Viewers for women

So, farewell then, London 2012. And what a fortnight of television it’s been. One of the best things is undoubtedly the chance to watch things one would never normally be able to see: thanks to the Olympics I’ve discovered a love of horses dancing to Disney music, men falling with style from great heights in tiny pants, and ping pong balls travelling so fast my eyes would struggle to keep up — let alone my hands. But of all these rare and strange pleasures, my favourite part has undoubtedly been the chance to see women’s sport being treated with the same respect and interest as men’s. The fact that this seemingly simple state of affairs is as rare as a British medal in the 100m, however, is rather a depressing thought.

Having earned Team GB their first medal at London 2012, cyclist Lizzie Armistead bravely took the opportunity to speak about the sexism women face in her sport, describing it as ‘quite overwhelming and very frustrating.’ When you take a look at the situation, it’s not hard to understand these sentiments.   

Although our male and female cyclists at the Olympics have been equally celebrated for their achievements, the women have arguably had a harder struggle to get there. Fellow Team GB cyclist Emma Pooley shared Armistead’s feelings, telling the Guardian earlier this year: ‘Women’s cycling really does have a problem. It’s not a lack of enthusiasm or willingness, it’s just the races aren’t televised for the most part so for sponsors it’s like night and day compared with men’s cycling. There is a lot of uncertainty every year over teams. You think you’ve got a contract then the team decide women’s racing is not of interest to main sponsors because it’s not visible.” There is no women’s equivalent to the Tour de France, for example, and Armistead and Pooley cannot benefit from the lucrative Sky sponsorship enjoyed by many of their GB teammates. Without TV there are no sponsors and without sponsors there is very little money.

It’s a familiar picture: this inequality between men’s and women’s sport is reflected across the board. A study by the Commission for the Future of Women’s Sports shows the extent of the broadcasters and sponsors failure to invest in women’s sport, claiming that, despite public interest being on the rise, sponsorship of women’s sport in the UK amounted to a miniscule 0.5% of the total market over the past 18 months, compared with the 61.1% that went men’s sport. 

Of course there’s the familiar argument that it’s a simple case of supply and demand: if the punters don’t want it, the broadcasters won’t show it. Well, for one thing, where was this argument when some bright spark decided the world hadn’t seen quite enough of Big Brother? And for another, when did the viewing public make this announcement? I certainly wasn’t consulted in the survey. Here, the Olympics is the fantastic exception that proves the rule: we love a medal winner regardless of gender and don’t value a gold medal any less because it’s hung over the top of a sports bra. If only the same could be said for the recognition of female athletes’ achievements during the other three years and 50 weeks of the cycle. Mens’ sports teams hugely dominate sports coverage during the rest of the calendar and their female equivalents barely get a look-in.

Perhaps it is simply the case that sports fans want to watch men play. Admittedly this does seem to be true of the sports nuts that I know (not that they have a lot of choice in the matter), but the huge amount of interest in female athletes over the past two weeks suggests that they are not exclusively interested in the exploits of players with penises. What’s more: the one thing that all the sports fans I know enjoy watching is winning. And guess what? The women win. A lot. It’s just that nobody seems to notice.  

The England women’s rugby team are reigning champions in the world cup, the RBS 6 Nations and the Nations Cup. They’ll soon be out to defend their Six Nations crown, attempting to retain it for a record-breaking seventh consecutive year. Meanwhile, the football team reached the quarter finals of the World Cup last year and the cricket team are reigning world champions, winning the latest world cup in Australia. All of which indicates that our sports media are cheating us out of many an excuse for drunken celebration, which is always a travesty in my opinion. But it also means we’re failing to celebrate the commitment and passion of some fantastic athletes. 

That passion is pretty well summed up for me in the example of England goalkeeper Rachel Brown. Brown has played for the England squad since 1997, but until last month she was also working full time as a teacher: going from work to the gym to training, then home in the early hours to finish her lesson plans. The choice to give up her job in order to focus on football full-time wasn’t an easy one, as she explained: ‘It was a tough decision because I’m getting married in a few months and we’ve obviously still got bills to pay, but I’m lucky I’ve got a supportive fiancé.’ 

The idea of a male international footballer agonising over whether to give up his day job is patently laughable — unless of course John Terry finds that £130,000 a week doesn’t quite cover his costs. The point is these women really compete for the love of it, and if we’re going to insist on sportspeople being ‘role models’ then they’d do a hell of a better job than most EPL players. None of them have slept with each other’s husbands or with prostitutes, there have been no incidences of racist abuse and they seem to be far more successful at keeping their feet — both literally and metaphorically — on the ground.

So why not more for women’s sport? It’d be a win for equality, for broadcasters missing out on a potentially lucrative market, for athletes who’d get the financial security they need to focus on their sport, and for viewers who might get to see a victory once in a while. 

And if Sky won’t have it, so much the better. Let’s get some sport back on the beeb where there’s a chance of some decent commentary into the bargain. Women’s MOTD fronted by Clare Balding? I’d watch that. And I don’t even like football.