A lot has happened this week in the world of inclusion, diversity, and women’s sport!
First must be Paralympic swimmer Sophie Pascoe winning an incredible eleventh gold medal! Sophie, Tupou, and the women para athletes are leading the way with the medals again, just like at the recent Olympics.
The Irish women’s football team have secured equal match fees with their men’s football team.
Volley South has become New Zealand’s first sporting organisation to become an accredited living wage employer.
E-Tangata spoke with Selu Fitzpatrick, captain of the Northern Mystics, about her whakapapa and the challenges and successes she’s had in her netball career.
Ashley Stanley profiles the work of Tidah Leaupepe who works for Auckland Rugby, who hopes to encourage more Pasifika people into roles off the rugby field through a number of initiatives including by bridging the language barrier.
And the Australian W-League is expanding the number of teams before 2023, making room for the Wellington Phoenix to enter a women’s team. The details seem vague (to me) but it looks like there should be at least one season before the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.
There was more comment and analysis on the challenges in our sports organisations not prioritising player welfare, including from Dana Johannsen and Mark Reason, both with Stuff. The voices calling for change are getting louder. Athletes are sharing their experiences, like this week former Olympic hockey player Brooke Neal wrote and shared the letter she wished she’d received after competing at the Olympics. The media keep outlining the issues, there are experts, both practitioners and academics and many who are both, who have research and frameworks ready to be implemented. There is ample evidence that shows performance actually improves when player welfare is prioritised! But still we wait for the first sports organisation to be brave and take the first step to change how they operate.
There were some disappointing events from overseas. Another review was ignored, this time by the Australian government. Two years ago Kate Jenkins released her Respect@Work report on sexual harassment and bullying. The report was ignored for a year until April this year when PM Scott Morrison announced the government would accept all 55 recommendations. It was hoped progress was being made, but this week the government rejected 49 of the 55 recommendations, the same week they are holding the inaugural National Women’s Safety Summit.
And in the U.S., Texas has introduced legislation that bans abortion after 6 weeks, even from rape, and a ‘bounty’ clause was added where anyone (as in anyone, they do not have to be related or involved in the case at all) can sue anyone who supports a suspected abortion.
And in case you needed any more bad news this week, the gender pay gap has increased slightly to 18.5%. It also increased in Australia, but they’re beating us with a slightly lower (but still bad) gender pay gap of 14.2%.
This week in herstory, sport apparel label Canterbury launched a new kit for Ireland’s men’s and women’s rugby teams, using players as models for the men’s kit and models as models for the women’s kit, and World Rugby were slated for their proposal to ban trans women from playing.
To end on an inspirational note, U.S. athlete Lora Webster is at the Paralympics with the volleyball team aiming for her fifth medal, while pregnant with her fourth child!
Check out all the media headlines in women’s sport for the 3rd September right here.
Alida Shanks 