We begin by setting the scene with background information on the (forced) migration of Indians from India, and their resettlement in Fiji and their positionality in relation to the iTaukeis in Fiji. We then discuss the findings generated by the photo-elicitation interviews employed in this study, which show, on the one hand, the intersectional context (Hill Collins & Bilge, 2016) where complex oppressions play out to conform the Indo-Fijian young women to traditional and limited roles in the sporting arena. On the other hand, new findings demonstrate how the participants challenge the limits of these social boundaries in pursuit of sporting freedom. We conclude by arguing for the need of equitable, inclusive/exclusive and effective PE lessons in understanding, aiding and responding to Indo-Fijian girls’ cultural needs and perceptions of physical activity and sports that expand opportunities for all Fijians, and support the aims of the CEDAW.

The sociocultural context of Fiji in relation to sport and physical activity

Some 60,965 Indian indentured labourers were brought to Fiji during the indenture period (1874-1916) (Ali, 2004). The labourers were of different classes, geographical locations (in India), castes, languages and occupations: they embodied their cultures, religions, languages and nostalgia, hoping to mimic their life in India in Fiji (Naipaul, 2003). Indian traditional practices, cultures, and the caste system weakened in Fiji, yet at the same time, a multicultural identity failed to transpire as colonial powers alienated the Indians and the natives. The natives also feared that Indians who toiled on the land might claim ownership (Ali, 2004; Lal, 2000; Lal, 2011). In the colonial and postcolonial political trajectory of Fiji, Indo-Fijians have been positioned as political and sociocultural subordinates by the British colonisers who had initially recruited and managed these indentured labourers on plantations, and also by the natives (Kanemasu, 2018; Sugden et al., 2020) who still perceive them as vulagis⁷ (Naidu, 2008).

Furthermore, the four racially stirred military coups (occurring between 1987 and 2006) in Fiji saw Indo-Fijians experiencing physical violence and damage to properties and temples (Trnka, 2008). After the multi-ethnic Labour Party was ousted from government in the 1987 coup, the Indo-Fijian population in Fiji declined from 50% to 32% (Wyeth, 2017). Indo-Fijians have accounted for 84–90% of all emigrants between 1986 and 1997 to Australia, Canada, the United States and New Zealand (Gani, 2019). Moreover, iTaukei landowners did not renew many farming land leases after the 2000 coup thus evicting many Indo-Fijian farmers (Besnier et al., 2018), forcing them to look for work and live in low-cost housing and squatter settlements in Suva (Besnier et al., 2018).

In Fiji, physicality and hegemonic masculinity are measured/expressed via the national sport of rugby (introduced in the late nineteenth century by British colonisers) and the military (Presterudstuen, 2010). Both these sectors are dominated by iTaukeis (men) (Besnier et al., 2018; Kanemasu, 2018; Teaiwa, 2005). In the Fijian hierarchy of masculinities and physicality, Indo-Fijian women are considered least physical, to be lacking sporting prowess and also are near invisible on all sporting platforms in Fiji (Kanemasu, 2018; Sugden et al., 2020; Teaiwa, 2005, 2008). In spite of this invisibility, Kanemasu (2018) has recently discussed the challenges and the everyday social resistance of, eight Indo-Fijian women who actively participate in sports, adding to the small population of Indo-Fijian women who enjoy their sports. At the school level, in parks, within ovals, on the streets, and also in gymnasiums, one can see their relevant presence, trying to bend rules and claim a space in a territory that is often still hostile to them (Kanemasu, 2018).

Next, we highlight the data collection and analysis methods used to aid in exploring the several layers that oppress minority and non-normative voices and bodies in physical education, physical activity and sport contexts in Fiji.

Methods

The 12 participants of this project comprised of five Indo-Fijian girls who were in high school and seven Indo-Fijian young women ranging from tertiary level students to working women to stay-at-home mums and a single working parent. The participants were from 16 to 25years old and lived in Fiji’s capital-Suva. The young women were recruited using snowball sampling methods (Patton, 2002) and who voluntarily joined the project after being asked to read and sign the informed consent protocol.⁸ This paper reports on the data collected from the photo-elicitation interviews.

Photography has the power to elicit emotions and feelings that are difficult to express via words (Benjamin, 2015). Therefore, using photo elicitation for a research interview aids in explaining lived experiences (Pink, 2009; Woodgate et al., 2017). Photo elicitation interviews (PEI) have been effectively used with young people and minority/marginalised ethnic groups to elicit their voices whilst also understanding their narratives of race, gender, sexuality and historical events in their lives (Benjamin, 2015; Leather & Nicholls, 2016; Leonard & McKnight, 2015; Ortega-Alcazar & Dyck, 2012; Varea & Pang, 2018). Before gathering the data for this study, participants were provided with written information on the parameters for taking pictures. Further verbal explanations were provided that participants were to take six to eight photographs on their electronic devices, which related to their experiences/perceptions of sports, exercises, PE, and physicality, both previously and currently in their lives. Participants were advised that they could bring along and talk about photos that had been taken in their childhood or at school, as these were important subjects for the research. Thus, the conversations we had with them were not limited to the present times or just to one social context; for example, older participants who were not school students anymore were happy to refer to their school PE past days; younger high school participants would mention their school PE experiences, but also about their sporting lives outside the school walls. The photos were captured in participants’ digital devices and not collected by the research team. Hence, the purpose of the photos in this research was mainly to help generate and facilitate discussions on ‘what sports and physicality meant to the participants’ to understand the social sporting world of young women in high schools in Fiji.

PEI assisted in building rapport between the researcher and participants and eliminated power imbalances – as the participants were able to decide which photos they wanted to talk about. Therefore, during the semi-structured interview, when a participant displayed a photograph that she wanted to speak about, the researcher would ask questions such as: Why did you take this photo, can you explain what is happening in this photo, what does it mean for you, how is this photo related to your perception of sports? This gave the participants the opportunity to explore their photos while sharing their stories and perceptions towards sports, physical activity, PE and physicality. Furthermore, the lead author had prepared a list of topics relevant to the research questions, which she wanted to explore during the interview, such as: how Indo-Fijian women perceive and make meaning about their physicality and gender in sport and how the attitudes, barriers/challenges, pleasures, and histories of resistance and opportunities of Indo-Fijian girls/women, influence their sports participation in Fiji. The conversation about the photos usually covered most of these topics, however, if a significant theme was not appearing in the conversation, then the researcher would introduce it in the conversation as appropriated. Moreover, discussions on the photographs aided the researcher in understanding how the participants perceived their taken photographs and what they valued and remembered in their lives (Benjamin, 2015). The photographs featured diverse locations and oftentimes had other people in them, thus in one single photograph, there was potential to discuss many different nuances of the (sporting) lives of the participants. PEI allowed for a safe and comfortable platform for rich data to be collected, moreover, PEI together with the focus of the study, helped in eliciting minority voices, which could otherwise have been missed, if traditional ways of interviewing were used.

A thematic analysis was employed in this study (Braun & Clarke, 2006). We took the following steps to identify, analyse, note/report visible patterns/themes from within the data. A first coding step (using different colours) was conducted to identify similar contents. Once relations between similar codes were found, they were combined to make categories from which we identified emerging patterns, which led to the building of the following major and recurrent themes: intersectional oppressions, educational challenges, cultural heritage of PE teachers and subversive bodies. In this paper, we explore these major themes in detail by interweaving a conversation between these women, thus helping us to have an in-depth view of and make sense of Indo-Fijian young women’s sporting lives, their challenges and struggles. The discussion includes those interview extracts which represent the aforementioned themes. These conversations show not only the macro and micro instances of intersectional daily oppresions (Hill Collins & Bilge, 2016), but also the cracks that they have been opening in the Fijian way of doing sports, physical activity and PE practices in schools.

In the next sections, we discuss the daily and sporting narratives of young Indo-Fijian women illuminating the several layers of discrimination these women encounter in school and in their communities.

Results and discussion

Intersectional oppressions: participants’ lived experiences of gendered, racialised and class-based segregation in sports in Fijian high schools and community

Gendering of the body begins even before birth (Fausto-Sterling, 2012) and continues in childhood (Martin, 1998). Religion, customs, and patriarchy (Balram, 2019; Kanemasu, 2018; Shandil, 2016) intersect to guide this gendering throughout the life course (Martin, 1998). In most of the participants’ cases – religion, the Hindu caste system, age (generation gap), class (educational background and occupation of (grand) parents) at some point inevitably intersected with gender to shape them to behave in a certain heteronormatic and traditional gender conformative ways. For example, in fulfilling the gendered expectations of her family and community, one of the participants, 15-year-old high school student – Ashriya revealed:

We are programmed by our grandparents and parents not to wear short and skimpy clothes and not to be friendly with the boys. We are Kshatriyas⁹ and must think about the family’s dignity. Doing well in school, staying vegetarian on Mondays and Fridays, doing our puja¹⁰ and helping mother and aji¹¹ is our conventional mantra.

Gendered and religious traditions intersect here to enhance the unveiling of the different dynamics at work in Ashriya’s household, which influences the maintenance of the Indo-Fijian traditional gender (social) order. Essentially patriarchal orders rule their household akin to the traditional Indian Hindu society (Balram, 2019; Hasan, 2015) where gendered body regulations and its relationship with religiosity uphold the maintenance of hegemonic masculinity and emphasised femininity – which are positioned as the ‘ideal’ (Connell, 1995). Ashriya further reveals controls associated with societal gender orders where she is nudged to perform her gender according to their biological sex (Butler, 2011), hence conforming to the traditional gender binary (Butler, 1990).

I have to do housework during the weekend when Rahul can go and play soccer; I shouldn’t question why I can’t have a decent conversation with a boy when Rahul can joke around with any girl.

Ashriya’s elders insist that as she was born a female, and her elder brother (Rahul), a male, they must behave in different ways and perform particular activities that define their gender (Butler, 2011). Interestingly, Ashriya discloses that she MUST also behave differently to her two younger sisters:

My grandmother constantly reminds me that I should focus on studies and not be running and jumping around as I have started menstruating and should think like a woman now. She ensures that I am up before the sun and help my mother make rotis everyday before I go to school and most days I end up being late for school. I still play netball- but now I don’t tell or ask anyone.

This extract reveals how age, menarche, and order of birth (Ashriya is expected to get married before her younger sisters) intersect with gender in influencing gender-based performances of Indo-Fijian girls (and boys). Thus the oldest female amongst the siblings is charged with the gendered task of making rotis; once the eldest is married off the next female in line will get trained (Balram, 2019).

In addition, in Fiji, sport is actively preserved and protected as indigenous space and one reason for this is the prominence of ethno-racial stereotypes (Sugden et al., 2020). Ashriya shares a similar perception in her school and community:

We don’t have many iTaukei students in our school but most of these iTaukei students qualify to play in school teams sports. iTaukei girls dominate netball teams, and Indo-Fijian boys mostly play soccer with a few iTaukei boys. But rugby is only played by iTaukei boys- Indo-Fijian boys are thin and weak to play it.

The above excerpt demonstrates that racial stereotypes such as, iTaukeis are born with strength and natural prowess for sports are embedded in the Fijian society. As if just genes and cultural background could decide the prowess of an individual sports person, without considering their social context and educational experiences (Hylton, 2008). Another participant (Anshu), who was 16 years old and did not play sports or participate in PE lessons revealed:

I have seen some iTaukei girls play rugby; they look much stronger than our Indo-Fijian boys. I have never seen an Indo-Fijian man play rugby; they are too thin, and one tackle might kill them; as for Indo-Fijian girls, it is too hard to imagine us playing rugby.

Anshu’s perception shows that Indo-Fijian boys are seen as unfit to play rugby, thus confirming that the masculinity (and physicality) of iTaukei men is culturally (and nationally) exalted over other forms of masculinities (Kanemasu, 2018). Anshu re-confirms the acceptable images of the Fijian hegemonic masculine culture where physicality markers (such as the military and rugby) are embedded in the Fijian society and are dominated by iTaukei men (Kanemasu, 2018; Teaiwa, 2005; 2008; Tora et al., 2006). Relatively, Ashriya confirms the invisibility of Indo-Fijian boys from the rugby field during PE lessons:

I play netball with the iTaukei girls but Indo-Fijian boys do not play rugby with the iTaukei boys, however some of the iTaukei boys do play soccer during PE.

Soccer is Fiji’s second most popular game (for men) and considered an Indo-Fijian/migrants’ sport and softer in comparison to rugby (Sugden, 2020). Therefore, Indo-Fijian men who play the sport still occupy spaces of subordinate/marginalised masculinity (Connell, 1995; Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005).

It is important to consider that secondary schools in Fiji have PE as mandatory only because it is a core requirement by the Ministry of Education – otherwise the schools will not be permitted to qualify for approvals for national examinations (Cagivinaka, 2015). Also with PE being non-examinable, teachers have much curriculum liberty to practice as per their preferences during PE lessons (Ram & Mohammadenzhad, 2020). In hindsight, racial segregation in sports (in Fiji) begins in school – where a particular sport is assigned to (and represents) a particular race. For example, during PE lessons, the common practice is to automatically separate iTaukei boys into rugby, and Indo-Fijian boys into soccer, as though their ethnic backgrounds make these choices ‘natural’ (Sugden et al., 2020). This pattern flows to community sport, as 18-year-old Meena (a high school student who is attempting the Fijian Year 12 national examination a second time) declares that,

I have many times invited some of my Indo-Fijian girlfriends to come and watch me play rugby during the weekends but most just laugh at it and one even said that she has better things to do. It felt like she didn’t even believe that I could play rugby- I wish she saw me play.

Here race is interwoven with gender and acts to undermine Indo-Fijian women’s rugby (or sporting) pursuits, showing how race and racism are socially constructed (Solorzano & Yosso, 2001). Furthermore, Indo-Fijian girls who internalise such racialised and gendered stereotypes associated with physicality, masculinity, heteronormative behaviour and the hegemonic sports discourse (Sugden et al., 2020), not only maintain these stereotypes by not participating in sports, but also attempt to discourage other athletic girls who have interest in playing sports (rugby). In doing so, they act as gatekeepers of the traditional gender binary order.

Furthermore, both Meena and Ashriya are from a lower social/economic class, thus they face an added layer of challenge; for example, Meena is displaced, she has to live at her auntie’s place because the facilities are better there for her to study. As for Ashriya, due to her low social class, her struggles are numerous – she lives with seven other people in a one-bedroom house in a squatter settlement. Moreover, there is no proper yard to play or train and she merely has a plastic ball to practise her netball skills. Also, if school buses and schools were not free of charge, she would not even be at school. Yet this young woman manages to perform well both in her sports and academic pursuits. Ashriya’s narrative, to some extent, tensions the findings from a UK study on 20 universities that people from lower socio-economic groups in comparison to those from higher socio-economic groups are likely to be less physically active (Griffiths et al., 2022).

Therefore, it is apparent from the young women’s narratives that the elders of the Indo-Fijian family play a central role in maintaining the gender and racial social order, by educating their families according to the status quo of gender/race ideology in the Indo-Fijian society. This is similar to the Indian (Hasan, 2015) culture – in contemporary India, religious practices and caste, cultural traditions, social customs, educational processes and the visual and print media intersect to collectively influence, structure, and construct gender identity and the broader social order (Thapan, 2001).

Educational challenges: brain vs. Brawn in the Indo-Fijian context

After the first racially stirred military coup in 1987, when the multi-ethnic Labour Party was ousted from government, Indo-Fijians experienced racial and religious-based violence and instability and insecurity in terms of (farming) land ownership and citizenship rights (Besnier et al., 2018; Trnka, 2008). Educational pursuits are encouraged in (many) Indo-Fijian homes (for both girls and boys), as education is perceived as a way out of poverty (good jobs and migration) (Balram, 2019; Naidu, 2008). Meena reveals that her mother skewers her towards academic work and discourages her from playing soccer after school with boys.

When my mother finds out that I have been playing soccer with Indo-Fijian boys after school she gets really mad at me, tells me that I should not play with those ‘good for nothing’ boys and should focus on my school work.

Similarly, 22 year old (Khushi) who works and studies part-time and enjoys playing soccer with her male cousins discloses that her mother reminds her often that playing soccer will not help her build a career which pays money. The perception that sporting prowess and physicality is an iTaukei domain is so much embedded in the Fijian society that Indo-Fijian parents are aware that their children remain unaccepted in these arenas (Kanemasu, 2018). Moreover, the way in which physical education is delivered – without understanding, aiding and responding to Indo-Fijian girls’ cultural needs and perceptions of physical activity and sports, disadvantages them and they end up de-prioritising sport (Sugden, 2020). Thus, fuelled by a sense of insecurity about their socio-political vulnerability (Fraenkel et al., 2009), and the fact that sporting platforms in Fiji are racially inequitable and gender discriminatory, Indo-Fijian parents (like Meena and Khushi’s mothers) encourage their children to perform well academically, have well paid skilled jobs and/or immigrate to a developed country (Balram, 2019; Narsey, 2002).

Additionally, Indo-Fijian emphasised femininity does not merely focus on women being good home and family managers, religiously sound, soft-spoken, respectful to elders and maintaining principles of patriarchy – there is also emphasis on an educated girl who has a well-paid job (Shandil, 2016; Balram, 2019). These mentioned attributes make up the epitome of the ideal Indo-Fijian woman as a marriage prospect.

PE teachers’/coaches’ cultural heritage robbing Indo-Fijian women of a fair-go

Often PE teachers and coaches based on their cultural heritage deprive Indo-Fijian girls of a fair-go in sports’ participation (Sugden et al., 2020). Relatively, in this study, 24-year-old Fanny reflected on her high school sporting experiences and revealed that she loved playing soccer with her uncle in her childhood. However, when she approached the school’s Indo-Fijian male soccer coach in high school for a girls’ soccer team, her voice was unheard.

I asked Mr. Sathish if we girls could play soccer during PE, but he said, NO and then I just lost interest in playing sports – netball was the only sport that girls were allowed to play in my school and that did not interest me.

Fanny perceives this rejection by the school’s Indo-Fijian male soccer coach as (orthodox) controls resulting from Mr Sathish’s cultural heritage that is, being an Indo-Fijian man. Similarly, Roshni (24 years old) revealed that in high school, her Indo-Fijian female teachers actually made her believe that playing with boys was ‘abnormal and wrong’. Mr. Sathish and the female Indo-Fijian teachers here reproduce orthodox gender norms. This is akin to Hindu wedding rituals, emphasising that women be submissive and subordinate to their husbands, by reminding the bride that her playful years are over, and she must focus on womanhood and management of her family and marital life (Shandil, 2016).

The Indo-Fijian teachers, in these cases, appear to assume that the natural (usually biological) differences between men and women make women more emotional and weak (Messner, 2011) thus disqualify them from playing soccer or playing with boys. The teachers (sub) consciously reproduce this orthodox view to the students, and sometimes, young Indo-Fijian women start internalising these re-produced perceptions and practices and they themselves start believing that their bodies are not apt to play a particular sport.

For example, as revealed earlier, Anshu mentions that ‘as for Indo-Fijian girls, it is too hard to imagine us playing rugby.’ Relatedly, Khushi recollects her high school PE experiences where her gender and race intersect with PE teachers’ cultural heritage to influence her sporting agency.

Some PE teachers are harsh and insensitive. I once dropped the ball and this female iTaukei teacher called me butter fingers. It was embarrassing and demotivating. Some students used to call me tomboy and then this butter fingers title – a tomboy with butterfingers – what an image – totally put me off PE classes in high school.

Similarly Stride et al.’s (2022) study reports that in UK schools teachers’ gendered beliefs and presumptions associated with hegemonic realm ensure that students perform their gender in appropriate ways. Therefore, Indo-Fijian teachers (like Mr. Sathish), on the basis of their cultural upbringing, can be seen to discourage Indo-Fijian girls from playing sports (Sugden et al., 2020).

Relatedly, the data reveals that iTaukei teachers, too, based on their cultural heritage, influence the sports participation of Indo-Fijian girls as they get judged based on stereotypes of Indo-Fijian girls lacking physicality. For example, Roshni reveals her racialised high school sporting experience when she tried stepping out of the norm to try javelin. Roshni reminisces:

I was keen to try out javelin but was told by my iTaukei sports teacher that it was dangerous for me and that I should try something else, whereas the iTaukei girls were allowed to freely throw javelin like superheroes. No one made any effort to teach me how to throw a javelin.

In the above narrative, it is evident that Roshni’s gender intersects with race to deprive her of a fair go in sports and physical activity participation. Moreover, it is almost impossible for iTaukeis to look past stereotypical views associated with sports and Indo-Fijian girls – they are merely seen as a homogenous group, which is not physical and ‘sporty’ (Sugden, 2020).

There is also a lack of awareness amongst Fijians on Indian sporting archetypes such as Annu Rani (Indian woman Javelin thrower) who has thrown (javelin) over the 60-metre mark winning medals at Asian games, Asian championship and South Asian games (Chakraborty, 2021). In hindsight, Roshni’s race plays a role in being disallowed from trying out javelin; she is told by her iTaukei sports coach to try ‘something else because javelin was dangerous for her’, whereas her iTaukei counterparts are allowed to throw javelin. Roshni’s race is coined with her gender, and her teachers assume that Roshni is not capable of throwing a javelin and will not do well at competition level, thus the effort is not made. The act of depriving Roshni of a fair opportunity to play a sport based on racial and gendered assumptions is often referred to as interest convergence (Milner, 2007; Stefancic & Delgado, 2010) and is in direct opposition of the CEDAW (article 10(g). In other terms, such traditional notions (such as labelling Indo-Fijian girls as weak and lacking physicality), act as a camouflage for the self-interest, power, and privilege of dominant groups (Donnor, 2014) such as the iTaukei sports coaches in this case. Here, equitable practice by PE teachers and sports coaches during PE lessons and school sporting events would allow all students to participate based on their interest as opposed to preconceived ideas based on ones gender, race and phenotype. Policymakers and PE and sports practice in schools need to reflect on the layers of gendered and ethnic identities of Indo-Fijian girls, like suggested by Stride (2014) for South Asian Muslim girls in England, in order to meet their multiple and diverse needs in PE. This shift will fulfil the objectives of the CEDAW, article 10, item (g) of Indo-Fijian girls getting the same opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical education.’ Roshni, stating that ‘no one made any effort to teach her how to throw a javelin’, confirms that PE and sports practices are still not an equal playing field for all Fijian children.

Relatedly, the indigenous stakeholders of rugby in Fiji label Indo-Fijians as too physically weak to play rugby to maintain their interest as custodians of physicality and hegemonic masculinity in Fiji (Sugden, 2020). In hindsight, this ‘interest’ is reproduced each time national and club-level rugby teams are represented merely by iTaukei players. This reproduction of power is then translated beyond the sporting platform where iTaukeis alone are deemed apt to represent the nation culturally and politically (Mishra, 2007).

Discrimination of Indo-Fijian women in sports advances the interests of a powerful part of the Fijian society – and there is little incentive to eradicate it and indigenous stakeholders of dominant sports discourses (rugby) maintain sports as an indigenous forte (Sugden, 2020). Therefore, Ashriya continuing to play netball and Meena and Khushi continuing with soccer not only destabilises (Indo-Fijian) emphasised femininity and Fijian masculinity structures, but also proves Foucault’s (1977) notion – ‘that where there is power there is resistance’.

The next section focuses on the particular case of Meena who plays netball, soccer and rugby. She manages to crack patriarchal, matriarchal and racial structures, while experiencing the benefits that sports and physical activities have to offer, therefore giving rise to a different kind of Indo-Fijian femininity.

A different kind of femininity: the subversive bodies of ‘sporty’ Indo-Fijian girls

My father lets me play netball but doesn’t like the short netball dress I have to wear; my mum is fine, she sometimes comes to cheer when I play netball and tells me that I must win.

Here we can see that unlike Ashriya’s family, Meena’s mother is fine with her daughter playing netball, and she also goes to the extent of attending some of her games and cheering for her. There, she is clearly undoing the gender order (Butler, 2011). Her father, on the other hand, allowed her to play but was not happy with Meena’s short netball dress. Here we see a ‘parental gender struggle’: her father does not disallow her from playing but controls her femininity via her extended body image (what she wears) to achieve the arguable (Indo-Fijian) emphasised femininity (Connell, 1995; Messerschmidt, 2019; Shandil, 2016). With Meena continuing to play netball wearing a short dress, she constructs ‘different’ femininities in the Indo-Fijian context: femininity that not only ‘resists’, but subtly ‘protests’ for gender equality and social justice (Connell, 1995). Moreover, Meena has no issues with the netball dress; she merely focuses on enjoying a physically active life.

In contrast, Sugden et al. (2020) note a senior government official (iTaukei woman) involved with Sports Outreach in Fiji, complaining that Indo-Fijian women are difficult to engage in sport because of their resistance towards wearing sport attire. However, no background or further information is provided to validate where this resistance comes from – the parents, the girls themselves and/or both or the (Indo) Fijian society? And the reader is left to wonder and make conclusions. Therefore Meena’s story here unveils interesting insights into the complex gendered social realities where all these issues unfold; there are many more tiers than just ‘Indo-Fijian women being difficult to engage’. And to understand these realities is a step to figure out new strategies to bring these girls on board to a healthier and happier life through sports practices.

Moreover, by playing sports that are associated with men, Meena is an example of a real gender order troubler and shaker. Meena recollects her soccer experience of scoring a goal that too when the goalie was a boy (Rajesh).

We played boys vs. girls soccer for fun during PE and I actually scored a goal, that too when the goalie was a boy (Rajesh). The boys had teased Rajesh saying he had no balls, as he could not stop a ball kicked by a girl. Rajesh, for the first time, had felt how I feel when I get called tomboy.

Rajesh does not perform or display the tenets of (Indo-Fijian) hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 1995; Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005) – he is not able to stop the ball kicked by a girl, so the boys label him as ‘having no balls’. Rajesh is connoted as being a ‘sissy’ (not having any balls, the ultimate symbol of hegemonic masculinity) and this incident has a (more) harmful designation for Rajesh, as he is continuously teased. In hindsight, Meena is labelled as a ‘tomboy’ (but not teased like Rajesh) when she displays tenets of masculinity by scoring a goal. However,Heasley and Crane’s (2016) study reveals that both tomboys and sissies disrupt the essentialist perception of gender and are negatively looked upon. Thus, even though this group is young and mixed, both Rajesh and Meena get labels for failing to perform their gender in a way that constitutes the materiality of their bodies’ heterosexual imperative (Butler, 2011). Therefore, via the sporting agency (including PE) of boys and girls in Fijian schools (similar to some UK schools – Stride et al., 2022), gender power relations and gender differences are reinforced, based on student’s cultural heritage and internalisations of gendered and racialised stereotypes. Thus, these gender regulations (Butler, 2011) continue to constrain sporting bodies like Meena, blocking their paths to freedom.

Furthermore, by continuing to claim Indo-Fijian female physicality, athletic girls persistently assert that physical power is neither masculine, nor repressive, thereby disrupting the gender binaries/orders of their society (Kanemasu, 2018; Tagg, 2008). This is disclosed by Meena’s rugby agency:

It’s a lot of fun, once I was tackled by this iTaukei boy, I fell but just got up and started playing again; I even scored a try as I can do goose steps and run very fast.

In the above excerpt there are clear illustrations of Butler’s (2011) notion of abject bodies intimidating the realm of compliant bodies. Also, in intimidating compliant bodies via her sporting agency, Meena embodies pleasure whilst playing rugby and experiencing body contact with a (iTaukei) boy, which is very rare for an (socially athletic) Indo-Fijian girl. Gard and Meyenn (2000), in their study of physical activity preferences of Australian secondary school boys, reveal that the boys more easily talk about pain than pleasure in sports. In contrast, Meena does not talk about any pain whilst receiving the tackle. She merely describes the act of being tackled (by a boy) as ‘fun’ and emphasises her body being able to ‘get up’ and ‘get on’ with the game – placing emphasis on ‘pleasure’, rather than pain. In this scenario, the notion of pain-pleasure and pride associated with contact-physical sports is not based on gender or race and is not exclusive to iTaukei men (and women).

Meena’s sporting agency shatters both gender and racial stereotypes, thus transforming a body that could be perceived as ‘abject’ into an independent body; she constructs a new gender order in her realm; she drives the contended borders of the acknowledged and generally tolerable bodies (iTaukeis in this case), thus expanding the gender norms (Butler, 2011). Meena performs her gender fluidly by participating in sports associated with men/masculinities (Butler, 1990; Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005; Messner, 2011). Meena hints at the real contradictions of the diversity in the Fijian context, and her agency aids in cracking to some extent racial-based sporting stereotypes such as – white men can not jump or South Asian women can not play football (Hylton, 2008; Ratna, 2011). This should motivate schools and policymakers to safely introduce physical/contact sports to students of different ethnic backgrounds and genders, thus allowing every individual a fair go to enjoy one’s body safely (Gard & Meyenn, 2000), thus achieving the CEDAW’s aims for the sports and PE fields.

Moreover, Indo-Fijian girls who actively participate in PE, PA and/or sports are forced to maintain two separate identities. For example, Meena displays masculine traits like strength and assertiveness whilst playing sports but is compelled to display femininity in social contexts through appearance and dress (Bennett et al., 2017). Meena discloses her experience:

When I play soccer and rugby, the Indo-Fijians- especially the girls in school remind me that I need to put more time in my studies as this is the second time I am doing Year 12. But I love playing sports. I love wearing checked shirts and jeans but do not like being called a tomboy. These days I just force myself to wear dresses and skirts during social outings to hide the only way that I know to walk, which many people tell me is like a boy.

The above excerpt reveals that Meena fails to display female-ness as both absolute and biological based constructs (Connell, 1995), but displays heterodoxy (Coles, 2009) and subversiveness (Butler, 2011) by playing rugby with her iTaukei neighbours and soccer with Indo-Fijian boys. The Indo-Fijian girls in Meena’s circle intersect Meena’s gender with her race (being an Indo-Fijian girl) and class (poor performance in academic work). And instead of admiration for Meena’s embodied strength and prowess, they somehow critique her and translate those qualities as Meena being a tomboy. Meena’s girlfriends are aware of within-gender hierarchy and tend to value other girls who most readily conform to the gender binary (Heasley & Crane, 2016). The disapproval of gender disorder by Meena’s schoolmates risks marginalising women who seek empowerment through women’s solidarity to break away from masculinist norms and patriarchal orders (Akyüz & Sayan-Cengiz, 2016).

Conclusion

This paper critically examines the narratives of young Indo-Fijian women’s gendered and racialised (intersecting with economic disadvantage) PE, PA and both formal and informal sporting experiences, which can constrain their ability to be involved in sports and to manage their bodies according to their own will. The intersectionality matrix has been employed throughout the discussion to make visible the double (and sometimes triple) inequalities that Indo-Fijian girls/women face – a complex system of oppression based on race, gender, social class (and occasionally traversed by other hierarchies such as religion, caste and age orders too) where the young women who participate in PE, PA and/or sport can be ‘saved’ by challenging the gender norms, but then are undermined by their ethnicity – or vice versa. The findings reveal that Indo-Fijian boys and girls are encouraged (even compelled) by their family (elders) and community to perform gender normative behaviour aligned with patriarchy (and sometimes matriarchy as well) in order to maintain the Indo-Fijian rigid binary gender order. Moreover, in our sample, Indo-Fijian girls from poor families have more pressure to perform well academically, therefore, sporting agencies are less favoured, discouraged or even restricted. The study also discloses that girls who actively participate in PE, PA and/or sports that are traditionally associated with men (rugby, soccer), must maintain two separate gender identities – whilst playing sports they use standards of traditional male athleticism and while in social settings they are compelled to employ tenets of (Indo-Fijian) emphasised femininity.

Moreover, in this study, Indo-Fijian girls who actively participated in PE, PA or a particular sport, were found to resist traditional gender constructs, racism and Fijian masculinities, and disrupt gender/racial orders by moving up from their preconceived and somehow socially desired passive sedentary bodies at the bottom of the Fijian gender/masculinity scale. The findings also revealed that young Indo-Fijian women (who actively participate in PE, PA and/or sports) themselves are not troubled by their body image (or sports attire) but are questioned and controlled via societal objectifying gazes (their elders, other Indo-Fijian women, and iTaukeis), which perceive Indo-Fijian women’s bodies as a misfit for sporting agencies.

Finally, the research revealed that embodied pleasure experienced through contact/physical sports like rugby is fluid and not exclusive to any gender or race. Thus, even though the small sample of this study does not allow us to make larger assumptions about the whole population of Indo-Fijian young women, or to write definite affirmations, it is relevant to say that gender-neutral sports and PE lessons in school for boys and girls of all races can break established gender/racial stereotypes and promote a shift from the orthodox views of masculinities/femininities. Thus, there is a need for specific approaches to inclusion in schools that create a sense of belonging (for Indo-Fijian girls) based upon valuing and respecting different ethnic backgrounds and supporting the process of social integration which allows for the achievement of the gender equity goals established in CEDAW’s, Article 10(g).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Individuals of different cultures who are native to Britain and Ireland.

2 Refers to any type of bodily movement and may include recreational, fitness, and sport activities as well as daily activities.

3 A subject taught in school, aiming to promote health and physical fitness by encouraging psychomotor learning through play and movement exploration.

4 Activities involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

5 The state of being physical; involves a lot of bodily contact or activity.

6 An important system, which is a part of ancient Hindu tradition, which obligates the social status of a person to the caste that they were born into, thus limiting interaction and behaviour with people from another social status.

7 Visitors.

8 Western Sydney University Ethics Approval Number H13113. We employed pseudonyms in this paper to protect participants’ identities

9 The warrior caste, which is the second highest in the Hindu caste system.

10 Hindu prayers.

11 Paternal grandmother.