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Sexism in Sport

Written by; Tao MacLeod


The last decade, or so, has been a fantastic one for sports fans. The London 2012 Sumer Olympics seems to have become something of a cultural reference point for people in the UK. Similar to the impact of the Italia ’90 World Cup for football in England, the hosting of a successful Olympic Games appears to have emboldened people to allow the spectacle of sports entertainment into their lives to greater extents.


We’ve had a deluge of sporting events on both terrestrial and pay-per-view television. The former has been showing some varied forms of sporting entertainment, partly due to the latter placing a lot of the larger and more popular events behind a pay-wall. As somebody who is interested in what all sport has to offer, I have enjoyed the deviation from the norm. Something that has stood for me is the further advance for women’s sport on our television screens. There has been a greater focus on women’s football, hockey and basketball, in addition to the access we have normally been given to athletics and tennis. 


Glasgow 2019; EuroHockey Championships II. Scotland ladies team huddle, before the Grande Finale. Copyright; Tao MacLeod. Click on the image to listen to the Half Court Press Podcast.

As I mentioned earlier, I have an interest in what all sport has to offer. I am interested in how the showing of sports in the mainstream media can help move things forward and can have an impact on sports development. Men’s football has had fantastic coverage for decades and the players, coaches and assorted personalities have benefited from the sponsorship that this attracts. I am, however, all for a more diverse sporting culture. The role of the media can be important to promote sports to the people. By grandstanding certain games, codes and activities it gives them credence and promotes physical activity, as well as the investment of money through the buying of television rights from broadcasters and providing a chance for advertisement. Thus the sports are allowed to grow. It can also provide role models for children and young people.


I have been particularly pleased to see more women’s sport on television. Females have a higher rate of drop out from sport than males. One of the issues has previously been a lack of gender relevant role models in sport. Another issue is the way that female athletes are portrayed differently in the media differently than their male counterparts. Young women and girls who play regular sport often find that they are being bullied and/or made to feel insecure about the way that their bodies become stronger and more muscular. The way that sport makes them look doesn’t always conform to the socially acceptable way that women and girls are told that they should look by advertisements, the media and other sources within society. 


London 2012 Olympics; fans looking for seats at the Women’s Hockey Semi-Final. Copyright Tao MacLeod. Click on the image to listen to the Half Court Press Podcast.

Advertisement campaigns and endorsements are going to the so-called ‘attractive and aesthetically pleasing’ female athletes, limiting the potential earnings of many professionals who don’t conform to gender norms and socially constructed ideas of attractiveness. It is important to break down these issues, firstly by confronting them and secondly to go about changing attitudes. These viewpoints will change with continued media coverage, showing off the talents at the high-end level, but also by people (men as well as women) standing up and lending their voice to be a part of the solution.


Over the years, there are many ways that women and girls are generally put down in sport. Due to the levels of ignorance that seem to be commonplace, it is easy to be disappointed with many things. I once heard a professional football coach say that the reason women are more susceptible ACL injuries was due to the weight of their mammary glands, instead of the more accurate physiological reasons regarding the angles of the hips. I have picked up on certain other issues. Some people seem very comfortable in stating the visible differences in standard between men’s and women’s football, whilst ignoring the history of misogyny and withholding of finances, or not knowing the reasons why these things happened in the first place. The Dick, Kerr factory ladies football team is an example of how women’s sport had the rug pulled from under its feet in the twentieth century. This doesn’t help in any shape or form and can easily to be addressed.


Scottish Women’s Premier League 2008/09; Boroughmuir Thistle F.C. Vs. Hamilton Academical Ladies F.C. Copyright; Tao MacLeod. Click on the image to listen to the Half Court Press Podcast.

There is an impatience to allow women’s sport to develop in order to catch up with the men’s games. A lack of top quality coaches, due to financial disparities between men’s and women’s sport and lack of opportunities at grassroots level, have put women’s sport on the back foot. If this can be discussed and analysed in a public sphere, such as through broadcasting and other journalistic outlets, then we have a greater chance of providing our young women and girls with better opportunities to play and participate, as well as improving the standard of sport across the board. Thankfully things seem to be changing for the better, with greater public consciousness of women in sport and the top athletes being celebrated, but we still have some dinosaurs and misogynists out there with outdated perceptions. There is still a way to go in terms of breaking down barriers and finding methods to bring about equal pay. 


There has been similar issues in the sport of hockey. Although we have a broadly equal game on the face of things, there has been similar financial hurdles for women to navigate, compared to men. A huge money earner for male players has been the Indian Hockey League, when there hasn’t been an equivalent for women until only recently. The inaugural event for the Women’s Euro Hockey League (the European Cup for club teams) was only held in 2021. This might be surprising for many hockey fans, who assumed that the genders are on an equal playing field (or astroturf in hockey’s case), within the sport. It was won by Dutch team Den Bosch, which is, perhaps, less surprising, but why wasn’t this done earlier? Additionally, there were only four teams that season, with eight teams competing in 2022. When compared with the men’s event, which had ten participating sides at that time and has been firmly established for many years, it shows that we can take nothing for granted and that there are still issues to deal with. 


Click on the image to listen to the Half Court Press Podcast.

Click on the image to listen to the Half Court Press Podcast.