The role of the media: Fact or fiction?

A post by Shannon:

Recently I was thrilled when, in the lead up to the Australia v New Zealand netball test series, the Today Show featured the Australian Diamonds on the program, and Karl Stefanovic even took part in a mock training drill with the girls. I thought “wow, isn’t it fabulous that main stream breakfast television is promoting the series!”. Sadly it was all undone when, only minutes later, Neil Mitchell from 3AW radio (and a regular guest on the Today Show) told Karl that “netball is OK to play but boring to watch”. Neil Mitchell, if you are reading this blog (and I’m tipping you’re not) you should be ashamed of yourself.

The simple fact of the matter is that Mitchell’s statement is just not true. Regardless of if you are a netball fan, and even if you don’t know the rules, the rivalry between Australia and New Zealand has to be up there with the best in the world. For at least 15 years, these two teams have had hard fought matches with such close finishes. I could probably count on two hands the number of times that the final margin has been more than five goals. I think most people would be drawn into any sport where the lead changes constantly and the winner is literally not clear until the final siren.

But Mitchell, like everyone, is entitled to his opinion. However it got me to thinking: should media personalities make their opinions known, or should they simply report the facts, and allow the public to make their own decisions and inform their own opinions based on these facts.

The media is so influential in our day to day lives. And while I am certainly not endorsing censorship, or opposing freedom of speech, I believe that members of the media should be held to a higher standard. What was surely intended as an off the cuff remark by Mitchell, has the ability to influence others, and undo some of the good work of his fellow media members. In this instance it was a case of taking one step forward and two steps back.

Women on Sporting Boards

A post by Beth

Photo source: www.business21.com.au

Back in the day sporting clubs and definitely board rooms were a male only environment. The suggestion that women should be a part of a sporting board would have caused outright hilarity. However times have changed and women are now not content to sit on the sides lines politely cheering on their muscled men. Women want to be a part of sporting organisations in higher positions than secretary or personal assistant. And so they should! Surprise, surprise women are not as fragile as they were perceived to be in the good old times.  Women are just as intelligent and highly skilled enough to be able to take up positions within sporting organisations that used to be the domain of men only. This blog entry will talk about women’s representation in Australian sporting boards, barriers to them getting there and some programs and ideas in place to assist them.

 

Sporting organisations have been male only places but are now being pressured to conform and allow more women to join their boards.  In Australia only 23% of board positions in National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) are female (ASC, 2013). Of this percentage 37% are CEOs and only 19% are Presidents. The board structure of an NSO is essential to its continued ability to provide the best opportunities for the organisation, so why is it still so hard for women to become a part of a male dominated area of sport? As stated on the ASC website:

 

“Extensive research among leading businesses shows that diverse boards make for better decision-making and more effective organisations.  Companies where women hold at least 30% of senior management positions are significantly more successful and better able to deal with future challenges.” (ASC, 2013)

 

So if this is the case for corporate businesses then why are some sporting organisations so reluctant to allow women to be a part of their organisation? Perhaps it has something to do with a lot of board members being older and more set in traditional ways. Their experience is invaluable for a sporting organisation but it is also important to regularly rotate new board members in to keep the board fresh with new ideas and perspectives. Without change a board could become stagnant and entrenched in the same methods they always use. Incorporating new ideas and changes will benefit the organisation. Having women on the board would add a new perspective as well. Women think differently to men and obviously would have a better perspective of women’s issues that may be occurring within the organisation and be better able to represent them on the board than another male member.

 

According to Claringbould and Knoppers, 2012 “The gender ratio of those in positions of leadership continues to be skewed toward a male majority.” This means that women are still not getting the opportunities that men have of being members of sports boards. Of the 58 sports funded by the Australian Sports Commission 10 have met the new guidelines for having at least 40% of board members being female (Yay for those sports you’re awesome!), 26 sports have only one female board member and six of the sports have no female members (Boo!) (Taylor, 2013). For whole article http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/take-more-women-on-board-lundy-20130226-2f46v.html)

 

Curious I looked up several Australian sporting organisations to see their board member ratio as of this year.

Netball Australia: 7 women, 0 men

Hockey Australia: 4 women, 5 men

Swimming Australia: 2 women, 5 men

Gymnastics Australia: 2 women, 5 men

Football Federation Australia (FFA): 1 woman, 6 men

Cricket Australia: 1 woman, 8 men

Judo Australia: 0 women,  5 men

Just looking at these few organisations clearly represents that women are significantly underrepresented in the structural organisation of Australian sporting boards (excepting Netball). Clearly something needs to be done!

 

Picture source: www.glasslewis.com

 

So what is keeping women from joining the elusive ranks of a sporting organisation? According to the ASC there are several reasons why women are finding it hard to launch into leadership roles. Reasons include a lack of role models, as there are so few women in leadership roles in sport the idea of becoming involved is still very strange and without women to look up to potential employees are reluctant to try and enter into a male dominated environment. Institutionalised structures and recruitment processes may also deter women from wanting to join. Some sporting organisations may be very reluctant to allow people from outside the sport to become members of the board, preferring to recruit new board members from a known pool of current members. This again discourages women from applying unless they are already involved in the sport in some way.

 

Another barrier to women being members of sports boards is that they may not have the knowledge or skills required to be a board member. It is important that women have the opportunity to gain the skills and merit needed to become members of sports boards. Sporting boards have long been dominated by males. It is time for women to have the chance to show that they too have the skills and abilities to be in charge of sport organisations. To counter these barriers the ASC has set up two programs designed to aid women to become members of sporting organisations, these programs are the Sport Leadership Grants and Scholarships for Women program (SLGSWP) which in 2013-14 period has been provided with $400,000 from the Australian Government to assist women in gaining the training they need in coaching, officiating, governance and other areas of sport. Linking with the SLGSWP is the Women in Sport Leadership Register which aims to help women gain places on sporting boards. (ASC, 2013)

For more info www.ausport.gov.au/participating/women/get_involved

New legislation from the ASC concerning the governance of sporting boards includes a section on gender balance and an incentive to quickly improve on their governance is that NSOs that don’t comply could risk losing 20% of the funding they receive from the Australian Government. (Women’s Agenda, 2013). For whole article http://www.womensagenda.com.au/talking-about/top-stories/sporting-bodies-told-to-address-board-gender-diversity/201303191849

Another way to aid women in being able to be a part of a board could be the introduction of compulsory quotas that include a certain amount of women members. VicSport interviewed women who are currently board directors and got their opinions on various issues that women face in the sporting world. The idea of quotas received both positive and negative responses. Positive responses included that it would be “an opportunity to break down barriers and improve the confidence of women to apply for the positions with a reasonable and fair chance at being successful in the application” (VicSport, 2013) also having quotas would increase “awareness of the benefits of gender diversity on boards” (VicSport, 2013). Some negative responses included that “positions may no longer be afforded to the best possible candidate” (VicSport, 2013) or that unless the entire board is willing to embrace a significant cultural change then the chances of failure increase significantly. (VicSport, 2013). So quotas could be a good thing for women but they may also become an issue for boards as they may be forced to fill positions with people that are not qualified for the job.

So the unequal ratios of women vs men on sporting boards are slowly being reduced. This is encouraging for many women who wish to share their skills and knowledge to further enhance a sporting organisation. As discussed there are many barriers preventing women from joining sporting boards but with the provision of support programs such as the Sport Leadership Grants and Scholarships for Women program (SLGSWP) and information about the benefits of cultural change within boards being provided, the motion is in place to improve the ratios of women on sporting boards.

 

Ideally we want to go from this to this eventually :-)

 

Picture source: www.wescotland.co.uk

 

Gender differences in salary/prize winning payments

A post by Beth

I’m going to start this blog post with a simple question: Should male and female sports stars be paid the same amount of money within their sport? To me the simple answer is yes of course! Male and female athletes train as hard as each other within their respective sports. Men and women are both able to represent their countries at the highest level. Female sports and sport stars offer a different form of entertainment to the more male dominated sports. Their goals of achievement are similar so why should their salary be different? Now I’m sure everyone will start shouting their own opinion which shows that the answer to the question is not as simple as you might think.

Tennis is a great example where male and female competitors receive the same prize winning amounts. During the 2013 Australian Open the winners of the men’s and ladies singles won $2.43 million (Heathcote, 2013), this equal prize giving continued throughout the various winning levels of the competition to a total pool of $22.01 million for each competition.  Wimbledon became the last of the four Grand Slams (US, Australia, French, Wimbledon) to offer equal pay for men and women, finally joining the ranks in 2007, just over four decades after the US first initiated equal prize winnings(Handley, 2013).

On first reading this it sounds pretty fair but remember that in tennis the difference in playing times has caused argument over whether women should be paid the same as men. Yes men have a longer game of five sets compared to women only playing three but that doesn’t necessarily mean the game will always be longer. If there are two particularly strong female players competing compared to a strong and weaker male the female game may last longer as they are more competitive and if similarly skilled more difficult to gain the points needed to win. A stronger vs weaker male game, though it is allowed 5 sets could be over in 3 straight sets, so the same length as a women’s game. In this case equal pay is fair.

Continuing with this argument this difference in match length could show that women are not strong enough to play five sets but since they haven’t been given the opportunity to prove they can this theory is not well met. Women should be given the opportunity to play five set games the same as men to prove that they too can come back from being two sets down to win the match. These are the exciting men’s games that people stay up to watch, it takes great skill and mental strength to come back fighting from being down two sets in a five set match. Women should be given this same chance to prove they have the same stamina and skill that men have. Or should men’s matches be shortened to three sets? This would also equal the time played for men and women and the men might feel better about it as less effort to earn the same amount of money. An interesting concept that I’m sure would trigger discussion!

Golf on the other hand is a sport where there are huge differences in the amount of prize money men and women receive. The 2013 PGA Championships had a prize pool of $8 million (Golf & Course, 2013) in comparison, tournaments on the Ladies PGA circuit did not even come close to this amount, prize money for the tournaments throughout the season varied between $1 million and $3.25 million (LPGA, 2013), a far cry from the men’s game. Currently men’s games are more popular and thus attract more sponsors which enables a higher prize pool. Again is this fair on the ladies? Are men’s games more interesting because they can hit the ball further than women? Women have as much skill and talent as men do and train for their events just as hard and yet their games and women’s sport in general are not as popular or seen to be as interesting so lack support from sponsors.

The American NBA and WNBA also have quite staggering differences in the salary between men and women despite the fact that they play the same game. Looking at a list of player salaries for the various teams of the NBA, player salaries have a wide range from a “lowly” $500,000 to the tens of millions for one season (Hoopsworld, 2013). In comparison, women in the WNBA have a much lower salary. Their maximum payout is $107,000 for the 2013 season and only if they have been a member of the WNBA for 6 years. The minimum they have to be paid for less than 3 years service is a piddling $37,950!! (Examiner, 2013). This vastly differing salary range is again due to the fact that the men’s basketball is highly anticipated, and watched by a lot more people than the women’s, it is seen to be more exciting so thus attracts more sponsors and media attention which allows the player’s salaries to be much higher than the women’s.

So although there are some sports embracing equality in men’s and women’s salaries or prize winnings, the majority of sports still have a wide gap in the amount that professional men and women get paid for their sport. It is important to acknowledge women’s sport and the impact it does have on young girls even though it is not strongly represented through the media. Women work just as hard at their sports as men do and despite the lack of media attention and sponsors it is important that women are respected and in the future work is done to ensure that a more even amount of money is paid to our female sport stars.

Is there such a thing as too much sex?

A post by Shannon:

We all know that sex sells, and many people are all guilty of using the suggestion of sex to their advantage from time to time. I’ve just done it here by putting the word ‘sex’ in the title of my blog, when really, that’s not what my blog is about. Well, it’s not the complete focus anyway.

So, let’s talk about sex…

Recently, I caught the pre-game promo for a televised Australia v Malawi netball match. The promo showed various members of the Australian Diamonds netball team with long flowing hair, and meticulously applied make up in semi-staged catching and passing poses on a netball court. Don’t get me wrong, there are some attractive girls on that team, but the promo was not indicative of what really goes on on the netball court. Only one week earlier, I had watched the same girls live at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in a match against New Zealand, and there was lots of body contact, quite a few spills, and even a few drops of blood.

My initial reaction was to be appalled that those elite athletes had to ‘reduce themselves’ to using their feminine wiles to attract spectators, but then I stopped myself and wondered… should I be appalled, or should I stand up and applaud these women for doing whatever it takes to ensure the longevity of their sport?

In the year 2000, the Australian women’s soccer team, the Matildas, launched a nude calendar, displaying each of the 12 players naked in black and white photos. The initial print run of 5,000 copies had to be increased to 45,000 copies to meet demand, and the launch party was standing room only. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/543803.stm). News related to the calendar was reported globally, and so, it is fair to say that the goal of increasing the publicity of the Matildas was achieved. However this publicity did not escape criticism, and many questioned why the media typically focused more on the physical attributes of female athletes rather than their sporting prowess. (http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2000/ascweb/sexploitation.asp).

Picture source: The Daily Telegraph

The Matildas are not the only female athletes to release a calendar, in fact it’s fairly common place these days. I recall seeing a Maria Sharapova calendar a few years ago which actually did feature pictures that demonstrated Sharapova’s sporting prowess: either hitting a strong forehand, or smashing a lob. It would have been perfect except for the inclusion of the side on profile of Sharapova eating a banana. Subtle, this was not!

Picture source: Photobucket 

‘Sexploitation’ is a term that is commonly used to describe the sexualisation of athletes (http://www.ausport.gov.au/participating/women/resources/issues/sexploitation) and some may say this is taken to a new level with the development of sports such as the Legends Football League (LFL) (formerly known as the Lingerie Football League), which is the fastest growing pro sports league in the US, according to NBC Sports (http://www.lflus.com/). In the early days, this league literally featured women playing gridiron in bras and underpants. They wore no shoulder padding, and could often be seen as the halftime entertainment at games of the National Football League (NFL). Interestingly, a few years down the track and now that the LFL is well established, subtle changes are beginning to occur such as the competitors now wear uniforms that are now classed as performance apparel and not lingerie (yes, they are still skimpy) and images of sexy women are being omitted from team logos.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legends_Football_League). Does this mean that even though the sport began by hooking people in with the suggestion of sex, fans now appreciate the players for their sporting ability and not just for their physical attributes? The clip below demonstrates that these women are proper competitors and they play the game hard!

Source: Youtube 

To be honest, I am really torn about this topic. In a perfect world, female professional athletes would be recognised more for their sporting prowess and performance on the field, and less for how they look, with or without their clothes on. But it is not a perfect world, and female athletes face the same challenges that women in all professions do - the main challenge being that it is not always a level playing field (pardon the pun). Even though it is not a perfect solution, and part of me is cringing as I am writing this, why shouldn’t women feel empowered to use whatever means they have at their disposal if it means they can increase viewership, and media exposure, and fans, and sponsorship. And if the suggestion of sex is one of those options, then I say, use it!

UFC - An unlikely partner in the fight for gender equality

A post by Katie

UFC is a successful mixed martial arts company which has exploded in popularity across the globe. The sport is a brutal mix of a variety of fighting styles, including ju jitsu, boxing, wrestling, judo and often ends with blood, broken bones, a knock out and a hospital visit. This sport is not one that you would associate with women at all, in fact, president of UFC Dana White was once famous for his declaration that ‘women would never fight in the UFC. Now, Dana White cannot stop talking about the success of women in the sport, and ratings for women’s fights are growing. Where sportswomen all over the world are fighting for equal exposure and pay, the UFC has become an unlikely example of what could be. This article will explore some aspects of women’s involvement in UFC, and demonstrate the barriers it is helping breakdown.

The UFC has a number of weight based divisions, where fighters take on opponents of similar weight and all weight divisions fight under the same rules and requirements. In the UFC, this is five 5 minute rounds, unless the fight finishes earlier, through submission or knockout. The introduction of women into the sport came through a new weight division of women’s bantamweight, where women fight under the same rules as men, against opponents of the same gender and similar weight. The structure of women in UFC sends a message that women are as tough and as capable as men, and this is further supported by the planned introduction of a number of women's weight divisions, played on the same card as men's fights. 

This structure is a positive approach to mixed gender sport; traditional method of sporting separation sends a subtle message that women’s sport is second to men, and that men’s sport represent real power and athleticism, or quite simply, that men’s sport is the real thing. ( (McDonagh & Pappano, 2008) This idea is further substantiated by the differences in play rules, for example, tennis, where women play best of 3 sets, while men play best of 5. This rule stemmed from an old concern that women would over exerting themselves, however has never been changed to reflect that women are capable of playing the same duration as men. UFC expects women to fight under the same conditions and rules as men, and as such, subtly contributes to a change of view regarding the athleticism, strength and power of women, when compared to men.

Women’s sport has often been more about sex appeal than the sport itself. There is a rampant sexualisation and focus on appearance of women in sport, which shifts the focus from their physical power and ability and minimises the symbolic threat sportswomen pose to male power and dominance  (Wenner, 1998). The Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the World, and as such, should be a progressive and promote equality. Unfortunately, coverage of the Olympics remains focused on the sex appeal of women.  A study of the 2008 Olympic coverage showed that 97% of the coverage of women's sport focusing on the six sports offering the most sex appeal for male audiences. Even worse, one study found that 37% of close up shots were focused on a woman’s chest or bottom.  (Kian, Bernstein, & McGuire, 2013)

The UFC is surprisingly ahead of the game when it comes to promoting the strength and power of women, rather than their sex appeal. Women fight in an unrevealing sports bra or t shirt and trunks, in the style they choose. The lack of sex appeal in the uniform allows the attention on their bodies, but in the power, muscles and strength of their bodies, as for the men’s fights, not for the sex appeal on show. 

The income generated through sport is intertwined with the media coverage of the sport, and athlete. The more media interest from the public, the more they are willing to pay, and in turn, the more exposure, the higher the sponsorship interest for the sport and athlete. Many argue that the focus on women’s bodies and sex appeal is necessary for media and sponsorship, therefore making it okay, as it means that female athletes have more opportunity to make money. The coverage of women’s sport is unacceptable and goes further to reinforce the gender ideology that women are sexy, beautiful, graceful, but not meant to be powerful or athletic.

The debut women’s fight in the UFC, between Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche, was not focused on sex appeal. It was as brutal as a men’s fight, with Ronda Rousey beating Liz Carmouche in the first round with an arm bar submission. Despite the lack of sex appeal, the fight reportedly sold over 400,000 pay per views, which is around the same for the recent UFC 153 fight featuring long time champion Anderson Silva. (Holland, 2013) This result proves that woman can attract television coverage through their skill and athleticism, just the same as men can. 

The success of UFC 157, and the response from the public has boosted the profile of women in the sport, and opened the doors for other women. Ronda Rousey is a key female fighter helping to breakdown these barriers, and surprisingly, being fairly remunerated for it. Where many women struggle to be adequately paid in the sporting world, Ronda Rousey has reportedly signed a massive contract with the UFC. She was paid $90,000 (half of which was a negotiated winning bonus) for her debut fight in the UFC, and was also reportedly given a portion of pay per view sales, a contract bonus only offered to a select few fighters. This substantial contract opens the door for future women fighters to negotiate a contract that is fair in comparison to their male counterparts.

In further progress, the UFC has committed to expanding women in UFC through the reality TV show, The Ultimate Fighter. For the first time, mixed gender teams of UFC fighters will fight for a contract under the guidance of two female coaches, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. The fact that a male dominated sport has two female stars coaching men and women in a popular reality TV show, shows the success of women in the UFC, and the respect given to female competitors by other fighters, both male and female, by the supporters and by the organisation. 

The journey the UFC has taken towards gender equality is far from over, but the organisation has taken big steps forward in the way that they have promoted women, and highlighted the power and success of these fighters. They have demonstrated that women can be admired for more than their looks, and produced some strong role models for other young girls who wish to succeed in any male dominated sport. If a fighting company can do it, I believe that any sport can!

References

Coakley, J., Hallinan, C., Jackson, S., & Mewett, P. (2009). Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies in Australia and New Zealand. Australia: McGraw Hill.

Holland, J. (2013, February 26). UFC 157 pay-per-view (PPV) buys top 400k for Ronda Rousey according to early estimates. Retrieved from MMA Mania: http://www.mmamania.com/2013/2/26/4005420/ufc-157-pay-per-view-ppv-buys-400k-ronda-rousey-mma

Kian, E., Bernstein, A., & McGuire, J. (2013). A major boost for gender equality or more of the same? The television coverage of female athletes at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Journal of Popular Television, 143-149.

McDonagh, E., & Pappano, L. (2008). Playing with the Boys: Why Seperate is Not Equal in Sports. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wenner, L. (. (1998). Media Sport. New York: Routledge.

Are female professional athletes being short changed?

A post by Shannon:

For many of us who work in the corporate world, we are familiar with the concept that we are remunerated in return for our effort and sometimes based on our performance (for example, commission payments). But it seems as though these are not the only factors that determine salaries for professional athletes.

I refer, of course, to the general imbalance between remuneration for male professional athletes compared to their female counterparts. It raises the question: should professional athletes be paid in recognition of their effort and performance? Or is the financial reward always going to be influenced by the popularity of the sport, and the participant.

Recently, Lance (Buddy) Franklin was reportedly offered a $12m six-year deal with the Greater Western Sydney AFL team, plus a healthy top up if he agreed to take on an Ambassadorial role with the club (Ralph: 2013). Franklin was to receive these payments irrespective of his own personal performance or that of the team. Compare this to the average wage paid to a netball player competing in the ANZ National Championship, which is just $21,800 per year, excluding sponsorship and endorsements (Partland: 2013). This example is just one of many that highlight the enormous gulf between salaries paid to male and female professional athletes.

Picture source: Wayne Ludbey

Wikipedia defines professional sports as ‘sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance’. Therefore, the athletes that compete in professional sports are classified as professional athletes. Note the use of the word ‘performance’ in this definition.

Most of the ANZ Championship netballers have now made the transition from semi-professionalism and are classified as professional athletes. While, on average, the salaries paid to the netballers are relatively meager, this transition provides another advantage. It frees up time, which may have previously been spent engaged in paid employment and can now be dedicated to training. Professional netball players are expected to train six to seven times per week (as well as match play), which is about double the effort that was required prior to the transition (ANON: 2011). In terms of effort, this puts the ANZ Championship netballers on par with their AFL or NRL compatriots.

Picture source: Sarah Green

The Australian women’s cricket team, the Southern Stars, is currently ranked number one in the world. They clearly outperformed the men’s cricket team, who returned home from England not long ago after a disappointing Ashes series. To reflect their status as ‘world beaters’, the top Australian female cricketers received a significant pay rise in May 2013, and now take home up to $80,000 per year (Jarvis: 2013). While this means that remuneration has more than doubled for the women, there is still a vast disparity between this and the current minimum wage of $230,000 for a male cricketer who is contracted to Cricket Australia (Partland: 2013). In terms of performance, not only do the women match the men, in some cases they even exceed them.

Picture source: Quinn Rooney 

So it seems that remuneration for professional athletes is significantly impacted by, and linked to, the popularity of a sport and the individual participants. And there is an argument that this should be the case. Sports is big business, and revenue in sport is driven by media exposure and ticket sales. Sponsors want to align themselves with, and advertise during the most popular sports. A report commissioned by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation showed that for every $100 spent on corporate sports related sponsorship, only 50 cents was invested in women only sports. Perhaps even more shockingly, the Australian Sports Commission’s 2010 report showed that only 9% of sports news coverage was dedicated to women’s sport – horse racing received more airtime! (Go: 2013).

From an equality viewpoint, female professional athletes absolutely deserve to be paid the same as the men. Women competing professionally in individual and team sports have demonstrated time and time again that they can match it with the men in terms of effort, and often outshine the men in terms of performance. However, commercially, they fall behind, and until this is rectified female athletes will always be paid significantly less than men.  

So, in order to increase remuneration for our women in sport, we need to increase the crowds and the sponsors. And in order to increase these two components, greater media exposure and attention is required. There is plenty to promote about women’s sport. By and large, female professional athletes portray a clean and rule abiding image. To date, none have been implicated in the ASADA peptides scandal that has infiltrated two major football leagues in Australia. None were embroiled in ‘Mad Monday’ celebrations that went awry. And none have had their contracts terminated due to binge drinking encounters.

While it is pleasing that Australia seems to be one of the more progressive nations in attempting to bridge the gap between remuneration for male compared to female professional athletes, there is still a long way to go. Until then, women will continue to participate in sports at a professional level, motivated by the love of competition and participation.

References:

Australian Sports Commission. <http://www.ausport.gov.au/>. Viewed 26/10/13.

ANON. 2011. Netball Australia. <http://www.netball.asn.au/extra.asp?ID=11676>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Brennan, Samantha. 2012. Equality Matters. <http://philosophyatwestern.typepad.com/equality_matters/2012/11/exploring-wage-inequality-in-professional-sports.html>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Coakley, J., Hallinan, C., Jackson, S., &amp; Mewett, P. (2009). Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies in Australia and New Zealand. Australia: McGraw Hill.

Go, Marina. 2013. Crikey. <http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/02/13/want-drug-free-athletes-give-womens-sport-a-go/>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Jarvis, Jo. 2013. ABC News. <http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3764229.htm?site=widebay>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Partland, Warren. 2013. The Advertiser. <http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/more-sports/australias-netballers-close-in-on-new-pay-deal/story-fnddcv23-1226625450624>. Viewed 26/10/13.

Ralph, Jon. 2013. Fox Sports News. <http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/hawthorn-believe-their-best-offer-for-lance-franklin-is-75-million-behind-gws-deal/story-e6frf3e3-1226667236486>. Viewed 10/09/13.

Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_athlete>. Viewed 03/11/13.

Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation. <http://www.wsff.org.uk/the-challenge/the-challenge-elite-sportswomen>. Viewed 26/10/13.

Alternative Marketing and Promotional Strategies

A post by Natasha -

Alternative marketing and promotional strategies

-          The first thing we need to see is a culture shift! Society needs to accept the fact that while in our grandparents and maybe even parents younger days, women didn’t play sport, more and more females are starting to participate. Not only this but the fact that more traditional ‘gender specific’ games are going out the window and females are beginning to become more involved with what are classified as ‘typically male sports’.

Government

Example of Title IX in America and its changes to the sporting system. One major thing that has affected the culture and collegiate sporting system in general in America is Title IX. It is a law that was passed in 1972 and means that for collegiate athletics departments that received government funding must ensure that the number of females participating in organised sport and the number of organised sports must be equal for both males and females. Title IX has a lot of critics in all circles of sport, saying that it unfairly reduces opportunities for male athletes. However, this is not true. It is dependent on the school and athletics department that are implementing this law. The schools that are doing this well will, rather than reducing the number of male athletes and programs, increase the number of opportunities for female athletes. Some good examples are at the University of Northern Colorado. They have the second best soccer field in the state and it is used solely for the college women’s soccer team. Also, while renovating, they added change rooms and lockers for the women athletes who previously had nothing.

Good example of what they have started to do. About Time report, a total of 18 recommendations http://www.regional.gov.au/sport/resources/reports/women-in-sport.aspx

Currently, a total of 24 sports are working to achieve participation outcomes with under-represented population groups and 11 national sporting organisations have been funded to support initiatives to increase participation by women. The 11 that have specifically identified women as a targeted population for additional assistance within their participation growth strategy are:

1.Australian Football League

2.Netball Australia

3.Basketball Australia

4.Australian Rugby League

5.Bowls Australia

6.Australian Rugby Union

7.Cricket Australia

8.Tennis Australia

9.Football Federation Australia

10.Touch Football Australia

11.Hockey Australia.

 

To celebrate Australia's achievement in women's sport, the Australian Government has committed to sponsoring the Women's Health, I Support Women In Sport Awards, which will recognise our elite sports women, as well as the achievements of our hometown heroes, women in leadership positions and service to sport. In addition these awards will also include the reinstated Prime Minister's Sportswoman of the Year award. But you wouldn’t know who won these because of the lack of coverage!! (Alicia Coutts, Anna Meares, Steph Gilmore, Sally Pearson and Sam Stosur nominated. Notice anything? All individual athletes)

The ASC has 2 x programs (sport leadership grants for women and women in sport leadership register) recognising that sport is a great way for women to prove their worth. Studies show that businesses where women hold at least 30% of the senior management positions are significantly more successful and better able to deal with future challenges than those without. The grants provide women with opportunities to undertake training to reach their leadership potential within the industry as coaches, officials and administrators. The register is to assist the placement of women on boards and in executive positions where they can apply their training and experience to benefit Australia’s sporting system. There are many qualified, talented and experienced Australian women with the ability to positively contribute to the governance of organisations, however, have had limited opportunity to be considered for a senior position or a directorship. Sports organisations have also reported that they would like assistance in sourcing talented females for consideration for leadership positions.

Media

One way the media can improve the promotion of female sports is advertising and the way they advertise. I will show a comparison of typical men’s and women’s promotions, first looking at the AFL and then the newly formed ANZ Championship Netball:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ethO10NbhE4 AFL 2010 promo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STBgFqxVXKk&feature=related ANZ championship opening 2011 – Who is going to be taking this seriously?

A good example of how they should be marketing women’s sport is this ad from the 2010 ANZ championship, which seems to give off the idea that we are not making any moves into equal coverage for men and women, given the previous ad was from 2011.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp4_jDOL2Oc&feature=related ANZ championship 2010 ad

Another easy change for the media is to start focusing on the athletic credentials of these female athletes rather than their looks or personality. There are some incredible female athletes out there that have made significant achievements both as individuals and teams, and you don’t hear about some of them because they aren’t high profile sports.

Entrepreneurs

Unfortunately there is a vicious cycle – these female sports are low profile without the media attention but they cannot get this media attention until they are high profile. How can you expect a sport to go massive without the funding of entrepreneurs or business-people? This is where there will be a massive advantage if we can start to get more females on boards, hopefully they will have to sway to take the chance. A recent example of this is netball’s switch to a new form ‘Fast 5’s’. This is like the netball version of T20 cricket. We see the removal of 2 players per team, a 1 point, 2 point and 3 point shooting area, the introduction of power plays with double points, and unlimited interchanges, all of which make the game incredibly fast! Not only the sport, but the entertainment that was held over the 3 day tournament, the off-court enthusiasm of the players and the skill levels of the players made for an amazingly exciting brand of netball! But of course you wouldn’t of heard about it because it is a women’s sport and received coverage on pay television, where they could be fit in, in between replays of old NRL games and tennis matches. You would think with the majority of the sporting viewing audience, that they would be looking to appeal to the female audience to take this further. 

 

Women in the Media

A post by Natasha -

Women in the Media

The role of women in sport, and indeed society, has changed, but there is still a long way to go! International Women’s Day is celebrated on the 8^th of March every year and Sport for Women Day is celebrated in the last week of February every year. The fact that we need to have a day and a week dedicated to women shows that the role of women is largely undervalued. I want to discuss the difference between the way that male and female athletes are treated and portrayed.

         

Women are more often than not steered towards individual activities such as gymnastics, dance and figure skating, where men commonly participate in aggressive, competitive, physically demanding team sports such as football (Giuliano, Popp and Knight, 2000). The type of coverage also differs greatly for females when compared to that of males in terms of descriptors used and language (Kane 1988). Specific descriptors used when talking about athletes vary greatly between genders. Female athletes are commonly referred to by their first names, which presents them as soft and girly, whereas men are identified by their last name, which makes them sound more powerful and imposing.

Language used also makes perceptions of an athlete’s physical ability differ, depending on the words chosen to represent an action. For example, a male athlete would ‘miss-fire’ when taking a shot in basketball whereas a female would just miss. Similarly, if a male were to ‘crash’ against the defence of a tackle, a female would simply ‘move against’ it. Another fault of the type of media coverage female athletes receive is that of task relevance. Achievements are often downplayed, or omitted, which would suggest that the sporting accomplishments of female athletes are of little importance. This issue is further escalated with the addition of images to print media. Images that are chosen to accompany articles are usually very sexualised images, most often with very little to do with the sport itself, and rather just about the attractiveness of the athlete ( Giuliano, Popp and Knight, 2000). Images of men are most commonly ones taken during a game, portraying the courageous and strong side to the male, when compared to women’s imagery in the print media is more of the glamour shots, posed to be raunchy rather than action shots. Another discrepancy between male and female athletes in the print media is the display of emotions (Duncan, 1990). Pictures of female athletes crying after a loss or an injury are regularly seen, whereas when a male is seen crying it is seen as a sign of weakness, and he is taunted or called ‘a big girl’. When being talked about in print media, a female may have been ‘crying with disappointment’, whereas a male would only ‘shed a tear’.

And what is lacking in quality is certainly not made up for in quantity. Whilst studies report that there has been an increase of female newspaper coverage by 500% from the late 1980’s, when you look further into the issue, the figures have risen from a mere 2% of newspaper coverage to 10.8% (Wensing and Bruce, 2003). Disgusting when you think that horse racing alone makes up more percentage of the coverage than all female athletes. So how do we expect to have aspiring Olympic and international female athletes, when they are given no coverage at all, and the ones that are get portrayed in another light?

In research I completed in Canada and America in 2013, I collected information from Canada’s ‘National Post’, ‘The Seattle Times’, and ‘The Denver Post’, all during the Olympics. Data collected included number of male, impartial and female articles, size and location of all articles, the use of images, and key language and descriptors in each article. Results were significant, but not surprising. As can be seen in the graph below, women’s articles made up 5.26%, 6.6% and 7.41% respectively of all sports articles in the newspapers. The Denver Post, which contained the most female articles, with 4, places one article on the back page, 2 more on the page back from that and the last a page from that, making the article the closest article to the front of the section appearing on the 6^th page. These articles are all located on the side or the bottom of the page, with the largest being a quarter of the page at most. 3 of the 4 articles contain pictures, the first a colour picture of gymnast Jordan Wieber crying, the second a colour picture of swimmer Missy Franklin diving in the start of her backstroke semi final and the third a black and white picture of swimmer Dana Vollmer celebrating her world record. None of the photos from any of the newspapers contain any competitors and only one of the photos contain the sport actually being performed.

There is a massive culture change required in society for female athletes to be able to feel comfortable in the sporting arena, and this has to come soon. Why should females be treated any differently to male athletes? Why do we need to have ‘male’ and ‘female’ defined sports? Shouldn’t anyone be able to play any sport they like without being judged and criticised? I am sick and tired of females being under represented and treated unfairly in the sporting arena, when you cannot chose your gender, but these women are out there giving 100%. It is time for things to change!

Women's Sport in the Media

A post by Beth

Last night while watching the ABC news I was pleasantly surprised to see three stories about women’s sport! Samantha Stosur won her semi final match against Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova during the Kremlin Cup putting her through to the final, the Australian Diamonds Netball team finished their international season with a win over Malawi on the Goldcoast and the Canberra Capitals basketball team, though they didn't win their match were also mentioned. When most nights it is all about men's sport and what is going on in their world to have three women's teams/events mentioned on one night is much, much more than the normal amount of representation women receive.

Women's sport is extremely underrepresented in the media compared to men's sport. Everyday you hear about or watch the success and failures of the various men's sporting teams or events active at the moment, cricket, soccer, motor bike racing, golf, rugby, AFL but do you hear about the women's teams? To quote an article I read recently "Socceroos in 6-0 loss!, Socceroos in 6-0 loss!. (Yes twice.) But did you know Sam Stosur won the Japan Open?" (Kathryn Wicks, 2013). We hear about the failures of our men's teams to great effect, plastered all over the news, but what about the successes of our women sporting champions? Though it was some months back the men's Tour de France cycle race was played on SBS every day for the full 3 weeks of the Tour but what about the women's Tour de France? They put in as much effort to training and racing as the men do and yet we hear nothing about them.

As well as not being equally represented in news reports on TV or the paper and allowing Australia to hear about their achievements women's sport games and events are not televised to the same extent as men's sport either. Every week during the footy and AFL seasons there would be at least one game if not more played on the Freeview TV channels. In comparison the women's National Netball competition was broadcast on Fox Sports with all 69 of their games which is fantastic but only for the people who have pay TV. SBS 2 also broadcast the Match of the Round on Sunday afternoons and the finals games. So one game per round compared to multiple football games. It's all very well for people who have pay TV but what about all the netball fans who want to watch each game but can't because broadcasters don't want to have TV that doesn't attract enough of an audience to warrant them buying the rights to broadcast? Another quote from the article reflects this "broadcasters and sponsors are not going to climb aboard anything unless there is an audience" (Kathryn Wicks, 2013). So how do we gain a better audience for women's sports?

It has long been said that women's sports are not as exciting as men's and that is why they don't have the same representation in the media, they don't have an audience so television channels don't want to waste money or broadcasting something that "people won’t watch". So to make them more exciting for men what should we do? Dress our female sports stars in all sports in bikini's? The men might cheer but I highly doubt women will. Women are already put under enough pressure to have the stereotypical ideal body shape. By actively focusing on women's bodies to gain audience attention rather than their skill on the field is an insult to women's sporting abilities. People should want to watch the game or event for the sport not the bodies on display.

In these times the media has so much of an influence on how people perceive things that until a more positive representation of women is seen in the media the level of interest in women's sport may stagnate and not improve. The pictures the media paints of women's sport shape the thoughts and attitudes of society in general. The representation of women’s sport in the media has improved but it still has a long, long way to go before it is even close to being on an equal playing field with men’s sport.

 

References

Wicks, K, (2013, October 17), World Cup the key as time-poor mums struggle to catch up with women’s sport, The Sydney Morning Herald, p 20

ANZ Championships, (2013), Broadcast details, http://www.anz-championship.com/Matches/Broadcast