Gender Equality in Sport: Legal Frameworks, Structural Inequalities and the Limits of Institutional Governance

Gender equality has become an established principle of international human rights law and an increasingly explicit objective of sports governance. Yet formal recognition has not removed the structural inequalities that continue to shape women's participation in sport. Access to professional opportunities, economic resources, media visibility and decision-making positions remains uneven. Career progression is also affected by institutional practices that may appear neutral while operating within historically unequal structures. This article examines the relationship between gender equality and sports law from a perspective that moves beyond the mere existence of non-discrimination rules. Its central argument is that the principal weakness of the current framework lies in the distance between normative commitment and institutional implementation. International human rights standards, European policy instruments and sports-governance strategies have developed considerably. What remains less developed is the machinery through which these commitments can be tested against actual institutional outcomes.The analysis considers five connected dimensions of gender equality in sport: participation, economic opportunity, media representation, professional development and governance. Particular attention is given to the position of women within decision-making structures, because representation is not simply an indicator of equality. It also affects who determines sporting priorities, allocates resources and defines institutional responses to inequality. The article proposes an accountability-based model founded on institutional responsibility, measurable standards, transparency, independent scrutiny and proportionate response. The objective is not to impose identical outcomes across different sporting disciplines. It is to ensure that persistent and unjustified disparities become visible, explainable and subject to proportionate institutional response.The literature has developed substantive equality and accountability largely as related but distinct fields. This article connects them through an institutional test of persistent gender disparity, termed explainable disparity, to examine when a disparity should trigger explanation, scrutiny and proportionate institutional response.