Sexism in sport excludes women from one of Australia's most important cultural products
|
Version 0 of 1. On Friday, it was the Matildas – the Australian women’s football team – who were subjected to sexist abuse by men at a football match. Related: British soldiers ‘shouted sexist abuse’ at England Women against Australia A few days before that, it was Chelsea’s doctor Eva Carneiro who had horrendous sexual insults hurled at her as she treated a player on the pitch. Two weeks ago, it was an advert for the E3 Harelbeke dishing out sexist insults. It depicted a cyclist reaching in to pinch the backside of a “podium girl”, with a tagline that translates to “Who squeezes them in Harelbeke?”, referring to the moment last year when Peter Sagan did exactly that. (Let’s consider for a moment the simple fact that “podium girls” are still a thing.) It seems that in 2015, sexism is still a common part of our sporting life. Sexism is not just a football problem. It’s not just a cycling problem, or a cricket problem or a tennis problem or a motorsport problem. It’s not just a problem at men’s games or at women’s games. Sport has a sexism problem. You could say, quite accurately, that society has a sexism problem, but sexism is more pronounced in sport. So many of the examples of the deeply sexist nature of society are magnified in the sporting universe: unequal pay, the objectification of women, the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and public sexist abuse. While there are certainly feminist issues of greater importance in Australia – such as domestic violence and its disproportionate impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women – these issues do matter. They matter because they demonstrate how inhospitable one of Australia’s most significant and class-transcendent cultural products is to women. We need to make sport a safe place for women: as competitors, administrators and fans. We need to make women feel welcome and part of the game. It is abundantly clear that current approaches simply aren’t working. Neither Cricket Australia, despite outlining a significant number of discriminations, nor the AFL nor the NRL mentions gender-based abuse in its match entry conditions. Only Football Federation Australia specifically mentions gender-based abuse. Female fans should be able to attend games and feel safe. They should be able to watch games they enjoy without enduring catcalls or abuse or just generally disparaged for being a woman. It is time for a renewed commitment across the sport sector and a coordinated response. Australian sport needs to adopt a zero-tolerance attitude to sexism. It needs to be an industry-wide approach. Such an approach would need to involve an education campaign, making it clear that displaying respect for women and girls is a non-negotiable part of ground entry and that any disparaging comments about women or girls would be grounds for immediate dismissal. Furthermore, it could empower people in the stands to make complaints. While the crowd abuse hotline that is displayed at venues is a good start, it varies between stadia and is only on visible from certain parts of the stands and at certain times. The number is virtually impossible to find online. A single number that works across codes, for all grounds around the country, which is well publicised as part of the education campaign, would be an easy first step. But the entrenched sexism in sport needs to be addressed throughout the industry, not just in the stands. Sporting organisations should put a moratorium on any advertising or match day presentation that primarily present women as objects to be looked at, rather than skilled professionals to be admired. Sports clubs should refuse to partner with sponsors or media outlets who demonstrate they are unwilling to adopt similar values. How powerful it would be for women and men to be able to watch a football match without enduring advertising that would have felt dated in the 1950s. Another effective way to do this would be to make government funding for sporting organisations and facilities contingent on meeting gender targets, in management and at board level, but also in the way they invest in emerging talent. The existence of a sole female assistant coach in the AFL in 2015 isn’t something to be proud of, it’s something we should be ashamed of. Sport has lagged behind the rest of society for entirely too long. It’s time for fans and organisations to take a stand and fully commit to stamping sexism out of our games. |