Seven Faces of Women's Sport

Irene A. Reid, Jane Dennehy, Irene A. Reid, Jane Dennehy, Irene Reid, Jane Dennehy

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781787437111
• eBook ISBN: 9781787439665
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Media and political figures often assert that progress towards achieving gender parity has advanced. However, circumstances around recent major sports events such as the Women's Football World Cup and Olympic Games suggest otherwise. From controversy around facilities to miniscule commercial sponsorship, from body confidence to physical literacy, from grassroots to elite performance these events reveal ideologies and barriers that mitigate against parity for women's sport remaining entrenched. 

An informed critical examination of interconnected issues around women and sport in the twenty-first century is absent from current scholarship. This book will explore some of the intersecting issues through the lens of 7 faces: governance, economics, nationhood, competition, bodies, sport for development and media. The collection seeks to amplify the ways in which inequalities are sustained by struggles between dominant social, political and economic power networks. We argue that only by making visible this complex matrix, does it become possible to create agendas for more rapid change to rebalance existing gender inequalities. 

The book seeks to disentangle some of the issues, and to disrupt conventional ways of thinking about gender inequalities in sport. Our thesis is that change is slow, but investment in different skills and knowledge could direct sustainable and strategically relevant change for women's sport.

Chapter 1

The Face of Media: Continuous, Powerful and Adaptable

Jane Dennehy

Sport and media interact and communicate specific cultural and social messages about gender and how it is socially constructed. These messages relate to success, resilience, femininity, masculinity, national pride, leadership, failure, loyalty and heroism. It is important to explore how sport and media collaborate to repeatedly embed social messages which do not reflect the diversity of individuals and groups in society, nor the diversity of issues preventing progressive representation.

This chapter uses the definition of sport from the European Sports Charter Article 2 which is distinctive from the sport sector, which includes media and other commercial activity.

‘Sport’ means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels.

The Sports Encyclopaedia cites over 3,000 sports illustrating the depth and breadth of sport in the world. Media platforms over the past 30 years have developed at an exponential rate. The combination of technology and content have created an explosion of audiences in all corners of the globe. The relationship between media and sport is, for some sports, symbiotic, as TV and image rights have fuelled their growth. For other sports, social media has offered athletes, supporters and fans an opportunity to engage in new ways which are personal and unique.

Deconstructing media, by assessing and analysing its many forms, enables opportunities to explore their varied purposes, delivery mechanisms, social positioning, ownerships, revenues, organisational structures and histories. Similarly, sport is vast and varied, and ranges from individual physical pursuits to team activities. Sport encompasses globally recognised games, like football and golf, and local games, which are important in many communities.

McQuail (2010) argues that early mass media refers to the organised means of communicating openly, at a distance and to many people in a short space of time. The explosion of media and mobile technology in recent decades has combined to provide individuals with many choices on where, when, how and from whom they receive their news, information and entertainment.

However, what distinguishes some media from others is the professionalism of journalism, photography, sound and film which is learned, monitored, reviewed and critiqued by peers. Many traditional media organisations have invested in technology across multiple vehicles to continue delivering verifiable news and information to audiences. However, tensions have developed between professional and citizen journalists who have become their ‘own media outlets’ publishing unfettered words and pictures to anyone that can find them. This tension is still fuelled by the phenomenon of ‘fake news’, which has become an agitator in the media world, resulting in more calls for mis-information to be challenged.

On World Communications Day (24 January 2018), Pope Francis released a message saying,

None of us can feel exempted from the duty of countering these falsehoods. This is no easy task, since disinformation is often based on deliberately evasive and subtly misleading rhetoric and at times the use of sophisticated psychological mechanisms.

He goes on to say,

The best antidotes to falsehoods are not strategies, but people: people who are not greedy but ready to listen, people who make the effort to engage in sincere dialogue so that the truth can emerge; people who are attracted by goodness and take responsibility for how they use language.

One of the issues emerging is the question of whether social media platforms should be classified as publishers, and as such be regulated in the same ways that other media like TV and radio are. The Chair of Ofcom, the Communications regulator in the UK, has been quoted in a personal capacity saying, ‘My personal view is I see this as an issue that is finally being grasped – certainly within the EU, certainly within this country – and to my amazement and interest, being asked in the United States as a result of the potential Russian scandals (the alleged interference in elections). My personal view is that they are publishers but that is only my personal view, that is not an Ofcom view. As I said, Ofcom is simply concerned about the integrity of news and very supportive of the debate and the steps that are being taken’ (Ruddick, 2017).

Ofcom state the following:

We make sure that people in the UK get the best from their communications services and are protected from scams and sharp practices, while ensuring that competition can thrive. We operate under a number of Acts of Parliament, including in particular the Communications Act 2003. We must act within the powers and duties set for it by Parliament in legislation. The Communications Act says that Ofcom’s principal duty is to further the interests of citizens and of consumers, where appropriate by promoting competition. Meeting this duty is at the heart of everything we do. (Ofcom 2017).

The call for more gender equity in the media, for sport, is stuck between the different business models for publicly and privately owned media. This is further complicated by the hierarchy of sports, which are created and sustained by media outlets, for example, elite club football, and the symbiotic capitalist relationship which is built between the stakeholders. The challenge for women’s sport is to create entertainment products, which audiences pay to see whether in person or via a media channel. There is no question this challenge is one for all sports (men and women’s) and is likely to become more acute as the fight for participants and spectators grows.

Global Media for Local Delivery

While TV has changed the face of some sports and sporting events, the demise of prominent local and regional newspapers in the United Kingdom, Europe and North America has removed an important platform for local sport. It was not so long ago that many sporting competitions were sponsored and reported by local and regional newspapers, often bringing a higher profile to different sports and athletes while recognising the contributions of volunteer coaches and referees.

The grassroots are the lifeblood of sport. They contribute in the following ways:

• Administering and organising local sports clubs for fun, activity and fitness
• Providing a breeding ground for youth talent to be incubated and developed
• Providing opportunity for coaches and referees to train and develop
• Providing opportunity for sports journalists to learn and practise their craft
• Providing regular events and leagues for teams to participate in
• Creating free events for the public to attend, as supporters and fans
• Placing a value on public and common spaces for sporting activities for all

While it is unlikely there will be a resurgence of local newspapers, it is important to wonder: what role does social media fulfil? Though using Facebook pages and groups as community and club noticeboards functions well for some, it does depend on people joining groups and keeping up with posts. But Facebook is not seen on the T-shirts of the local netball or cricket team. The relationship between the communication functions of social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube) and their position as stakeholders in communities is superficial leaving a vacant space. Discussions of the role of social media in society is only developing and stakeholders in sport should be engaged in the emerging debates.

Mainstream media give very little coverage to amateur and semi-professional competitive sport leagues, which, while nothing new, has enabled social media providers to be a viable means of building relationships between athletes and supporters. However, without local sports reporters, how will sport continue to provide the training and development ground for young journalists, pundits and commentators? The value of sports commentary which captures the essence of live sport on all media platforms is a critical part of the sport package and one which should be championed by sports fans and sports governing bodies.

Mainstreaming gender into all aspects of the media delivery of sport is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart business decision. Readers, viewers and users want a package of choices and predicting the outcome of those choices, buying the rights to deliver them and packaging them in the right way is a media owners challenge. Understanding the complexities of media organisations is important for those women’s sport that want to be part of that choice package.

Time and Money

How we ‘do’ sport and gender is a constantly moving concept with time, locations and social/economic roles intersecting to produce a spectrum of experiences for men and women. While women around the globe are participating in sport in their millions, at elite levels they are largely locked out of mainstream media and sponsorship platforms. For men playing non-mainstream sports, the situation is similar. But the difference is that women face barriers to media coverage and associated sponsorship and TV rights in mainstream global sports like football, rugby, cricket and basketball.

The role of gender as an organising mechanism in sport continues to produce and maintain a range of meanings, expectations, actions, behaviours, resources, identities, debates and discourses. Though fluid, these effects are persistent and can operate in isolation as well as in any combination. To explore how gender relations influence and are influenced by media it is worth considering the following:

• Men watch more sport than women.
• Men watch more women’s sport than women.
• Men have more leisure time than women.
• Men play sport for more years than women.
• Men’s sport has been formalised and funded for longer than women’s sport.
• More sports editors and journalists are men.

The status of different sports is increasingly built not just on participants, but on the commercial value of professional and elite levels. In some sports, athletes command millions of dollars in salaries, winnings and endorsements, which creates benchmarks well beyond what the ‘average professional athlete’ will experience. Spotlighting elite professional athletes does make for eye-catching media content but simultaneously distracts readers and viewers away from the issues experienced by thousands of professional and semi-professional athletes who sustain competitive leagues and events around the world.

Equality with What?

The dominance of male professional athletes in media content remains strong, and the claim that this is what readers want is increasingly without foundation; women’s sport is drawing more and more fans and supporters to events from the club level, to national and global events. In 2017 the women’s cricket World Cup final was sold out (26,500 seats), the women’s Euro football final was sold out (28,182 seats) and the women’s rugby world cup also sold out (15,000 seats). Yet the top 100 of Forbes’ list of the World’s Highest Paid Athletes continues to reflect the dominance of men’s sport. In 2017, Serena Williams was the first and only woman to appear in the list, as the 51st highest-paid athlete.

Sports like American football, basketball, boxing, motor-racing and football (soccer) have, at the elite levels, surpassed the majority of sports for men and women, in attracting sponsorship, TV rights and merchandising deals which are simply immense. This sport bubble is powered by a symbiotic relationship which is unique and difficult to challenge. When the question of gender equality is posed in respect of sport generally, and for the purpose of this discussion, media coverage, it is important to ask the question: equality with what?

If the benchmark for success is the bubble of elite men’s sport, it is unlikely that any negotiation on equity will result in positive outcomes. The relationship between women’s sport and media coverage could usefully be re-framed to build on the positive achievements which continue to grow across geographies and sports. Women’s sport can and should be its own media offering, and within that offering should be the individual and multi-sporting relationships with readers, viewers, fans, supporters, and media outlets.

This chapter aims to bring together a collection of perspectives on the nexus of gender, sport and media, to underscore the message that sport, no matter the profile or worth, is dominated by people. Media providers understand this and, while some may seek to take advantage of the opportunities this presents, that is to sell advertising, the powerful message that transcends capitalist endeavours is the value of sport in society. In the examples that follow, I want to illustrate a mixed and complex picture of gender relations that touch people’s lives and serve their interests in diverse ways.

Hillsborough Football Tragedy – Justice for the 96

The Hillsborough disaster is not just about one event. It is the story of how sport replicates society. On a Saturday in April 1989, 96 men, women and children attending a FA Cup semi-final were unlawfully killed. Reaching this conclusion has taken 27 years and the final chapter is still yet to be concluded, as five men were charged in 2017. Police, politicians and media worked together for decades to cover up what happened, why it happened and who was responsible.

The first inquest was based on the events leading up to 3:15 pm, a decision strongly disputed by the families. In 2009, the Hillsborough Independent Panel was set up by the government to review documents relating to disaster. In September 2012, a report was produced based on 450,000 pages of documents stored by the government, public bodies, private companies and individuals. In December 2012, the families who campaigned for the original inquests to be quashed were ordered a fresh inquest by the High Court.

The new inquests (see Hillsborough Inquests website) began on 31 March 2014 and, after two years of evidence, a detailed picture has built up of how an FA Cup match at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground turned into a disaster that claimed 96 lives and left hundreds more injured. The timeline of events starts on Saturday 15 April 1989, when a FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was held at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough ground. The match was a sell-out and 53,000 fans were expected. In this era of English football, hooliganism was a major issue, so fans were allocated different parts of the ground to lessen the opportunity for club clashes.

Liverpool was the larger club but was allocated the smaller end of the ground, with some 10,000 supporters heading for the terraces and the caged pens which separated them from the pitch. But on match day there was no system for making sure fans were evenly distributed in the pens. The match commander David Duckenfield was new to his post and had limited experience of policing football matches.

The crowd congestion started at about 14:15 and rapidly swelled as kick off grew closer. By 14:30 not even half of the ticketed fans had entered the ground through the seven turnstiles. The inquests were told that Mr Duckenfield and Supt Bernard Murray discussed delaying the kick off to allow fans to enter but decided against it. The consequences of this decision meant that more and more people were pressing into the turnstiles, and a crush started. The police officer in charge of the area told the inquest he thought somebody ‘was going to get killed’ and made several requests to open the exit gates to let people in. These gates were finally opened and about 2,000 fans made their way into the ground and into the pens causing a crush. Some fans began to climb the fences to escape into the less-packed pens. Then the police opened a large exit gate and another 2,000 supporters entered the ground and made for the pens.

As the game kicked off, one barrier in a pen gave way, causing people to fall on top of one another. Evidence at the inquest told of survivors watching people lose consciousness in front of their eyes. At 15:06 the referee was told to stop the game. But in the middle of the chaos, police and ambulance ground staff delayed declaring a major incident, while firefighters and ambulances had difficulty getting into the ground, because the police were reporting ‘crowd trouble’.

The inquests were the longest in English legal history, sitting for 279 days, with the coroner taking a further 26 days to sum up the evidence. The jury found that police errors in planning, defects at the stadium and delays in emergency response all contributed to the disaster, thereby causing 96 deaths and several hundred injuries. The finding that the behaviour of fans was not to blame was instrumental in serving up a direct challenge to the media who had used social and cultural stereotypes to divert attention away from those who were to blame.

The Sun newspaper, under the editorship of Kelvin MacKenzie, ran a headline ‘The Truth’ four days after the tragic game, which started an orchestrated smear campaign blaming fans for the deaths of the 96 men, women and children. Stories of despicable behaviour were sensationalised, feeding stereotypes about working class, male football hooligans. After the publication of the Independent Panel’s Report in 2012, MacKenzie offered ‘profuse apologies’. He was then issued with a civil law suit for malfeasance over the coverage of the football disaster.

As Daniel Taylor writes in The Guardian:

Hillsborough was not a sports story […] and it does leave the lingering sense that in some places football is still not quite free from its old stigmas, whereby the people who go to games are somehow not deemed as important, or worthy, as those who watch other sports or engage in other activities. (Taylor, 2012)

The cultural values of community, loyalty and resilience found in football clubs and their supporters was tested through the long 27-year battle by a group of people (parents, families and local politicians) who fought for an inquest that would serve justice for 96 Liverpool fans who lost their lives. The football we watch today is built on the foundations of the social history, not just in England, but in football-loving nations around the world. But football continues to be a micro-climate for racism, homophobia, sexism and tribalism, forcing the sport – from club to international level – to face lingering social inequalities in order to avoid the extended and far-reaching damage done by events like Hillsborough.

As a watershed moment for health and safety at stadia, Hillsbo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The Face of Media: Continuous, Powerful and Adaptable
• Chapter 2 The Face of Nationhood: Women in the National We of Sport?
• Chapter 3 The Face of Governance: Economics, Value and Visibility
• Chapter 4 The Face of Football Bodies: ‘Resisting Market Enclosure and Imagining Another (Football) Future’
• Chapter 5 The Face of Competition: The Beating Heart of Sport
• Chapter 6 The Face of Gender, Sport for Development
• Chapter 7 Strategic Action in Women’s Sport
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index