Women’s equality in sport is making progress but faces ongoing challenges. While progress has been made in some areas to equalise prize money and representation, significant disparities remain in pay, media coverage and leadership roles. Read about the changes taking place in this area in Birmingham and how female athletes are gaining equal rights with men in the 2022 Commonwealth Games on ibirmingham.info.
The struggle continues
According to statistics, only 7% of CEOs and presidents in Olympic and Paralympic sports are women. The other 93% of positions are held by men. It is also known that if we look at half of the top fifty highest-paid athletes in 2020, only one of them is a woman.
In addition, according to the data of 2018, more than a quarter of the world’s adult population has low physical activity. In addition, in most countries, women are less active than men, compared to the male population. All of this suggests that a large number of women, millions of them worldwide, do not keep up with exercise, or, simply put, lose their physical and mental health. They also lose the pleasure and all the possible benefits of sports and active recreation. This is a rather sad picture on the front of the fight for equal gender rights in sport.
Nevertheless, the Commonwealth Games, which took place in Birmingham in 2022, improved the mood of all those who are involved in the fight for gender equality and diversity in general, if not the indicators and statistics, but not all at once. It is believed that these competitions have become a great success in this area.
It all started with the opening of the competition, which was dedicated to this very topic. As you know, the symbol of the city of Birmingham is the Bull. Therefore, it became the mascot of the competition. But this time, the bull had a much more symbolic meaning, especially when it represented the movement for women’s equality. And he did represent it, which is already a victory.
During the opening ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, women who, according to the scenario, made chains, i.e. were chain makers, “dragged” the mechanical bull Ozzy into the stadium. The bull was chained in chains that were once used in the slave trade. Ozzy the bull then broke free of these chains to symbolise the abolition of human trafficking and its oppression.
It was also a reference to the events of 1910, when, as we know, there was a strike for equal wages between men and women, which allowed women to defend their rights and led to their liberation from poverty. Many believe that the Ozzy the Bull hyperbole was a very powerful and influential way to open the Games.
Lessons from the 2022 Commonwealth Games
But, interestingly, this emotional demonstration of female power did not end there. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, as it turned out, more medals were won by women than by men (136 against 134). The difference is not great, but it is still significant.15 By the way, this female advantage was the first time that this kind of large-scale multi-sport competition took place.
Moreover, a record eight events were integrated into the overall medal standings in the para-sports disciplines, with the results of these events counting towards the overall medal standings. The Birmingham tournament also made history as the first of its kind to include women’s T20 cricket, beach volleyball and para-tennis.
As for celebrating the incredible success of women’s sport at the Commonwealth Games, those who chose to do so, along with key sporting figures, journalists, and politicians, attended New Zealand House in Birmingham. The event marked the occasion. The celebration was organised in conjunction with the International Women and Sport Working Group. This group is the world’s largest network that fights for and monitors gender equality in sport and physical education.
In addition, it was at this event that world politicians, leaders of countries, had the opportunity to discuss a plan of further actions that would allow them to further promote and develop gender equality. They also had the opportunity to understand and discuss what benefits this would bring.
Prepare for sport from childhood
It all starts in childhood. It is known that from the age of 5, young ladies believe that they should not play sports. It would seem that these stereotypes are not surprising. But only 30% of parents think that sports are necessary for their daughters. While 41% of mothers and fathers dream of having sons who are athletes. Eloquent statistics. Another problem is related to teenage crises in girls. It turns out that by the time they hit puberty, 1.3 million girls who once loved sports stop playing them.
All of this is due to the mental health crisis that adolescent girls face, with progressively increasing anxiety that leads to self-harm and eating disorders. Middle-aged women are also affected by the cumulative impact of years of gender stereotypes. One third of them are between the ages of 41 and 60.
They do not follow doctors’ recommendations for physical activity. It should be at least 150 minutes a week. At the same time, as many as 84% of these women would prefer to be more active at this time in their lives. Such a physically inactive lifestyle leads to the fact that women, for example, suffer fractures after a fall twice as often as men. It also means that almost half of women will suffer from osteoporosis by the age of 80.
There are also many differences between men and women working in sport at all levels. These gender gaps are not in favour of women, and there are always fewer of them in sport at all levels. For example, there are significantly more men involved in coaching.
This difference is especially evident at the elite level. When the leaders in the 20 major, best and most popular sports in the UK were counted, the results were disappointing. In terms of the number of CEOs, chairmen and directors in other areas of the business, such as performance, only 24% were women.
In terms of ensuring equal opportunities for women and men in sport, the focus should be on getting many more women, and especially girls, involved in sport. Also, more women working in sport should be promoted to leadership positions at all levels. The issue of attracting commercial investment in women’s sport should not be overlooked or ignored, and should be covered even more thoroughly in the media.
The Bears Women initiative
If you pay attention to all these factors, the result will not be long in coming. After a certain period of time, women and girls involved in sports will receive the same respect as men.
And it’s great to see Birmingham leading the way in all of these areas. The Bears Women sports association’s campaign aimed at raising the profile of women’s sports in Birmingham has gained wide publicity.
The association joined forces with several well-known men’s teams, such as Aston Villa football club, Birmingham Speedway, Birmingham Panthers netball team and City of Birmingham Rockets basketball club, to jointly launch the Brumstoppable campaign. The aim of this campaign is to promote women’s sport in the second largest city in the UK.
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