A daily update on the business behind Women’s Sport
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It’s all about the money…
The FIFA Women’s World Cup ended last weekend and drew in record digital audiences around the world, including a near 50% bigger audience on FIFA’s You Tube Channel than the same month in the Men’s World Cup the previous year. In one area though it fell shockingly short and that was perhaps the area which would have the greatest impact on making a real difference to the parity of esteem which men’s and women’s soccer should be held. Here’s a Business Insider look at the disparity in prize money…
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Zero Tolerance or Killjoy?
The English FA have been under fire this week over comments that were seen as being sexist about sport.
The English FA tweeted that England’s Lioness Heroes were now “coming back home to be Mothers, Partners and Daughters.” Technically true and defended on the basis of it being an overall look at the diverse stories in the team. To be fair the FA have gone a long road towards giving full respect to the team but it’s often in the slip that we can judge the real progress. And here it comes up short. Just imagine if that similar tweet was sent out about the Men’s team. Could you or would it look odd?
It would be valid as coming home to be Fathers, Partners and Sons and maybe that’s the right way to place stars in the context of their real lives. But it wouldn’t really happen now would it?
There’s no question that there is a fine line between support and being patronising. Sport is about physical excellence and that can tip over into the ‘body beautiful’ motif that is often used more openly about women than men, though not exclusively.
The way that women are portrayed in sport will not change overnight but it can alter one step at a time. The FA took down their tweet, the person who sent it will doubtless think twice the next time and that’s OK. It will only change when the people who right the headlines and the photo captions see sport first and sex second. It’s not actually about Women’s sport, it’s about sport for all.
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Play your part in creating a Women’s Sport Week in 2016
Sport for Business is hosting a Members’ Round Table event in Belfast on Thursday, August 20th where we will explore what might be needed to create an Irish Women’s Sports Week in 2016.
We will look at what was needed, and where the support came from in similar international undertakings and look to build a programme here to lift the overall awareness of sport for women and girls in all its many forms.
Invitations to those among our membership that we believe could make a difference will be going out next week. If you would like to be a part of what we explore, contact us today.
Sport for Business’ Coverage and support for Women in Sport is inn partnership with Liberty Insurance. Find out how we can help your organisation build business through sport
