2. Physical activity has long been
deemed “unsuitable” for women

3. The roots of this discrepancy lie in the
birth of modern sport, 150 years ago.
• Victorian society viewed sport as “inseparable from
the philosophy of Muscular Christianity, which defined
itself against femininity and ‘softness’,” says Tony
Collins, the author of Sport in Capitalist Society. It did
not think much of the notion of women playing.
• Nor did Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the modern
Olympic Games, in 1896. He described women’s
sport as “the most unaesthetic sight human eyes
could contemplate” and advocated that the games
be reserved for women, though a few females were
allowed to compete from 1900.
• In 1921, the Football Association in England deemed
the sport “quite unsuitable for females” and banned
its clubs from loaning pitches to women.

5. Sport is traditionally associated
with ‘masculine’ characteristics
• Physical strength and resilience,
speed and a highly competitive,
sometimes confrontational spirit.
• In many societies, women who engage in
sports are perceived as ‘masculine’, while
men who are not interested in sports are
considered ‘unmanly’.

7. Sports are predominantly divided
into ‘male’ and ‘female’ domains
• In many sports mixed gender participation is not accepted.
• In many cases, sports governing structures and the media have send
messages that confirm these divisions rather than challenge them.
• Moreover, the portrayal of women and men athletes by the media
reinforces stereotypical perceptions of gender roles.
• Women athletes are still depicted in a way that contributes to the
marginalisation of women’s achievements in sport, due to the emphasis
placed on femininity and sexual attraction instead of strength and skills.
• The presence of this type of coverage devalues women’s
accomplishments.
• Despite the considerable increase in girls’ and women’s participation in
sport and a growing audience interested in women’s elite sport, there are
still significant differences in the media coverage of women and men’s
sports, with men’s sports receiving far more media coverage than women’s
sports.

20. Female playing traditional “male
sports” face many negative biases

24. Athletes face many biases from
sports journalists
• The Cambridge study also found that it's much
more common for women to be referred to as
"girls" than it is for men to be called "boys".
• "Many commentators say 'girls' in sport even if
they know they should say 'women'. This is
because they think it's a trivial issue to do with
political correctness and they forget in the heat of
competition," says Woodward.
• "But when you call a woman a girl you are
actually infantilising her. A girl is a child. Women's
bodies have long been infantilised in popular
culture as youth is seen as attractive."

26. Female athletes also receive less
media coverage
• It's not just language where there is a difference in
attitude - female Olympic athletes are still
garnering far fewer column inches and given less
TV airtime than their male counterparts.
• Researchers found men were mentioned twice as
often in the CEC and three times more often in the
Sports Corpus.
• When a sport was mentioned it was usually
assumed that the report was about the men's
game - so for example the media is inclined to
refer to "women's football" and call men's football
just "football".

30. Men’s sport is often considered
the default
• Overt gender marking is much more common for women's participation in sport, both in terms of
the sport itself (ladies’ singles) and the athletes participating (woman golfer).
• For example, we are more inclined to refer to women’s football, whereas men’s football is just
called football.
• According to the Sports Corpus, the sports where this is most likely to happen are: athletics, golf,
horse-riding, sprinting, football and cycling.
• While some sports may have made strides towards equality, with tennis now offering the same
prize money for men and women, research suggests we will be discussing the length of Heather
Watson’s skirt, rather than her chances of winning the first UK women’s gold medal in tennis
since 1908.
• Language around women in sport focuses disproportionately on the appearance, clothes and
personal lives of women, highlighting a greater emphasis on aesthetics over athletics.
• It would also appear that whilst returning female athletes, such as Jessica Ennis Hill look to
defend their Olympic titles more is being made in the media of recent births and marriages than
their hopes for Rio.
• Notable terms that cropped up as common word associations or combinations for women, but
not men, in sport include ‘aged’, ‘older’, ‘pregnant’ and ‘married’ or ‘un-married’. The top word
combinations for men in sport, by contrast, are more likely to be adjectives like ‘fastest’, ‘strong’,
‘big’, ‘real’ and ‘great’ – all words regularly heard to describe male Olympians such as Usain Bolt.

33. Female athletes’ physical appearance
and personal lives are frequently
mentioned
• When it comes to performance, it seems as though
men also have the competitive edge: we see ‘men’ or
‘man’ associated with verbs such as ‘mastermind’,
‘beat’, ‘win’, ‘dominate’ and ‘battle’, whereas ‘woman’
or ‘women’ is associated with verbs such as
‘compete’, ‘participate’ and ‘strive’.
• The research also showed higher levels of infantilising
or traditionalist language for women in sport, who are
more likely to be referred to as ‘girls’ than men are
called ‘boys’. Women are twice as likely to be referred
to as ‘ladies’, compared to ‘gentlemen’ who are
frequently referred to by the neutral term ‘men’.

38. At Rio, descriptions of some women
athletes have been called "offensive"
• After Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu won gold in
the 400m individual medley with a new world record,
a journalist referred to her partner, who is also her
trainer, saying: "This is the man responsible.”
• One gymnast was criticised when her leotard "failed
to complement her skin tone”
• A BBC commentator was criticised too when he
referred to the judo final between Kosovan Majlinda
Kelmendi and Italian Odette Giuffrida as a "cat fight."
• Meanwhile American swimmer Katie Ledecky was
praised as being the "female Michael Phelps".
• Both women were already world champions so why
was there a need to compare them to men?

41. This is also due to the lack of
women in sports journalism
• Internationally, women represent
only 10 % of positions in print media and
media production.
• At the 2012 London Olympics, only 15%
of the journalists and photographers were
women.
• Gender inequalities extend into media
organizations, where women hold only
27% of senior management positions.

45. 88.3% of sports reporters are
men and 90% of them are white

47. What are the figures about
female participation in sports?

48. Traditionally, sport has been dominated by
men, both in terms of participation and
governance.
• Worldwide, women’s participation rates in
sporting activities are lower than men’s.
• Yet over the last 20 years significant
changes have occurred and the difference
in involvement between the genders is
becoming narrower.

49. Men are more likely than women to exercise or
play sport: 45% of men do so at least once a
week, compared with 37% of women
• 37% of men never exercise or play sport,
compared with 47% of women.

51. From 0% in 1896 to 45% in Rio in 2016

52. London Olympics in 2012 were a
historic turning point

56. Women represent 22% of
referees in France

58. We still lack equal representation and
gender sensitivity in decision-making
• On average in 2015, only 14% of all top decision-
making positions in sports federations in Member
States were occupied by women, ranging from 3% in
Poland to 43% in Sweden.
• In the majority of countries the share of women in
decision-making positions was below 20%.
• On average, at European level, women made up 14%
of decision-making positions in the continental
confederations of Olympic sports in Europe in 2015.
• Only 4% of the presidents or chairpersons (i.e. only
one out of 28) and 9% of vice-presidents (i.e. eight
out of 91) were women. The share of women among
board members was 15%.

61. Within the International Olympic Committee (IOC),
progress has been made, yet it remains slow.
• There were no women on the committee between 1896 and 1981, while
in 2014 there were 24 women IOC members out of a total of 115 (women
therefore occupied fewer than 25 % of the places on the committee).
• Moreover, fewer than 20% of the members of the governing bodies of
affiliated bodies, such as the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the
Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), are women.
• Europe has the lowest representation of women on the NOC General
Assembly, which is structured into five geographical regions: Europe, Asia,
Africa, America and Oceania.
• Similar patterns can also be found in other European and/or national sports
organisations.
• The phenomena of horizontal and vertical segregation are also influencing
decision-making, with women being recruited to less prestigious and lower-
paid leadership positions in sports organisations. Furthermore, procedures
for election or nomination to leadership positions do not usually consider
gender criteria.

62. As a profession, sports coaching
is also dominated by men.
• Based on figures in 7 EU Member States, it is
estimated that only 20% to 30% of all sports
coaches in Europe are women.
• At the most recent women’s football FIFA World
Cup and UEFA European Cup, there were 3 male
team coaches for every woman.
• Women coaches are more often found in sports
that have a high proportion of women participants
(e.g. dance, gymnastics, figure skating and
equestrian sports) and they predominantly work
with women, adolescents or children who compete
at local and regional levels.
• However, the number of women coaches in almost
all sports seems to be disproportionally low in
relation to women’s overall membership of the
sport.

63. Many men are coaching women and girls, even
in women-dominated sports, and very few
women are coaching men.
• At the elite level, the number of
women coaches is very low and, in
cases where women coaches work
with athletes at higher performance
levels, they typically occupy assistant
coaching positions, supporting male
head coaches.
• Gender-friendly guidance and
coaching may reduce the high
dropout rate of girls and women from
sport, while also tackling sexist
gender stereotypes in sport and
creating a positive social and
educational climate for all.

65. And female athletes face huge
funding disparity
• Women have fewer opportunities to play
sport, suffer from inadequate coaching
and facilities compared with those
enjoyed by men, and have been paid
meagre sums, even for playing
international sport.
• Women’s sport has been shaped by
administration being almost exclusively a
male preserve.

73. Yet, playing sports has
many benefits…

74. Sport can also be used as a means to achieve gender
equality through the establishment of general values
such as fair play, non-discriminationand teamwork.
• It can also be used to increase opportunities for girls, if local
contexts and gender relations are taken into account and
addressed.
• Sport can give women and girls access to public spaces
where they can gather, develop new skills, gain support from
others and enjoy freedom of expression and movement.
• It can promote education, communication, negotiation skills
and leadership, all of which are essential to women’s
empowerment.
• Sport can also increase women’s and girls’ self-esteem and
enable them to make choices about their lives. Moreover,
sport can provide a channel to inform girls and women about
reproductive health and other health issues.

82. Which initiatives shift the
balance in sport?

84. This Girl Can is a UK national
campaign

86. It’s a celebration of active women up and down the country who
are doing their thing no matter how well they do it, how they look
or even how red their face gets.

89. Some initiatives promote female
solo-travel

93. Female bike riders report being
more free and more happy

101. Teach your girls how to fight

112. Female surfers in Iran

113. Female car racers in Palestine

114. Muslims girl fence

115. Creating new stories

116. Challenging stereotypes

117. Show your kids new movies