1. Women make up just 9 per cent of all sports coverage in Australian TV news and current affairs – horseracing sits at 10 per cent
2. When the men’s cricket team lost the Ashes in January, there were 25,426 media reports. When the women won, there were 2,780
3. Organisers for the London Olympics have priced tickets to female events well below their male counterparts
4. At 10 years of age, 64.6 per cent of girls play organised sport; by age 35, it’s 12.8 per cent.
Why, in 2011, when gender equality is arguably at an all-time high, is recognition of women’s sport in the media so utterly appalling? Why is there still minimal representation of female leadership on Australian sporting bodies (women hold 83 spots out of 395)? Why don’t female sports receive equal funding? Why did only 12 out of the 53 sports on Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s TV anti-siphoning list (sports that must be shown on free to air) late last year involve women? Why aren’t women receiving greater sponsorship dollars? They deserve it as much as the next bloke.
Let me clear up one thing: this argument is not about fighting men for media space. Hell, I married a two-time premiership AFL captain – I love men’s sport – but there’s space for us all. We need to support and acknowledge our sportswomen at both professional and grassroots levels and give them the media coverage and recognition they deserve.
Who would you rather your daughter pin-up on her bedroom wall: Rihanna or Ellyse Perry? Do a quick straw poll of any Year 5 class and I bet 95 per cent of kids chirp “Rihannaaa!”. Oh that’s right, she was recently gallivanting around an Irish field with her boobs out – what a classy role model she is. In fact, do you even know who Ellyse is? What about Jessica Gallagher, Caroline Buchanan, Sarah Mycroft? These women should be household names. In order of mentioning: Ellyse, who studies economics at uni, is the youngest person to represent Australia in cricket and the youngest female to represent us in soccer, too. Jess was the first Australian woman to win a Paralympic winter medal; her event in Vancouver was slalom and she’s legally blind. Caroline is a four-time world champion in BMX and mountain biking and Sarah ran 14,772km around Australia last November – the first woman to do so. Meet these women, which I have, and you’ll be truly inspired by their stories, ambitions, values and character.
However, it’s not just about watching sport, women of all ages need to get involved. The list of health benefits – both physical and mental – from sport is as long as Julia Gillard’s carbon tax argument. Only way more exciting. The more women play it; the more we’ll watch it. Have you heard of goalball? Muni? Acro? Camogie? They’re all sports Aussie women are powering in.
When was the last time you watched women play sport on TV or live? We need to start conversations in the community that inspire you to grab your best mate – male or female – and watch your local netball team or get involved yourself; draw attention to the issue of inequality in the media and, ultimately, increase media coverage of females in sport. And that doesn’t include reports on Black Caviar.
Felicity Harley is the editor of Women’s Health. The November issue is out now featuring the winners of the I Support Women in Sport Awards. The WH Sportswoman of the Year, surfing super-star Steph Gilmore, is on the cover, look out for it on news stands.
Ellyse Perry made her debut in the Australian cricket team at the age of 16
When was the last time you watched women play sport on TV or live?
Comments
98 Comments so far
Sarah Mycroft is not the first female to run around Australia, Deborah De Williams is. It is widely known in the running world that sarah did not run the whole distance, had days off and drove vast distances. For more information go to http://www.ultralegends.com/sarah-mycroft-run/
Sarah did some “kind of run” but to claim that she ran the whole way around Australia and that she is the first is not true.
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I think that if you’re really fired up about women’s sport, get out and support it.
Watching the the women’s netball on the ABC brings nothing to the sport’s coffers, as there is no advertisement allowed.
Stop lamenting the raw deal, get out to the venues with friends and/or family and get your purses out.
You’ve got the template already laid out to build a viable professional sport – Rugby Union in Australia only became a professional league in 1997.
Never let it be said again that men are trying to keep more women from wearing clinging spandex – it’s nonsensical.
Money in close proximity to mouth, pls.
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Netball isn’t played on ABC and hasn’t been for many years. Channel 10 show the ANZ tournament and play games on the weekends in the afternoon.
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It seems to me that the only sports that Aussie sports women receive publicity for are individual sports, such as swimming, tennis, surfing and athletics (which is great, don’t get me wrong!). It’s predominantly when it comes to team sports that the women are being overlooked in terms of both coverage and funding, and I agree that this is a real shame. There are so many women out there at the top of their respective sports who are fantastic role models for young girls, but everyone is so caught up watching the blokes play footy and cricket (and watching Rihanna video clips) that their talent and hard work is completely overlooked. I think it’s a bit mistake to just presume that there’s not enough interest to warrant greater coverage. In New Zealand, netball is huge and is broadcast in prime time. It’s such an exciting game to watch, and it’s disgusting to see that even women playing in the Australian team are being paid a pittance in comparison to a first year AFL draft pick.
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I agree it’s unfair, but I can’t watch sport. I don’t like watching women playing sport. I don’t like watching men playing sport. I get just as bored watching my kids play sport (but I try not to let on)
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And therein lies the rub. Someone has to pay for professional athletes and sports administrators. The people that pay are those that consume sport media and are exposed to sports advertisers.
If yours is a common take amongst women, then the consumer demand is not there.
Men will tune into women’s sport mostly for T&A (brutally honest and ducking).
Men & Women will tune into men’s professional matches for the excitement of its intensity and the freakishy athletic things that they pull off. And for a little perve, am I right?
So who’s tuning into women’s professional sport? Probably just the oglers and those who have a special interest/exposure to that sport in particular.
I’m all for differential (men v women) public funding to foster girls into sports at the grassroots level, but draw the line at dipping into the public purse to foster sport at a professional levels.
This is not a male v female thing, for example, I don’t think that horse racing should be subsidised by the govt. as it is currently.
Professional sport is a profession – the commercial demand has to be there to sustain the profession.
That being said, Ellyse Perry sounds impressive. Go get ‘em, girl.
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Sports coverage is a business – supply is driven by demand – and there isn’t any demand to watch women’s sports.
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If it’s on, people will watch it.
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If you flick over to Channel 9 at the moment, the Women’s Aussie team is playing against the Kiwis in the cricket, and obviously apart from the big hitting, it is just as entertaining
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I think you just put all the television programmers out of work with that insight.
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I agree, women sports should get the same coverage as men! Females, especially at professional age, play for their love of the game, not just because they have talent or for the money, like some men. Does anyone find it interesting that the majority of people saying ‘supply and demand’ and stuff are masculine? As for males being stronger than girls, rubbish! Me and my friend recently versed our MALE teachers in a 2 v 2 match! Guess who won? We did! These guys weren’t going easy, either! It turned quite ugly as we were playing! On top of this, they were quite masculine and more than a head taller than us, so…
Ellyse Perry is awesome! She is such a good role model! I love watching her play soccer for Canberra United!!
Go Canberra United!
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i always watch the netball, so happy it has prime time coverage and i like watching the basketball on ch2 but honestly apart from when the tennis is on there is no coverage at all. great article.
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Wooo Ellyse!! She went to my school!
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Ms. Harley, contrary – in part, to what you’ve said, there are women’s sports that are currently on air every week on free to air TV. Netball and Women’s Basketball are on air on channel Ten’s partner – channel One, Inter-state Women’s Soccer, just like the men’s, is also now showing every week. In fact, on some free to air TV channels, some sports like basketball only air women’s matches, not the men’s.
Having said this, it is a fact that the majority of women in Australia, don’t give a hoot about sports. Some are at most just casual fans..some by default, because their male partners or male relatives either support/play for certain AFL or NRL teams – not self-initiated. So this concern about lack of gender equality in sport coverage is in my opinion a bridge to nowhere, because the majority of women are not interested in watching the “little” that is currently shown on free to air TV. One of your stats indicates that almost 65% of girls at age 10 play organised sport..this is a pretty healthy rate and will rise… But, for whatever reason, this shifts dramatically to 13% at 35yrs of age. You seriously can’t blame this downward shift, on lack of “enough” media coverage of women’s sport because there’s a lack of interest amongst women to start with.
Like in all other issues of gender discrimination, if there is a serious push for a fair go, things will change – this is my observation. But there’s no denying of the facts on this one – The majority of women are disinterested in sports – let alone watching women’s sports. Its not hidden, its free and readily available to watch! I’m a bloke and I watch the women’s basketball league on some weekends…but the fact that you don’t have all your info. straight about lack of women’s sports on free to air TV, just emphasizes my point further!.. the passion really is not there! almost feels like its just for the sake of argument.. and leaves me wondering what exaclty the issue is. I can’t help but think that a small part of it is what you deny your post is about – not enough media attention… women want it all don’t they..? someone Pls tell me I’ve got it wrong…and ofcourse tell me why because I’m happy to be corrected
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This is like arguing there should be more lipstick counters for men, or more dress stores for the guys?
…///Ludicrous///
It’s supply and demand. More men PLAY sport and WATCH sport…no kidding right?
Why do some people try and assign discriminatory practices to what is nothing more than a response by a business to demand?
Well, I can tell you why…
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I’d like to see more women’s beach volleyball, preferably in slow-motion.
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Of course you would, but only for the pervasive factor hey?
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Australian women’s broomball team: Top 4 in the world at 2008 world broomball championships in Vancouver.
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I’m sure that this is a very newsworthy article……15 years ago. Nothing new mentioned by the author.
Without doubt, women’s sport deserves more coverage in the media.
I’ve said it in ten words. I didn’t bother to count how many words Felicity used to convey the same sentiment. Neither of us presented any new information about the situation. My ten words got to the crux of the argument immediately without sounding like I was having a moan and groan about what definitely should be addressed by those running the media.
Personally, I’d like those running the media to address the matter as soon as possible.
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“Without doubt, women’s sport deserves more coverage in the media.”
I’ve said everything Bradley said in the previous post, but I haven’t gone on and on about how clear and succinct my writing is… unlike Bradley.
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More importantly, you have added nothing new.
Congrats !
PS….I did actually make several points, all you appear to have ignored. But that’s okay.
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Oh, I thought that’s what we were doing: reiterating each other’s comments, but in fewer words.
Boom!
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Really? What new points? Can you please repeat them?
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If enough people actually wanted to watch women’s sport, it would be broadcast. It’s all about audience.
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I’m a woman. I love sport. I get up at strange hours to watch the Matildas play.
The inequality is in the broadcast opportunities for TEAM sport, not individual sport. I don’t think women’s swimming or athletics gets less coverage than men’s, just the team sports… especially team sports that are typically “men’s sports”.
It’s not about saying that women cannot physically compete with the men. Watch one game of top-notch women’s soccer and you’ll soon see (if you know anything about the game) that it’s a different game. Team tactics are adjusted to suit the physical strengths of the women playing. It’s because these games are rarely given any publicity that the general population has no appreciation of the subtleties of these tactics.
In fact, rubgy fans often complain about how “soft” soccer is. Watch the women’s world cup and you’ll soon change your mind.
Go Matildas!
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Simple supply and demand guys, People like to watch the best of anything. Therefore, men being stronger, faster etc reflect the pinnicle of most sport. Doesnt matter how much of a feminist bent you have, that is a reality no body can change or challenge.
And on top of that, men seek out watching sport more than women – they are the core target group, for want of a better term.
It is like womens fashion. Women models get much more air time and get paid way more than their male counterparts. Are we running stories complaining about that bias, or do we just accept that women have a greater demand for fashion (and look better in it for the most part) and therefore it just naturally evolves this way. (I am sure I will be howled down for that comparison, but I dont see why I should be).
The stats re participation are not skewed and that is what really matters for the health of a society. Other than that, let supply and demand drive things without making it into yet another ‘women are victims’ story.
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You’ve hit the nail on the head perfectly.. Totally flawed article.
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Exactly right. It’s all about supply and demand. If people wanted to watch womens’ sport, more companies would sponsor it and it would get more airtime. Ridiculously flawed argument being run in that article. Womens’ sport is not as exciting to watch as mens. If they put womens’ netball or hocky on in prime time ratings would plunge because people just don’t want to watch. It’s not the fault of the broadcasters. You can still be inspired by a sportswoman’s story, character and value without needing to watch them on TV.
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I have watched women’s netball live for years and I beg to differ that it’s less exciting to watch than men’s sport. I’ve never screamed so freaking hard in my life! I think that the idea that women’s sport is less exciting is totally subjective.
Aussie netball got sponsored by the ANZ bank a couple of years ago and since then and since the subsequent media coverage, I have consistently struggled to get tickets because it sells out so fast. I think that’s ace, and shows that there are definitely people out there who want to watch world class Australian athletes do what they do best – live!
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TV ratings? Check the figures from the Delhi Commonwealth Games Netball final last year… Oh and if only the media would cover women’s sport, the sponsors would be all over it. Netball and Channel 10 coverage is the proof we’re all arguing about.
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If equal sports coverage meant MORE sports coverage I am all for inequality! In fact, I think there should be a separate channel for sport so that those who couldn’t give a flying fox don’t have to endure the boredom that comes with having to know whether some over worshipped men managed to kick a ball in between two posts… or whatever. Ah, feel better.
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Hear hear! I can’t stand sports coverage of any kind, men or women.
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I believe that I might have to agree. Sport gets way too much air time.
Mind you, I’m looking forward to Seven’s Summer of Tennis. Generally, I only watch the women’s matches. The women use a variety of different shots during the course of a match. With the men, it’s all about how hard they can hit the ball. For my money….quite boring. The same shot over and over for four hours.
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Women”s sport may only get 9% of the coverage that men’s sport gets, but that’s probably because there is not much interest in it. Fact is that men are far more interested in sport than women.
Why broadcast something that very. very few people want to watch. I would argue that men are only interested in watching women’s beach volleyball because of their skimpy outfits, and will watch women’s tennis because there isn’t a male tennis match on at the same ( andor there is a cute girl in a short skirt playing).
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Ah but if Mia had her way, there would be NO sport on tv.
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I’d support Mia in that.
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Sport is only allowed to be spoken about with negativity on this website.
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We’re so backward in Australia. Doesn’t help that News ltd owns most of the blokey sports leagues – nrl, afl and the rest of the crap they shove down our throats. USA is not much better. Only Scandinavia has equal distribution.
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News Ltd may own part of the NRL but it certainly does not own the AFL.
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I agree. I LOVE sport, and gender shouldn’t come into it. But it does, every time. The last female sport I watched was the Netball, tucked away on late night TV, prior to that the World Championships Athletics, where, admittedly, female athletes were given almost as much airtime A’s the male athletes. Except for the British commentator who expressed his disappointment that we were forced to watch the womens long jump while the men’s far more interesting 1500m was on. Some of us were interested mate!!!!!!!
As for my teenage daughter, on her wall beside her Harry Potter and Selena Gomez posters (if you have to ask, you don’t have a tween age daughter), is a picture of her with her idol, Fabrice Lapierre a male long jumper and a collage she made of Sally Pearson. And a typed list of her own athletic goals for the year. More power to her. We joke that if she ever makes an athletic team to represent her country we would have no choice but to go overseas and watch her because it would never get shown on free to air TV.
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I hate sport on TV regardless, and would rather see it all moved to a dedicated channel or channels so our shows don’t get preempted, or run over time.
In saying that it is true. All we see are the boofy blokes doing their homoerotic thing (just watch any of the football codes you’ll see what I mean) as if they are a bunch of Australpiticii (sp) hunting antelope. Australia “lost” the Cricket World Cup…no they didn’t only the men did, Australia faired poorly at the last Soccer World Cup, no we didn’t only the men. In fact the Matildas have actually qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup more times than the Socceroos (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011), and have actually played in the quarter finals twice (2007, 2011).
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Two words: Roller Derby. I love this sport! I love playing it and I love watching it and I love the comeraderie that this group of women has.
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Seriously? Roller Derby is no different to WW Wrestling – yes, fit, athletic but it’s a nothing more than a dramatic art!
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You obviously don’t know much about roller derby then. It’s a sport, real and proper, not a performance. Go and watch a bout and actually see what happens. You play for real and you get hurt for real. It’s a tactical game that requires it’s participants to be fit and to train regularly. No train, no game.
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I mentioned the same two words below! Agree.
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I had a ‘discussion’ with the boyfriend recently about this kind of thing. His claim was that women in general were not as good as men when it comes to most sports (especially AFL – his beef was with a woman wanting to join).
My argument was that it’s often because men are paid LOTS of money to do it, and can dedicate every day to it. It’s their full time job.
However many women seem to receive little or no pay, or in fact have to fund their own trips to competitions, and hold down jobs and study while they play their sports in their own time. And that would explain how women may not reach the skill or experience levels that men reach.
Heck if I was paid a million bucks a year to train and play every day I’d be bloody good at it too!
I think after a few of these discussions he may finally have seen my point of view. Or just agreed so I’d shut up about it
haha
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I tend to think he agreed to shut you up. For evidence look at some (not all) of the comments left by males (including at least one anonymous).
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I remember doing a school report on this in year 8; 15 years on and it hasn’t changed much.
I think the Qld Firebirds deserve a mention – how many teams in any sport can go a whole season without losing a game (especially with salary capping)?
P.S. Adore Felicity Harley, more articles from her please!
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Why doesn’t women’s sport get as much attention as males? How about because it’s not all that interesting? When watch sport I want to see the best athletes perform – the fastest, the strongest etc. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that men are so much stronger and faster than women on average. There are few sports where a top class high school boys team could not beat a national women’s team. Why would I want to watch sport played at that level?
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Thanks ‘Guest’, demonstrates my point exactly.
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If you say that women’s sport doesn’t get attention because “it’s not all that interesting” then that means no sport should get any attention. I’d rather watch paint dry than a bunch of sweating buffed mental midgets chase each other and a ball around for 90 minutes.
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thats why your fat
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I’m surprised no one has mentioned roller derby yet. Fastest growing women’s sport in the world after soccer (I believe). Leagues are popping up everywhere and a well-publisied (facebook, twitter, etc) bout attracts the sort of crowd numbers netball can only dream about. RD is a grassroots, fast and furious, DIY sport and its continuing steady growth as it attracts more and more women (and men as coaches & refs) is a pretty good indication that maybe women want to carve out their own niche in the sporting world — one that doesn’t need a network sponsorship or the favour of traditional media to flourish.
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Roller Derby – now THERE’S a sport!!
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Can I just stick up for Rihanna for a moment? Your article seems to write her off as just a girl ‘with her boobs out’ but she is an incredibly talented, driven individual. I’m not trying to be funny- I’m a musician and I have a lot of respect for her- if you look into her story I think you might too. I think we should be wary of automatically writing off people, interests or coverage which is commercial as evil! There’s a reason why these people are popular and it’s not always just the money machine. With media like YouTube and Twitter, it’s becoming easiest for the public to drive traffic to the things they like- Justin Beiber is an example of someone who the ‘public’ claimed as their own (via YouTube) before mainstream media picked up on him. All I’m saying that at it’s not necessarily that we’re all mindless dummies who can’t decide for ourselves what we want to spend our free time watching- I like Rihanna, I follow her with interest and I’m a 35yo mother of two. I have no interest in cricket, music is my passion, but I respect athletes and am happy for any coverage they get. I suspect if you ran the numbers, more people simply like pop music more than they do cricket? Is that a crime…?
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Spot on. I’m practically standing and applauding at my desk.
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Yeah, but… I’m just not that interested in watching women’s sports. And I’m a girl!
Then again, I’m quite a fickle sport watcher in general.
On top of that, I’d rather be outside doing something that inside watching telly.
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Feel like watching the lastest netball world championships? Good, IT WAS ON AT 11PM AT NIGHT. Can you imagine if the rugby world champs were on that late? It honestly is a disgrace. Netball is the most played girls sport in this country and the television coverage is appalling. Channel 10 has been a great supporter with Luke Darcy and the gorgeous Liz Ellis commentating. They show the netball 2pm Saturdays and sometimes Sundays. When we beat New Zealand (we beat them in a thriller by one goal) recently, the item was relegated to a quick byline at the end of the sports coverage (Amazing! It got mentioned!) This was, of course, after the latest AFL injury, soccer and golf news. Don’t try to tell me it doesn’t rate. When has it ever been on a prime time slot so the powers that be can actually check? When? NEVER.
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” Can you imagine if the rugby world champs were on that late?”
They were if you watched Channel 9′s coverage…
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The unfortunate fact is – as in most areas of life, it’s still a man’s world. Though we women have made some progress (from having been almost completely invisible for the past few thousand years of history in every field but child bearing), we still have a long way to go.
As for sport – men like men’s sport (as JohnJames points out), men run the media, and cater to – men! And women aren’t demanding more coverage for women (men aren’t going to do it – they’re not interested!). So until we women decide how much women’s sport we want to see, who our heros are, and importantly – how much we’ll pay to watch them, we’re never going to get it.
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You haven’t done your job until there’s a Fox Sports Women’s channel…maybe 2…
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What a great idea
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Thank you someone for finally pointing out that there is more to this issue. I was just about to write a new post along the lines of why hasnt anyone linked this post to the issue of sexism/feminism.
Maybe it’s just that the mamamia community isnt that interested in sports coverage but there is a bigger issue than just whether or not you watch womens sport. Mens sport is still seen as superior, even by a lot of women. Why is that?
Wether we like it or not sport has a big influence on our culture, especially in Australia. The fact that womens sport receives so little spotlight compared to mens sport is telling of how much we value womens acheivements compared to the male equivalent. Some of those statistics are shocking.
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Yes, we still have a mountain to climb, after we collectively decide what place we want to occupy as females in modern society. Until then, it’s back to the men for leadership in (almost) every arena.
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I watch what interests me!
I am an absolute sports nut but the majority of the sport I watch on TV is mens sports- because that’s what I follow.
My favourite female sports to watch are netball- and coverage is actually growing for netball (YAY)…and the gymnastics at the Olympics- amazing!
I definitely watch more womens sports when the Olympics or Commonwealths Games is on.
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While I don’t really watch sport, except AFL, and that is only if I am AT the games, I play netball 4 times a week and just got back from a weekend netball tournament with 20 other women. We had so much fun! Meanwhile my husband has not played sport for 5 years and never ever watches it. I couldn’t imagine my life without netball and when I did my ankle last year it almost killed me, having 2 months off!
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Its quite simple – if you like womens sport.. get behind it and the sponsors will as well.
Also – I’m a male and I watch womens netball and WLeague which is shown on ABC. Look at Netball in NZ and South Africa – it gets huge support but they also get lots of supporters at the game.
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We get shitloads of supporters and Vixen’s games! The last game I went to I had to sit in the back row as the game was sold out. Ever seen an Australian match? You can hardly see the sponsor’s signs for the spectators.
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Thanks Mamamia for putting Felicity’s article on here. I really like Felicity (from following on twitter and reading Womens Health) and was actually thinking the other day how i’d like to see an article from her on here.
I also want to say a big thank you and congratulations to Felicity for starting and keeping the I Support Women in Sport campaign.
It really frustrates me to open the newspaper or news website or watch the news on tv and see story after story about mens sport in intricate detail then at the end or in one tiny story womens sportspeople mentioned.
I love netball and am going to watch NZ v AUS in Melbourne soon. It is exciting and very entertaining.
I think a big part of it is promotion. Womens sporting events are just not promoted enough. We need to get to games and watch whatever we can of TV coverage so that the demand goes up. Become a member of your state clubs and click on stories about womens sportspeople.
As for the people who dismiss womens sport because its not as exciting as mens, well its not meant to be the same. Womens do play certain games differently, but that doesnt mean its not as good. It just needs to be appreciated in a different way. I understand that womens prize money often isnt as good as mens, this is unfair i believe. I could say it should all be equal but i’m sure this is naive. The prize money would be proportionate to sponsorship and viewing numbers. All the more reason to get out there and show your support.
As for role models. I dont think sportspeople are any worse role models than anyone else. I think their sporting acheivements are something to aspire to but everyone is different and what matters is the person you are inside. Womens sportspeople do have a better image than males but that could be because they arent as scrutinised as the males.
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It isn’t sexism, most people prefer men’s sports. There is plenty of interest in women’s tennis for example. Affirmative action isn’t good for anyone.
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Ellyse Perry went to my school!!!!! WOOOHHH!!!!!!
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Are there any figures about how many women watch sport, especially compared to men?
And of those women who do regularly watch sport, how many watch women’s sport?
My gut feeling is that to get media attention for women’s sport, that women are going to have to start following women’s sport. My main sporting loves are rugby and cricket. I follow men’s cricket but not women’s cricket. I’m never going to follow women’s cricket. I’m just not interested. If enough women followed women’s cricket, then maybe there would be enough commercial reasons to show it on TV…
The media publishes heaps of stuff for women…when they know women will pay for it…think Chick-Flicks, and Gossip Mags…if enough women start following sports, then broadcasters will start showing more women’s sport.
Of course, not all sports suffer from the same divisions. Tennis is a good example. Although I wish the women would play 5 sets in the grand slams…but realistically, the majority of women’s sports are never going to attract male viewers…
I know this isn’t meant to be a men vs women argument…but I just think expectations are too high if you think many women’s sports can compete at the same level of popularity as men’s sports, especially if you expect men to form a large part of the viewing audience…it just isn’t going to happen.
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Interesting point. Lots of women watch men’s sport. But men don’t tend to watch women’s sport. Why not? And do women watch it?
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Of all the sports in the world, Tennis seems to me to be the only sport that has just about equal followings (please correct me if I’m wrong…)
Does anyone know if women’s tennis started out as a spectator sport followed mostly by other women? How did it become as popular as men’s tennis?
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I found this online:
Throughout history, tennis has been considered both a man’s and woman’s game. It was a woman, Mary Ewing Outerbridge, who brought the game of lawn tennis to the US in 1874. Outerbridge learned the game while on vacation in Bermuda and shared the concept with her friends and family. Her brother, director of the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club, soon added a lawn tennis court to the club’s lineup.
By 1884, women were competing alongside men at Wimbledon. Maud Watson won the first women’s singles tennis title in 1884 and again in 1885.
http://www.doittennis.com/knowledge-center/tennishistory.php
Maybe it’s just a matter of time…Tennis seems to have a long history of equal following…maybe other sports will eventually end up the same, but we’re just at the start of the process…maybe men WILL eventually watch women’s cricket?
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John – I would say that swimming would fall into this catagory as well.
And I do recall seeing a large number of tweets when the Aussie’s played NZ in the last final of Netball from male celebs… or was I imagining it?
For me it’s to do with excitement. Like you mentioned below – female cricket = new sleep machine recording! But Netball? What a fast game that is! And when AU play NZ – you can see it’s a battle – super exciting!
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My mad-keen-golfing father watches women’s golf because he finds it a bit easier to relate to than men’s golf – he knows he can’t hit the ball as far as Tiger Woods.
I watch some women’s sports when I watch tennis, the Olympics, etc because both men & women participate in those. I watch men’s soccer but not women’s, and I think it might be because there’s just much less coverage. Women’s soccer doesn’t have the same profile as men’s soccer, but it also doesn’t have the same profile as women’s tennis.
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I’m watching a lot of sport at the moment and its certainly not by choice
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I read an interesting article by Marlo Thomas about this very topic yesterday.. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marlo-thomas/womens-soccer-title-ix_b_905047.html
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my husband and I like watching the lingerie football league on fox. now those girls are athletes!
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Agreed JJ! It’s also saying why doesn’t equestrian get as much airing nor funding as the Tennis? Basically the audience isn’t there!
In saying that I love watching women’s tennis, swimming and the finals of netball (when Aussies are representing of cause). But I equally love the male counterparts (minus netball) and a big fan of AFL. I also got into The Tour de France thus year.
It’s not so much the sex playing for me but the enjoyment factor.
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Yep…if you build it, they will come. If you have the product, people will watch it.
Quite honestly, there aren’t many women’s sports that I’ve watched that have made me want to watch them again…for example, any time I’ve watched women’s cricket, it’s felt like watching a washed-out, timid version of the men’s game…I’m sorry to admit that, but that’s how I feel…but I don’t feel the same way about Tennis where I love both men’s and women’s…so, what’s missing from women’s cricket? I don’t have an answer to that…
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I’m a woman and I agree! I love watching rugby league, soccer and cricket and have played all three in women’s teams for fun. On TV the female matches feel much less intense and the spectacle is not as high impact. If I had many hours in the day I’d probably watch both but I’m not going to watch sport all the time – if I had to choose, I’d always choose the men’s version of all three.
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I agree with you JohnJames….Having said that, womens gymnastics at the Olympics is quite simply phenomenal…I find it much more exciting than the mens.
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There you go! I agree…women’s gymnastics is more interesting than men’s…BUT…I don’t normally go out of my way to watch gymnastics outside of the Olympics…
I think the Olympics is a special case…I mean, the greatest sporting event I’ve ever witnessed in the flesh was watching Cathy Freeman win the 400m at the Sydney Olympics…but I never go out of my way to watch athletics at any other time…
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wow, you were there to watch Kathy Freeman!! What was it like? Amazing, I bet!
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When she hit the lead…well, It was the loudest noise I ever heard…simple as that….
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At school, all was dominated by the male footy team. So much so that the principal was eventually given the flick so that the rest of the school could get noticed.
As an adult, my now husband is sports mad as are his friends. They treat it as a religion, but the hypocrisy shows when I want to watch something I’m interested in and it’s female sport. However, they do show interest in female swimmers and tennis players.
Now,I have 2 daughters. Active ones. Aged 4 and 8. And they notice and comment on how little sport coverage is for female sports.
It stinks.
And it shits me.
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BREAKING: More young girls know who world-famous popstar is than female Australian cricketer. More news at 11.
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I like to watch the sports girl excell in which I find exciting sports like skiing, hockey, some athletics.
I find watching girls play basketball too much like watching netball- well the few snippets I saw. I loathed being made to play netball in school, I find it the most boring sport ever!
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I totally agree! Not to mention, some of the sportswomen who DO get coverage/ endorsements just HAPPEN to be incredibly attractive and dressed up sexy in photoshoots. Becuase just winning isn’t enough to get coverage.
As for Jessica Gallahger, holy shit, you are the bravest person I know. Skiing down a slope is scary at the best of times, she does it when she’s legally blind?! Absolutely amazing.
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“some of the sportswomen who DO get coverage/ endorsements just HAPPEN to be incredibly attractive and dressed up sexy in photoshoots. Becuase just winning isn’t enough to get coverage.”
There are also those who just ‘happen’ to be naked in photoshoots – clearly a case of winning not providing enough coverage.
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The only interest in women’s sport in general is because the athletes are hot.
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I really don’t think of sportspeople as healthy role models. Playing sport casually is great, but when you do it professionally it puts too much strain on the body. So many young sportpeople move like 80yr olds before they even hit 40. I think it was Rafael Nadal who recently said playing sport at a professional level was unhealthy.
Personally I would hate to see more coverage of sport. It’s embarassing enough how much of our news is taken up by sport already.
I don’t think you can regulate which sports people are interested in. If there was a demand for greater coverage of women’s cricket, we’d hear about it more. But there obviously isn’t. When an Aussie woman does something big like win the US Open or win an Olympic Gold medal for swimming, it seems to be treated the same way a guy winning those things would be.
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But is that because there isn’t a demand for coverage of women’s cricket, or because there isn’t an awareness of it? I was at uni before I even knew we *had* a national women’s team.
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I absolutely agree. I definitely think more importance and regards need to be held for women’s sport.
In the ANZ Championship, the teams have to split the salary cap of $300,000 between 12 players, despite the fact that the pre-season and during season commitment (7-8 months) requires at least once a day training.
Why isn’t there a picture of the Australian netball team (the Diamonds) who are current world champions, winning the World Champs in July this year in the gallery?
There is a 3 match test series with the netball, against the New Zealand Silver Ferns about to begin this Sunday, if you are in one of the following cites I definitely urge you to go along and watch, the game is fast-paced and very exciting.
Sun 23rd Oct Perth
Wed 26th Oct Adelaide
Sun 30th Oct Melbourne
If you are not in one of the areas, the games are shown (unfortunately delayed) on Channel Ten or on BigPond TV.
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I have 5 children, 2 of whom have been previously selected in state Cricket squads. My son was selected once, and my daughter twice, guess who gets the most recognition from it? I’m constantly being told how ‘weak’ female cricket is.
It’s just the way society is, unfortunately . . .
Watching two games of female cricket on Sunday, after watching ‘Mens’ cricket on Saturday, I much prefer the female cricket.
The females play with absolute joy, they are there to be social as well as competitive.
Not only that, but the two games (men’s and women’s) cannot be compared, they are almost different games altogether. It’s like comparing AFL and Rugby League . . .
Elyse Perry is who I would choose for my other 2 daughters as a role model – what else could you ask for? What you failed to mention is that she managed to complete her HSC at a significant level to gain university entrance, whilst playing two codes of sport at an international level. Simply superb!
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The last time I watched a women play sport on tv was watching Sam Stoser win the US Open a few weeks. I am not against watching women play sport on tv – it’s just that the networks don’t let women’s sport get enough air time so the opportunity isn’t there. I run a local tennis tournament in my area & the number of women who play triple to the number of men so it might be an age thing?
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