I FEEL it has been a good news, bad news, kind of week for women in sport after reading about a couple of things that are happening to help bridge the gender gap. Before we all get too excited, these projects are all happening elsewhere in the world and not here in Scotland.
Firstly, Hockey Canada has mandated that a minimum of two women must sit on any future board of governors, with a pledge that its nominations committee is specifically tasked with recruiting, in general, a more diverse group of board nominees, including visible minorities. In Australia, the federal government has agreed to hand over another $10 million in funding to FOX Sports, with the aim of improving the coverage of women’s and niche sports.
This will bring their investment to $40m over six years. However, this has not been without controversy and debate.
Given the level of investment, women are disappointed with the continued low coverage and believe the money could have been better utilised in a more strategic and creative manner.
One of their complaints is the lack of visibility of women’s sport during the pandemic. While the memory banks of men’s sport have been well and truly plundered, the lack of similar coverage for women’s sport has been extremely patchy, extending to non-existent in some cases.
This, I would say, will be mirrored in most other countries, and certainly in Scotland.
Recent research from Suncorp in Australia revealed that more than one-quarter of teenage girls are at risk of not returning to play team sport, following time away during lockdown. One in four has simply lost interest and more than half said that in their opinion “nothing can be done” to make them look forward to participating in team sports again.
It is worth repeating the favourite phrase of those of us who have worked to help increase opportunities for women and girls to participate in sport: “You can’t be what you can’t see.”
This is why it is imperative that when sport re-commences we continue to see increased coverage of women’s events at all levels, throughout all media platforms.
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