Dalton Myers | Sadly, sports is still a ‘Man’s World’

This year, International Women’s Day (IWD) is being celebrated under the theme “Each for Equal”, suggesting that each of us has a role to play in creating an environment conducive for the advancement of women leading to equity and equality in all spaces.

I have long argued that sport has an important role to play in this fight. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This declaration was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. It remains one of the most important landmarks for women and girls and was crucial for the adoption of others such as the Millennium Development Goals.

Each for Equal is applicable in sport as sport can be an instrumental tool in this movement for change and equality. Today, I want to reflect on girls and women in sport and examine some of the challenges we face in making those spaces more equitable ones for them.

In Jamaica, there are several girls and women who dominate at the highest level across many sporting disciplines. Our Minister of Sport is a woman, and you can find many women in various levels of sport administration and officiating.

However, despite levels of success, sport remains a “man’s world”, where men dominate participation at all ­levels, management, officiating, and coverage of sport. This needs to change. Don’t get me wrong; there have been changes in some aspects. More men are making efforts to promote the work of women in sport, but globally, the space remains predominantly male dominated. This will continue for a while because of several reasons including cultural norms, stereotypes, and a lack of a concerted push to have more girls and women playing sport.

Another issue to consider is that in some spaces, it is not safe for women to play sport. Locally, our overall crime rate often makes women feel afraid, and in many cases targeted, and, therefore, not willing to play or train. Sexual abuse in sport continues to be a challenge globally. Locally, Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon-Harrison has highlighted the increasing number of cases involving coaches who allegedly abused girls in sport.

The coverage of women’s sport is very low.

Locally, there are few women in the newsrooms, which compounds the issues we face here. I am not suggesting that just adding women to newsrooms will automatically translate to greater representation of women’s issues in sport. However, I have long argued that you need more women in sports media to help raise awareness about issues affecting females as well as advocating for better treatment and coverage of women in sport.

BREAKING TABOOS

Taboo topics like menstruation and its effect on women in sport as well as domestic violence and sport need to be explored. I know the argument is that the media’s coverage of content is based on supply and demand, but that has not entirely been the case, with content being covered in many cases based on the direction of a company/management.

In Jamaica, there are three female sports journalists at the country’s leading free-to-air TV station, TVJ ,with none at CVM TV. In print, there are no females on the sports desk at this newspaper or at the main competitor, the Jamaica Observer. In radio, there is the Girls Sport Club show, but the other main radio sports hosts are predominantly males.

Why does this matter? Well, because representation matters. It matters who tells the story, and importantly, it’s difficult to be what you cannot see. Therefore if girls grow up not seeing women in the space, then that in itself creates issues. So maybe now is a good time for this newspaper as well as the various media houses to examine ways of attracting more women to sports media.

Jamaica has had a history of girls and women performing admirably in sport, and I laud their achievements. Many continue to make valuable contributions in administration, officiating and mentoring other females both locally, and internationally.

However, we have to ask ourselves, how can each of us be part of the push for equality? So let us not just celebrate the women who have made it into the space, but also reflect on the many girls and women who gave up on that dream some time ago as well as those who were prevented either by our actions or inaction.

Dalton Myers is a sport consultant and host of The Drive Phase Podcast. Email feedback to daltonsmyers@gmail.com or tweet @daltonsmyers