Sexism in sport and why it still needs to change

The sports industry is statistically one of the most sexist out there, with a large gender pay gap and the media’s mistreatment of women.

There has been immense growth in female participation in sport.

Only 2 percent of competitors were female for the Olympics in 1900, but rose to 45 percent by 2016.

Women in Sport conducted a report called Beyond 30 per cent – Workplace Culture in Sport in 2018.

It revealed that 40 percent of women in the sports industry still face gender discrimination.

This is extremely prevalent in many of the experiences female athletes have shared with sports fans.

Lionel Messi, the highest paid male athlete, 39,000,000 dollars a year, 100 times more than his female counterpart Ada Hendenburg.

Conor Mcgregor earns 50,000,000 dollars, whilst his female counterpart Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Justino earns 1,000,000.

Forbes puts together an annual list of 100 of the richest people in sport.

In 2018 there was only one woman on the entire list, Serena Williams.

Aside from the pay gap, female athletes face the issue of the hyper sexualisation and objectification.

Ada Hegerberg was the first female winner of the Balon d’Or award.

This was an iconic moment for feminism within sport.

Instead of being able to give a normal speech as a male footballer would have, well-known DJ Martin Solveig asked her to ‘twerk’.

She declined his request in a disappointed tone.

An anonymous but elite sportswoman said: “I have at times said that things weren’t acceptable and that men are saying derogatory things to women but it has not been taken seriously.”

Read more about sexism within the sports industry:

https://buzz.bournemouth.ac.uk/2020/12/former-rugby-cap…-and-stereotypes/

https://buzz.bournemouth.ac.uk/2020/12/the-importance-o…d-by-a-professor/