Opinion | Guest Opinion |
| Thursday, 28 August 2008 02:48 |
|
The first Australian man to win a track and field gold in 40 years. The first Australian man to win a gold in diving in 84 years. Have you noticed many ‘firsts’ for our ‘sporting sheilas’? No? That’s because we’ve already been winning them! Four track and field medals in those 40 years and Chantelle Newberry a diving gold at the last games. The ‘first men’ have done us proud, but our sporting sheilas have been achieving better for longer on the world stage. So why don’t our sportswomen get the recognition they deserve? The Olympic Games provides an opportunity for what is arguably the best coverage of women in sport, but still there are glaring instances of sexism in the reporting. How many articles on our sportswomen have lead with questions of weight, weddings, jewellery, clothing and what tattoo Kate Hollywood was going to get and where? There are plenty of articles about the sporting prowess of our men but it seems there’s still some work to do when it comes to appreciating our women for the elite athletes they are. Opportunities abound for many of our athletes who earned medals at the games. I’m sure you’ve seen Sally McLellan’s post race interview. Everyone I’ve talked to calls her ‘down to earth’, ‘genuine’, ‘humble’ or just plain ‘awesome’. Most describe it as their favourite moment of the games. Yet in a recent article in The Sydney Morning Herald, a sports marketing expert commented that because she’s “less polished” and “from Queensland”, she will only be suited to marketing “working-class companies … perhaps a tractor manufacturer or something”. I mean, come on?! Would he say that about a certain test cricketer with a penchant for rude text messages we all love to hate? He certainly ‘aint ’polished’ but the media attention and endorsement contracts keep rolling in. This isn’t about who wins the most medals, or about taking away from the achievements of any of our athletes. It’s about putting the media on trial and starting a discussion about the general lack of support and respect the media have given to our sportswomen over the years. It’s time they stepped up and provided our sporting sheilas with the coverage they deserve. Did you know that right now, Aussie women are competing in the Baseball World Cup in Japan? Did you know about the Women’s Rugby League World cup in Queensland in November and the Women’s Cricket World Cup early next year in New South Wales
Chances are you didn’t!
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
If the Olympics were anything to go by, women in sport are as invisible as ever, writes Danielle Warby. It’s time they got the coverage they deserve.
Subscribe to this comment's feed