Usually I use this space to write a little bit about a few key events and things that happened this week in history/herstory. This week is a little different. Last Sunday, Zoë George wrote a brilliant article on all the challenges in women’s sport and why the inclusion of transgender athletes is not one of them. It is a very articulate, succinct, and hard hitting summary of all the challenges that happen in sport every day that remind us why sport is not an inclusive sector. And they are BIG issues – ongoing sexual harassment, assault, bullying; organisations refusing to hear the experiences of people who this is still happening to; continuing to hire and select violent men; organisation cultures that normalise sexist, racist and homophobic slurs; not meeting gender quotas; no pay, commercial investment or resource equity. It’s a sobering read. And listed like that, it’s unbelievable it’s allowed to continue relatively unabated.
My dilemma with the article came when I went to share it on social media. I desperately wanted to, Zoë covers all the issues I’m so passionate about. It’s why I resigned from my job to do my PhD on these very issues, it’s why I started this newsletter – in fact, you’ll find articles below on every single one of the issues mentioned in Zoë’s article. But when I went to write my post I hesitated, because the word that I wanted to write was #MeToo. This article is also a personal story for me, I have seen all of the things Zoë mentions, I have either experienced (am still experiencing) most of these things myself or seen it happen close to me. So I felt sharing this article I was also sharing my own personal story.
I felt vulnerable, because I have not been believed so many times when trying to share my own experiences, and it’s not just a gentle questioning of what I’m saying but I have been patronised and belittled.
But the criticism and not being believed is actually really weird, because all of these things have been happening for decades. And we have been talking about it, researching it, for decades. All of our Olympic sports organisations have had gender targets for their board since 1996!
And it’s STILL HAPPENING. But when we speak up, who is listening? The students at Christchurch Girls High tried to speak up in May about the horrific behaviour they were being subjected to and were shut down, so they surveyed their students to establish exactly what was going on with the sexual assault allegations. The response? While the school and the Police seem to be taking it seriously, it was reported this week that there are still some who don’t believe and accused the girls of exaggerating or lying. My last role was communications and marketing for a market research company, we released the findings of research on (the lack of) diversity in businesses. I was rung by a male journalist who yelled at me and asked why a reputable research company was releasing such lies. These reactions remind me of the 17th century Salem witch trials for some reason.
“Ka mua, ka muri” is a Māori whakataukī that means “walking backwards into the future” – that we need to look to our past to inform our future. It is challenging to move forward if we don’t know what has happened in the past, so we can learn from our mistakes to avoid repeating them. And our history, our whakapapa, is the foundation of our identity – our family history, the places we have worked, the people we have connected with, and how those people and those work places connect back with us (if they do).
With my PhD work I am motivated by my own story but I am focused on shining a light on the whakapapa of women in sports organisations, those that came before me, those that are in this space now, so that those in the future know their history (herstory) and whakapapa, that we are linked together on this journey. My hope is that this helps us to share our stories, to keep doing the mahi, and to stand together when we face challenges.
Check out all the media headlines in women’s sport for the 2nd July right here.
Alida Shanks 