Women in The Sporting World: Finding The Fit
The battle has just begun.
The last few weeks have seen sports media saturated with uncommon coverage: that of women’s sport. Driving this news coverage has been the debut of the Australian Football Women’s League (AFLW), and what wonderfully welcome news it is! Couple this with the Australian Open showdown between The Williams Sisters and you have women’s sport given significant air time in an unusually favourable light.
Yes, the AFLW heralds an era of women’s sport that many people have prayed and dreamt of for a long time. How rare it is that prayers are answered and dreams come true. I cannot help but wonder, however, if this is just a fleeting sparkle within a reality that has a long way to come before women enter the world of sport as equals to their male counterparts. I wonder so far as if the sporting world is even kind to women who break in.
It is true that women tennis player’s now get paid equally to male tennis players, and I also know that many are of the opinion that it is now only fair for women to equal the number of sets that men play: I am not going to offer an opinion on that point, mainly because I have not formulated one for myself yet. Likewise, women now play in an Australian Football league of their own and this raises numerous questions about their play in comparison to the men’s league:
1. Will women play a game for the same length of time as men?
2. Will women eventually be payed as career footballers?
3. Will women face harsher rules in terms of bodily contact during a game?
4. At what point will the AFL start charging entry to a women’s match?
The answers will come with time, and I think that the answers will reveal a plethora of subconscious attitudes that exist towards women’s sport. And no, not just from men. I was watching an AFLW match with a woman who was concerned that it was a too contact heavy sport for women to be playing and that stronger rules need to be imposed to prevent the same level of injuries sustained in the men’s league.
Just over a week ago the AFL tribunal ruled that women would not be fined because they are not “fully-professional”. The women who play football have their own jobs outside of the game and giving up time is a serious commitment, albeit one that they are elated to commit to. AFLW is undoubtedly a huge step in the right direction, but it does resonate with the days of yonder year when male footballers were not the wealthy, idolised celebrities that they are today. Similarly, the evolution of the league to include women follows the same process of any feminine movement: it never starts as equal, it must work its slow way to a similar status.
By no means am I saying that AFLW is a movement for feminists, but rather simply a push for a platform on which women can play a sport that they love. It is unwise though to think that it will not be trumpeted as a successful feminist movement, and it is here that I apply extreme caution as I think about the broad world of sports.
The mere fact that the AFL thought that people would not initially want to pay to watch women play the sport until they had watched for a while is emblematic that society is unsure of what to think of women’s sport, or at least that the AFL are unsure. When next season comes and the general public are charged money to watch games, that will be the test of how much people genuinely care about women’s sport. For now, it is too early tell and perhaps too early to get excited.
Taking a step back from the physically playing of any sport, and it is clear to see that the realm of sports is not equal for men and women. Women are objectified as cheerleaders when they are supporting the male athletes, then in stark contrast Lady GaGa was criticised for wearing too little clothes and showing her ‘flabby’ stomach when given centre stage at the Super Bowl at half time.
Even the self-proclaimed, vocal feminist Any Schumer, in the film ‘Trainwreck’, plays a character who woos back a scorned sports surgeon lover by dressing up as a cheerleader and dancing; granted, she does try some sweet basketball tricks but fails and the man in question finds this failure endearing, rather than being impressed by the attempt. Teen classics such as She’s The Man and Bend It Like Beckham centre around strong female athletes, but not without a love interest undercurrent that keeps the audience involved. On the other hand, other classic sports films such as ‘Remember The Titans’ pivot on the male fraternity of sport and overcoming adversity.
These are the films we are pitching at the female athletes of the future, all while society makes it clear that women have to push to make themselves viewed as equal in the world of sport.
The 2015 documentary ‘The Hunting Ground’ reports that the majority of on campus accused sexual assault and rape perpetrators are US college athletes. One particularly disturbing accusation raised by the film is that of Jameis Winston: Winston was accused of raping a girl while playing American Football for Florida State College, but the accusations were kept quiet so that Winston could play in the finals. He now plays for the NFL. Even if the accusations were false they should have been taken more seriously than a sports game. Even if this case is false there are plenty more examples of sportsmen inciting sexual or domestic violence: closer to home, Grant Hackett. Is the sporting arena intrinsically ‘macho’ and dangerously dominated by men?
Campaigns such as “Throw Like a Girl” are to be commended for voicing that having the athletic attributes of a girl is not a bad trait. The men who support and give voice to the women’s AFLW are doing a fabulous job at promoting the sport. There is, however, a prevailing societal attitude that surrounds women in sport, and time will tell if the AFLW league will be just a fad and a symbol that women are fighting to be recognised in sport, or if it will eventually (in many years) be seen as equal to the men’s league.
One of my favourite post game comments of all time was when Serena Williams firmly told a reporter that she wanted to be known as one of the “best athletes of all time” rather than the “best female athlete”, and I think that she will be. I hope that all women in sport of the future will be granted this same opportunity without the scrutiny that Serena has faced in the past for her physical build or her on court clothes. Even the least attractive of male footballers have women vying for their attention, and the public criticisms of their appearances are in the form of “friendly banter”.
I pray and dream that the AFLW is not just a fad or symbol, and I pray and dream that all women (not just those who have been making their way through the sporting world for 20 years) in all facets of sport will be treated with the respect and high regard: be it on the side line, in the support team, or as players.
As a sports loving nation and world, we need to explore and question the values that come with the arena of sport we have created, and ask ourselves if this arena is truly supportive of the longevity of women in sport?
