It’s Sports, Girl #3 – Is Sport Lacking Girl Power?

“If I have to, I can do anything, I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman!”

The song screams it loud; women can do anything – except be recognised as serious athletes.

Why is it men only appreciate women in sport when they are diving across the sand in a beach volleyball game or making those I-don’t-think-they’re-necessary grunts on the tennis courts, when Australia is represented by great sportswomen like Melissa Barbieri, Natalie von Bertouch and Alyssa Healy? Look them up, you may learn something!

It’s obvious that I am not the only person who has noticed the absence of women in sport.  The Australian government has recently launched a campaign, led by the Minister for Sport Mark Arbib and the Minister for the Status of Women Kate Ellis, to provide more funding to women’s sport with the aim of boosting its recognition in Australia.

Arbib’s main concern is to raise awareness of women in sport.

“Women’s sport deserves greater prominence in the Australian media,” he said.

“These grants will help sports develop quality content for broadcasters and attract greater coverage of a range of women’s sports,”

But could the lack of coverage of women’s sport cause the ripple effect for a lack of knowledge leading to a misconception that women are less (for lack of a better word) “entertaining” to watch than their male counterparts?

After doing my research I can reveal that women are actually kicking butt in the wide world of sports! Just to mention a few: Australia’s female athletes won 56 per cent of Australia’s medals at the Beijing Olympic Games, also claiming 18 world championships and world titles across a range of sports in 2010 under their belts.

The stats are in and I could make up some fancy pie graphs to demonstrate but it’s pretty obvious that our Aussie women are very talented and very under-rated so I’m left dumb-founded as to why women can’t get a break.

So I’ve hit the streets once again and asked the general question: “What is your opinion on the current sporting landscape regarding women?”

My first response, from University student Marc Riccioni, immediately disagreed with me.

“Men are stronger in a lot more sports than women and I think it’s the sports own responsibility to promote women playing their respective code” he remarked.

“I just feel as though there is more intensity, passion and skill in men’s sport and this therefore appeals more to the viewer.”

I think men welcome the whole package; they almost idolise male athletes as god-like figures not only for their talent but possibly the lifestyle that comes with it. The WAG’s, mansions, fast cars, and women don’t necessarily fit this mould as they lack the ‘relatable’ factor.

Although, sporting goods salesman Matthew Hakeem took me by surprise by explaining women in sport reflect women in society.

“It’s only been in the last couple of decades that women have finally been recognised as equals in the workplace and this is mimicked in the sporting world,”

He also pointed out that women gain recognition during the Olympics as they are able to showcase their talent not only on a world stage but in sports people may be unaware a women’s team even existed in.

After a recent trip to the United States, I was surprised by the overwhelming support for their national women’s football team in the women’s FIFA world cup, which made the nightly news as well as daily updates.

Upon their defeat against Japan in the finals, the whole country was genuinely devastated and welcomed them home with the teams very own supporters stall in Times Square hosted by ESPN.

When I returned home I asked our very own Gordon D’Mello what the Australian sporting landscape was during the world cup, to which he revealed to me went unreported and many people were even unaware it was even on!

I’ve sat down and formulated a highly mathematical equation as to what the problem is – women’s sport is not promoted therefore when competitions (such as the women’s world cup) come around no one knows. Therefore women’s sport is stuck in the cycle of unrecognition which inevitably leads to the destruction of the whole world!