Drastic reduction in female sports coverage

[lewisnotmiller]

Some of you know I'm a sports nut. My girls are not, but they do have some level of interest. Unfortunately, their sports of choice at the moment are swimming and dancing ( @MysticSang'ha ), but in seriousness, as long as they are active, I'm happy.

The ABC in Australia is a government-owned television network. There are constant pressures on it to reduce costs, and some see it as a dinosaur. I don't. It's freedom from advertising means it can host thought-provoking political discussion, as well as give younger Australian talent a place to break out. Also shows things like Parliament, which I think is important, even though I wouldn't watch it.

Another of it's key areas of broadcast is sports, and in particular second tier sports. So, state-level football, as opposed to the National competition, for example. And women's sports, in particular our national basketball, soccer and netball competitions.

Latest cutbacks to the broadcasting budget are going to massively reduce the amount of sport shown on the ABC, which I think is a negative, as a sports watcher, but am otherwise not overly worried. However, the reduction, specifically, in women's sports is a different matter. These sports do not rate as well as their male counterparts (nevermind that men's basketball can't even get on tv in this country) and so basketball and soccer will almost certainly disappear from our tv screens entirely (including cable).

Strong, athletic female role models promote healthy body image, and encourage active exercise (in my opinion). Having these readily available on the ABC was great. I didn't watch a huge amount of women's basketball on tv, but I did rope my daughters in for a quarter or two quite regularly.

ABC to cut coverage of W-League soccer and WNBL basketball

So, apart from wanting to vent a little;
1) How important do you see women's sport, and particularly media accessibility of said sports, is for developing healthy body image in young girls?
2) If you were given control of a national television station which is funded, rather than commercially-driven, what would be key areas of focus for you, and would women's sport be included in this?

[edit] This probably won't be more than an annoyance for me, since I have a cable package which includes WNBA access. However, there is something to be said for my daughter being able to see players on screen, then go and watch them play in real life. Plus, cable ownership is far from universal here. [/edit]

 

[beenie]

1) How important do you see women's sport, and particularly media accessibility of said sports, is for developing healthy body image in young girls?

I think it SHOULD be important, and I am very annoyed that female sports aren't highlighted more. I have never understood the reason behind that. I think it is very important for girls' body image to be athletic and recognized for being so. Girls should be strong and fit. I would just hope that the stupid media wouldn't make physique more important than talent, if you know what I mean.

2) If you were given control of a national television station which is funded, rather than commercially-driven, what would be key areas of focus for you, and would women's sport be included in this?

Women's sports would be just as highlighted as men's. There are some seriously talented women out there! Other than that, I'm not sure exactly what else I would focus on... family friendly shows?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Bit of an update/shameless bump.

Was listening to the radio this morning, and Andrew Gaze (our best known domestic basketballer) came out very strongly in favour of the importance in showing women's sports. I thought he was going to turn it into a sports issue only, but instead focused directly on women's sport, which I think is the key here. Men's sports have other options, and the top tier men's sports are already shown, so the loss is in second tier sports. But for women's sports, these are the top tier national comps which are being cut, so I was happy to hear him focus on this, given that his show is on a male dominated sports radio station I listen to.

Also, struck me that I should answer my own questions;

1) I think women's sport is possibly the ONLY area women can get a large number of non-local heroines who have healthy and strong bodies, and are shown as achievers, etc. Working off the top of my head here, but that's what I'm thinking. So I think women's sport can have impact far beyond the mere competition itself. Obviously that is hard to measure though.

2) I think the point of having a government run station is to be able to put things up which are otherwise not commercially viable. For me, this falls into a few key categories, all of which have a very loose 'betterment of society' focus. In no particular order;

a) Supporting democracy. This means more in depth political discussion and satire. It means showing parliament to ensure openness, no matter how low the ratings are. It means giving all Australians an option outside the soundbite nexus.
b) Supporting Australian talent. I think giving emerging Australian talent a network that is heavy on Australian content (perhaps exclusively Australian) is a good thing. So I fully support some of the lighter shows on the network, including some of the comedy stuff, etc.
c) Providing regional content. The network is involved in broadcasting to rural and outback Australia, as well as overseas where there are large numbers of ex-pats. When I lived in PNG and could eventually get tv, it was a lifeline not only to see what was happening in Australia, but to get some basic world events (since I had no internet, irregular phone, and only local newspapers)
d) Promoting health and well-being. I think it's useful, for example, to have stories/documentaries/information on areas such as mental health. And, in a pragmatic sense, I think women's sport has a role here. Women's body image is an issue, obviously, and looking at the media I would suggest it's commonly a force for negative reinforcement of issues. This could help in a positive sense.

 

[Midnight Rain]

I think its important to show women in active sports for the sake of helping them overcome the stereotype that its "butch" or "manly" to do a sport other than Cheer-leading. It is important in the development of equality in the minds of children from an early age.

Thankfully in America we ave about equal coverage for men and women in Tennis (which is my sport of choice). But we don't see that equality in women's golf or basketball. Volleyball which is almost a "women only" sport doesn't get much attention. Soccer or futbol doesn't get much attention at...all. Equally ignored it seems. But it would be nice to see lacrosse and futbol get more coverage in both men and women's teams.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I think its important to show women in active sports for the sake of helping them overcome the stereotype that its "butch" or "manly" to do a sport other than Cheer-leading. It is important in the development of equality in the minds of children from an early age.

Thankfully in America we ave about equal coverage for men and women in Tennis (which is my sport of choice). But we don't see that equality in women's golf or basketball. Volleyball which is almost a "women only" sport doesn't get much attention. Soccer or futbol doesn't get much attention at...all. Equally ignored it seems. But it would be nice to see lacrosse and futbol get more coverage in both men and women's teams.

We get good tennis coverage. And swimming is well-covered in Australia. Surfing and triathlon also get a level of coverage, and are fairly equitable in terms of male/female.
But despite having played a lot of tennis in my life, I really like team sports, so I guess I have a bent towards trying to expose my girls to those more.

 

[Midnight Rain]

We get good tennis coverage. And swimming is well-covered in Australia. Surfing and triathlon also get a level of coverage, and are fairly equitable in terms of male/female.
But despite having played a lot of tennis in my life, I really like team sports, so I guess I have a bent towards trying to expose my girls to those more.

Tennis is both a solo and team sport. Field hockey is a good one as well.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Tennis is both a solo and team sport. Field hockey is a good one as well.

Tennis gets played as a team sport pretty commonly here, but media coverage focuses very heavily on individualism, so I'm counting is as more individual in terms of media portrayal.
Field hockey is a good one, agreed, and it's a very active female participant sport. Softball is probably in the same boat, actually. But neither get much media coverage at all.

I think there are lots of options for my daughter in terms of what she can play, and female sporting opportunities for participation here are quite good. But my issue is more specifically around lack of media exposure. Where a media outlet is privately owned, they are a slave to commercial realities, and I understand that. But there a media outlet is not commercially driven, it strikes me that we're missing a chance.

 

[Midnight Rain]

Tennis gets played as a team sport pretty commonly here, but media coverage focuses very heavily on individualism, so I'm counting is as more individual in terms of media portrayal.
Field hockey is a good one, agreed, and it's a very active female participant sport. Softball is probably in the same boat, actually. But neither get much media coverage at all.

I think there are lots of options for my daughter in terms of what she can play, and female sporting opportunities for participation here are quite good. But my issue is more specifically around lack of media exposure. Where a media outlet is privately owned, they are a slave to commercial realities, and I understand that. But there a media outlet is not commercially driven, it strikes me that we're missing a chance.

America doesn't get as wide a coverage in Sports as Oz. That also needs to be changed.