My kids are a pretty active bunch and regular readers will know that sport plays a huge part of Chloe’s life – be it hockey, running, water sports or rounders she gives it 100%. She plays hockey at a high level and trains several times a week during the season with her teams. In addition over the years I have collaborated with some great campaigns including like a girl and we can play I speak up for women in sport and I am dismayed when I get press releases that inform me of the drop out rates of girls in sport. The most recent being at from the age of 16 few girls play any type of competitive sport.
The same will not be said for Chloe who will be doing Elite Sport at sixth form from Sept in addition to her club hockey. I did drop out of hockey during sixth form which is something I deeply regret now as it was the one sport I really loved playing. I picked it up at a couple of points afterwards but have never got fully into it in the same way.
Therefore watching the Olympics is always a fantastic time to champion sportswomen at the very top of their game. Be it hockey, volleyball or swimming it is great to have those female role models that show our girls that sport is cool, that sport is empowering and that sport is for both genders.
Which is why I have been saddened and angered by much of the coverage. The coverage has focused on what the women look like rather than the champions they are. It started with criticising what a female commentator at the side of the pool was wearing. If you have been poolside you will know how stifling hot it can be but apparently her dress was too short – but the male commentator in his shorts was fine! Double standards much.
Then on to the sportswomen themselves. There has been much made of what the athletes are wearing, volleyball has splayed across commentary not due to Egypt’s amazing performances but commentary and coverage focused on wearing a bikini or hijab. Why is what the women wearing so important – it is objectifying the women and detracting from the sport. Volleyball was billed as a culture clash when all most can see is two women united by sport – two women playing the same game and that is hardly a culture clash.
Another example of the sexism in reporting was around Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu who won gold in the 400m individual medley with a new world record, the commentator, said: “This is the man responsible.” as they panned to her trainer. How insulting! Did you hear the same being said after Michael Phelps won his gold? Did his coach get attributed with the success or was it his talent, determination and effort that was praised?
Other examples include female gymnasts being criticised for their appearance with the suggestion a leotard didn’t complement her skin tone, or the comparing of women to men when there outcomes will be different. The language used is often belittling and demeaning rather than focusing on the sport and the achievements. The Olympics should be used to motivate our young people, a time to celebrate success and when there are concerns about women’s participation in sport it is a time to showcase women’s brilliance, a chance to raise women up and tell everyone that sport is cool.
And yet we don’t seem to be managing this do we?
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14 Responses
It’s been sad to listen to some of the commentary from the Olympics. One I watched the other day was talking about the fabulous manicure that the athlete had – ridiculous
That is so shocking! I’m not really a sports fan but my husband is and often comments of the lack of support given to female athletes and sportswomen and worries about the lack of female role models in sport for our daughters. Yet there are plenty of males and like you say, they don’t get the same comments about appearance as women do.
Unbelievable! This should never happen in this day and age. Those women are competing at the very highest level, just like the men. I’m pretty sure some of the men’s outfits don’t match their skin tone either! Grrr.
Some of the coverage has been completely shocking. A female athlete who won a medal was also described as “the fiance of…” AND? What’s that got to do with anything? It’s so annoying… PS. I loved hockey too, about the only sport I really did like!
It’s so sad that this is still the case, the media need to sort themselves out.
That is awful and have to put my hands up and admit I haven’t watched any of it. As a child I remember the girls it focused on the gymnastics and the males the other sports.
Very well said. I astonishes me how the media is quick to jump on stories of sexism but then thoughtlessly perpetuates it itself. The same ridiculous comments were made when Theresa May became Prime Minister. It was all about what she was wearing rather than her credentials for the job. How frustrating!
I’ve loved watching the Olympics -I confess for the first time ever – I have my family on sexist commentary alert – it’s a great sofa sport. Joking aside, it’s really shocking, but as you have done, we have to keep on pointing it out.
Tis shocking Emma i agree and importantr we are outraged and vocal!
It’s just so frustrating to see it across the media. The brother of a golfer was on radio 2 yesterday and he panicked because he couldn’t remember the name of one of the women golfers. It shouldn’t be that he has to panic – he genuinely didn’t know the woman – he wasn’t being sexist. There’s so much negativity around these things at the moment – it’s like we need a clean sweep of the media and reporting outlets, to give them standards to start from, as their ‘minimum’. This doesn’t make as much sense typing it out as it did in my mind. I’m just so frustrated by what the media is doing with sport.
I am totally with you on this. I saw the comments about the female presenter and felt exactly the same as you – and am SO with you on the ‘man responsible’ comments. It’s about time they caught up with the 21st Century!
I completely agree Emma – it’s damaging to women in sport they way the coverage is going at the moment x
Well said, Emma, it’s so frustrating. That TV slot where they were talking about putting on a bit of make-up was just so enraging.
I’ve been put off watching a lot of the coverage and reading about it in the press for the exact reasons you’ve written about. Xxx