The news dominating women’s sport this week focused on 23 year old tennis champion Naomi Osaka. After years of research, policies and talk, surely it’s time for action by sports organisations to put the wellbeing and welfare of their athletes first. Even Naomi’s sponsors are supporting her. You can read Naomi’s eloquent statement here. I don’t recommend reading the dribble from Mike Hosking or Piers Morgan but do read Venus Williams’ response to a journalist’s question on the issue.
More research is out proving the commercial benefits of women’s sport with viewership of women’s sport in the U.S. increasing and men’s sport decreasing.
In exciting news, Anton Down-Jenkins’ selection this week means he is the first male diver to represent Aotearoa at the Olympics in 37 years, and he’s an active and vocal member of the LGBTQI+ community.
Plus, research on the gender pay gap for accountants released this week shows that men are paid 40-50% (or $60k) more than women. The pay gap existed within the same groups of contributing factors, such as years of experience, hours worked, and location. Also, interestingly and potentially a big part of the problem, 70% of men did not think this problem exists compared to 70% of women who think a gender pay gap exists.
This week in HerStory, the Women’s Soccer Association of NZ took NZ Soccer to the Human Rights Commission for discrimination in 2004 and the bullying culture at Cycling NZ was starting to emerge in 2018.
Check out all the media headlines in women’s sport for the 4 June right here.
Alida Shanks 