Women in Sport

When did women’s sport begin in Australia? In the 1880’s physical education for girls was introduced to the school curriculum. The first golf championship for both men and women was held in 1894 in Geelong In the early 1900s, women’s sporting clubs were opening such as Ladies lawn bowls . Post world war 2 saw an influx in immigrants, bringing with them new sports and greater participation.

Some firsts... 1973 - First event for Women’s cricket - the Women’s Cricket World Cup 1980 - Women eventually became eligible to become active patrolling members of the Surf life saving association. 1981 - Elite women's basketball competition in Australia is organised through the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). 2015 - Michelle Payne, first female rider to win the Melbourne Cup 2017 - Women’s AFL league began in Melbourne 1900 - Women compete in first summer olympic games. 1922 - the first year that a women's event was held at the Australian Open tennis. 1931 - Cricket has been played by women in Australia since 1874, but it wasn’t until March of 31 that The Australian Women's Cricket Council (AWCC) was formed. 1943 - The All American Girls' Baseball League was formed to fill ballparks emptied by baseball players going to war.

In 1931, 17 year old pitcher, Virne Beatrice "Jackie" Mitchell struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in exhibition games. The thought of a female athlete being better in a sport than professional males athletles started a huge controversy for women playing baseball. The final result was decided by baseball commisioner, Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis who decided to ban women from professional baseball alltogether, which lasted until 1992.

Kathrine Switzer became a hero of the women’s rights movement in 1967 after she officially completed the then all-male race. Having registered under the name KV Switzer, her gender went unnoticed by officials at the start line, but a few miles in she was attacked by an angry official who tried to pull her off the course – creating an enduring image of women’s rights history. With the help of a bodyblock from her boyfriend, Switzer evaded the official and finished the race in four hours 20 minutes. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/18/first-woman-officially-run-boston-marathon-kathrine-switzer-50 Katherine Switzer was the first female to run a marathon. She competed in the Boston marathon in 1967.

Problems to overcome... “There are still many challenges to overcome for women in sport. We need better facilities, equal pay and sponsorship opportunities for female players; we need more women in administration and governance; we need more respectful treatment of women; and we need to increase female participation in all physical activity.” http://www.heraldsun.com.au/rendezview/women-in-sport-the-gender-gap-is-slowly-closing/news- story/8880c7e901302bfd526af4ee8a0b075b

Yet still there are inequalities... The average wage of a male AFL player is $265,179. An average player on the Australian National Netball Team receives $43,000 per year, even though the Diamonds have won 10 World Championships since 1963 and finished runner-up the other three times. Only 2 women are in Australia’s top 50 sports earners: six-time world surfing champion Stephanie Gilmore (#39 at $1.75m) and World Golf Hall of Famer Karrie Webb (#50 at $1.28m). They are both way behind the top two: Andrew Bogut (#1 at $16.2m) and Adam Scott (#2 at $15.5m).

In spite of huge successes on the world stage, women’s sport only receives 7% of Australian TV sports programming and 9% of sports coverage on the news. Even horses get more coverage than sportswomen! That lack of coverage means less funding, less sponsorship and lower salaries. And when we don’t see women’s sport on TV, we’re also missing seeing women in positions of leadership and great role models for girls. https://www.theline.org.au/women-in-sport-whats-with-the-gap

So the big question is… Should women be paid the same as men in the sporting arena?

Gender equality and sport Gender equality is taking great steps in sport. Women are proving their worth in many sports that have been traditionally male only domains. 2015 Browlow Medal and women’s football https://www.fya.org.au/2015/09/30/lets-talk-about-women-in- football/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw4eXPBRCtARIsADvOjY2Rp3jXtIMaEy8QNGQiqk3G6G5O3GMVK7J_08YGtuEL3sta7- EfcdAaAswUEALw_wcB