The position of women’s sport is a topic that is increasingly debated today, with attempts being made to improve women’s involvement and support they get from wider society. However, women’s sports still often become invisible behind the overwhelming presence of men’s sports, with many women feeling unable to break the barriers and enable their participation in sport. Why is it that women’s sport is pushed to the sidelines, and how can we get people to look at it on an equal level to men’s sport?
The first issue, I would argue, is the language we use around sports. When the average person is talking about football, what they are really talking about is men’s football, although this is never specified. By using the term ‘women’s sport,’ it creates the idea that women’s sport is on a separate level, and unfortunately, this level is often seen as below men’s sport. If this use of language is seen as a root issue, it explains how women’s sports are not prioritised, from primary school all the way up to professional level.
According to a study, there is a gap in activity levels between boys and girls throughout schools, with many girls being less involved in sport from an early age. Budgeting is a huge part of this. One only needs to look at the recent news story about the Edinburgh schools’ football league, where the winning girls team were presented with a small, plastic trophy — a dire contrast to the impressive, grand trophy presented to the winning boys’ team. The girls’ coach articulated he was worried it would “diminish” their sense of achievement when he saw the two trophies side by side. Although the issue was resolved, it is clear that even in school sports, girls’ teams are not seen to be in the same league as their male counterparts. This continues up to professional levels, where one only needs to compare the pay check male footballers take home in comparison to female players to understand the staggering chasm between the two sides.
At the University of Edinburgh, there are efforts to not only get women involved in sports, but also celebrate the achievements of them. Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week is commemorated by the university in a bid to get as many women involved in sport as possible. It is true that across the sports department there are plenty of opportunities for women to get involved in lots of different sports. However, whilst things on paper may be changing, attitudes notoriously take longer to shift in the right direction.
Speaking to some students, comments were made on both the attitudes of women and men alike creating barriers to prevent women from getting involved. One discussed how there is still a prevalent attitude of what is considered a ‘feminine’ sport.
“Football was never offered at my girls school as an option for PE,” she said. “We played what are typically seen as ‘girls’’ sports,’ like netball and hockey. There was definitely an attitude of not wanting to do football or rugby because it was a ‘boys’’ sport.”
Others commented on how, despite efforts to be more welcoming to women, many sports still feel inaccessible. One girl told me how it took her nearly a whole semester to go to the lifting section of the gym because she felt intimidated by the heavy male presence and fear of getting it wrong or being judged. There are improvements being made — viewership of female sport is slowly on the rise, and the split between male and female athletes in the 2024 Olympics was an equal split for the first time in history.
However, the gaps between men and women in sport are still overwhelmingly obvious. Although there are improvements in the coverage of women’s sports, only 36 per cent of adults in the UK say they are watching women’s sports regularly, with the same statistics in the US sitting at a dire 27 per cent. It is clear that more than increased budgets are needed to improve the position of women’s sports; they need to be a priority from the early years of school. Girls and boys alike need to be made aware of how important it is for women to take up space in the sporting world and be unapologetic about it.
Photo by Chris Leipelt on Unsplash.