#PressforProgress in sport!
Today is International Women’s
Day. This year, 2018, the theme is #PressforProgress. The emphasis is on gender
parity which is taking a long time coming! It’s a global women’s movement stretching
across all continents, races, religions, sexual and gender identities, age, economic
circumstances, classes and cultures. It’s not until all women are empowered,
respected and treated as equals that we can say true parity exists.
My #PressforProgress is to bring
to light the visibility of women (which includes celebrating women’s
achievements) and, in particular, to press for gender parity. It’s time! You
can join me in pressing for progress by going to:
My press for progress in Sport is
to see girls/women represented in all sports with an aim for 50/50 parity.
However, for this to happen there
needs to be more investment in women’s sport. Media coverage of women’s sport
must be on parity with men. It’s not acceptable for men to try to tell us that
people aren’t interested in watching women playing sport. Not only is this not
true it’s sexism. Girls need to have role models they can emulate. 
Nicola Adams OBE, UK boxing
champion, is one such role model who wants to inspire girls to do sport and
ignore stereotyping and limitations that others impose and just go for what you
want to achieve. She was chosen to be a special edition iconic Barbie doll to
celebrate International Women’s Day. For more on this and an interview with
Nicola see:
As the brand senior
vice-president Lisa McKnight said: “Barbie will be honouring its largest line
up of role models timed to International Women’s Day, because we know that you
can’t be what you can’t see.”
For this and another interesting
article on Nicola Adams, see:
Women’s tennis also has many excellent
role models in Serena and Venus Williams, and Petra Kvitova, amongst others. To see Petra #PressforProgress by committing to #SpeedtheClock, see:
https://twitter.com/Petra_Kvitova/status/971789680898228225
But coverage on main channels on TV or in newspapers of this sport in the UK is poor. Yet there is constant pressure to find a British Wimbledon Champion. So surely the best place to start to achieve this is by covering the sport in the media all year round and ensuring a 50/50 gender parity because it’s not just a men’s champion we want, it’s also a women’s champion we need!
https://twitter.com/Petra_Kvitova/status/971789680898228225
But coverage on main channels on TV or in newspapers of this sport in the UK is poor. Yet there is constant pressure to find a British Wimbledon Champion. So surely the best place to start to achieve this is by covering the sport in the media all year round and ensuring a 50/50 gender parity because it’s not just a men’s champion we want, it’s also a women’s champion we need!
Media coverage of women competing
at an international level in sports is essential for inspiring both girls and
young women to pursue a career in sport. Both advertising and marketing are
essential in making women in sport visible and celebrated as well as breaking
down assumptions, stereotypes and prejudices about their place in the sporting
world be they competitors, commentators, broadcasters, coaches, trainers,
officials, organizers, committee members, umpires/referees or managers. It’s not a case of waiting
for women’s sports to be popular enough before you give them coverage, on the
contrary, it’s by giving them positive coverage that they become popular.
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