On the day they host the Irish Times / Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year lunch in Dublin the Irish Times deserve praise for having lifted their general coverage of Women’s sport to 23.5 percent of their overall print edition sports output this week.
That does not include the excellent supplement that was published during the week but does include the full page devoted to the Awards this morning.
Their contribution has given rise to a lift to 11.3 percent of the general output across the three newspapers which are accessible and comparable that we track on an occasional basis.
This has been a busy year and without the anchor of Covid has given less desk time to run the analysis as often as we did but there remains a value in doing so at least until such time as it might be tracked in greater granularity.
The first analysis we did was the month before COVID-19 in February 2020 when the overall percentage of coverage devoted to Women’s sport was only 7.5 percent.
The trend since then has been upwards though not as steep as many would feel was a correct balance.
I suppose when coming from a low base we need to be patient but if the progress was repeated over time, it would be September 2035 by the time we were looking at a 40 percent gender balance in the coverage.
That is too slow and too long.
Any particular week will have its quirks. This week had the appointment of Eileen Gleeson, a promotional interview from Rhasidat Adeleke, and the Finals of the Camogie and Ladies Football Club Championships so no shortage of genuine stories.
The Irish Independent and the Irish Examiner produce substantially more general sports coverage than the Irish Times, over twice and more than three times respectively and no one would want less coverage to make the balance better, but a greater emphasis on seeking out the less obvious stories is part of the responsibility that still exists in mainstream media.
It may no longer have the influence it once had but it still sets a tone and needs to be held to account.
There is an argument that we are in a golden era for Women’s sport with stars across multiple sports, the first World Cup Finals for our women’s footballers, and growth in the credit given to Women’s sport across large if not all parts of the world.
These numbers though are a reminder that equality is built in the shadows, away from the brightest of spotlights, and it is not as equal a picture as we might imagine.
When we see equal credit given to the Women’s Super League as to the Women’s Premier League in English Football, even across our Irish media, then we can genuinely feel that there is equality in a measurable impactful manner.
We will endeavor to set a target of a more regular update of these numbers through 2024 and hope they have some prickling impact on the choices that are made in terms of the coverage we are served.
