From role model to change maker - how female athletes drove global legislation efforts
Taking off from where we left off last week, there is clear evidence that role models are an important component of girl’s and women’s development (and surely for men as well), whether on the playing field or in the office, in politics or in social service. Female role models in sport are crucial, as adolescent girls and young women are bombarded with images of external beauty rather than images of quality characteristics normally found in female athletes, coaches and executives.
“Only 4% of sports media content is dedicated to women’s sport. Only 12% of sports news is presented by women.”
In February 2018 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) called for fairer media coverage of sportswomen. They also bemoaned the stereotypical comments that circulate in the media, often focusing on physical appearance of athletes or their family status, or even crediting their achievements to their male coaches and trainers instead of highlighting their achievement, commitment and excellence. “The fight for equality between women and men is central to our work,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and was touching upon the responsibility governmental institutions and stakeholders in sports have.
For female role models in sport, it is primarily a matter of changing current perceptions and strengthening young women, but also of fairness and equal treatment of women in sports. Young girls must actually see the self-confidence, leadership qualities and performance of other women, as well as the sacrifices that are necessary to shine in sport and in any other professional domain for that matter. It’s important that they see this in order to inculcate these qualities, skills and stamina within themselves, but also to realise that it is actually possible for them to become equally successful.
As a female athlete you aren’t just winning competitions, you're inspiring the next generation of girls and young women around the world.
© IAAF
When I was a child, my passion was (and still is) athletics. I remember looking up to athletes like Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Marie-José Perec, Trine Hattestad or Heike Henkel. They inspired me, they gave me confidence and nurtured my passion. But I admired not only athletes in the sport I did, but was looking up to athletes like Steffi Graf, Katarina Witt and Franziska van Almsick as well. Those women were an inspiration every time I slipped into my trainers and hit the track, but also later, in my professional life in sports business.
One outstanding role model - during her career but especially after - was American tennis player and Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King. In 1973 she defeated Bobby Riggs, a former men's tennis champion, in a match called the ‘Battle of the Sexes‘. Prior to the match, Bobby Riggs said something that women sometimes still hear today, mostly from men of his generation or traditionalists: “She’s a great player for a gal. […] I’m not only interested in glory for my sex, but I want to set women’s lib back twenty years, to get women back into the home, where they belong.”
An estimated 90 million people tuned in to watch King defeat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. The momentous win helped catapult women’s sports forward in the discussion for equality, and Billie Jean King became one of the most vocal and devoted spokespersons for women and sports and was a role model for many women around the globe. She led protests against unequal treatment, founded womenSports, the first magazine devoted exclusively to women’s athletics and the Women’s Sports Foundation. She also helped to start a professional women’s basketball league.
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” – Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs face each other in their epic match (Alamy)
The 1970s also became known for many other firsts in women’s sports. The American Nina Kuscsik became the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon in 1972 after Roberta Gibb was the first unofficial female finisher in 1966. Nadia Comăneci, a 15-year-old Romanian gymnast, won three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal (Canada), and was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. In 1977 Janet Guthrie was the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, and to lead a NASCAR Winston Cup Series event. American Lyn Lemaire placed sixth overall at the Ironman Hawaii in 1979 and became the first Ironwoman.
The women’s movement created new attitudes and demanded equal opportunities, funding, and facilities for women in sports. Their importance clearly evident, role models are nevertheless only one side of the coin.
Acknowledgement as a the starting point
Central to the development of women’s sports is the issue of female agency and empowerment. There have been exceptional women who have enjoyed sports, but if all women are to have real choices, the problem of the low status of women and girls must be tackled collectively, through the work of organisations with well-thought-out strategies to win support, bringing unconscious biases to light, change opinion, and transform the sport business.
Special action groups for women’s sports were set up — the first one, the Women’s Sports Foundation, was founded in the USA in 1974, Canada followed in 1981 with the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and in 1984 The British Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) was founded.
Since 1975 the United Nations (UN) tries to grow greater awareness of the need to greater gender diversity and acceptance of women, also in sports.
Sport and physical activity were first specifically recognised as a human right in the International Charter of Physical Education and Sport, adopted in 1978 by the UNESCO. The Charter states: “One of the essential conditions for the effective exercise of human rights is that everyone should be free to develop and preserve his or her physical, intellectual, and moral powers, and that access to physical education and sport should consequently be assured and guaranteed for all human beings.”
One of the landmark declarations was the Brighton Declaration, which was established by an International Working Group on Women and Sport, an independent coordinating body of government organisations in 1994. It aims to be a catalyst for the advancement and empowerment of women and sport globally. It was organised by the British Sports Council and supported by the International Olympic Committee. At this conference, the Brighton Declaration was adopted and endorsed by the 280 delegates from 82 countries representing Governments, NGOs, National Olympic Committees, international and national sport federations, and educational and research institutions.
25 years ago, the most visionary agenda for the empowerment of women and girls—the Beijing Platform for Action was implemented by the UN. It was adopted by 189 member states and addresses 12 Critical Areas of Concern with strategic objectives identified for each of them.
It is a guideline to removing the systematic barriers that hold women and girls back and, until now, remains the most ambitious agenda for achieving gender equality. Sport is explicitly referenced in the Beijing Platform for Action. The sports ecosystem and its various stakeholders have a strong role to play, especially in favour of gender equality on and off the pitch.
Also 25 years ago, the International Olympic Committee established a Working Group on Women and Sport, which was elevated to the status of a Commission in 2004. The Women and Sport Commission, which meets once a year, monitors the participation of women in the Olympics as well as their representation in decision-making. The Commission organises quadrennial IOC World Conferences on Women and Sport to assess progress made in women and sport within the Olympic Movement, define priority actions and increase the involvement of women.
Yet, until today, the world of sport remains plagued by many of the same gender inequalities that we see more broadly in society – issues such as unequal pay, gender-based harassment and violence, a lack of targeted investment and funds as well as a lack of balanced media coverage and the reproduction of negative stereotypes, biases and social norms.
Significant change took place until the mid-nineties. Important steps were the recognition and the beginning of the processing of facts on the topic of inequalities towards women. What has happened since then and how women's sport has developed in the 21st century, is something I will address next week.