Progressive and inclusive? The U12 Softball World Cup, gender equality, and governance in youth baseball and softball

In 2019, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) organized the first-ever U12 Softball World Cup. This tournament was unique because it was designed as a mixed sex event, with rules meant to promote gender equality in youth softball. Teams were required to play four boys and at least four girls in the field, with a batting line-up alternating between girls and boys. According to the WBSC, this tournament was, and continues to be, ‘one of the most progressive and inclusive youth events in international sport’. Underneath this claim, however, lies discrepancies in how the WBSC approaches gender equality in its other youth tournaments. Utilizing a critical reading the U12 Softball World Cup informed by theoretical framings of doing and undoing gender in sport organizations, this article unpacks and contextualizes these discrepancies, many of which are rooted in gender stereotypes that continue to mark baseball as a sport for boys and softball as the appropriate equivalent for girls. While the mixed sex softball tournament might function as a small win by disrupting these stereotypes, the lack of mixed sex and girls’ events in global baseball and limited opportunities for boys in softball reveal a need for change in the structuring and delivery of resources, support, and events.