The biggest news this week was the International Olympic Committee have finally released their decision on the inclusion of transgender athletes, and as expected they are leaving it with individual sports. However, to help with that decision making, the IOC has released a 10-principle approach framework based on extensive research, including consultation with 250 athletes, medical and human rights experts, athletes, women’s commissions and LGBTQI+ advocates. Stuff’s Zoe George spoke with expert Dr Holly Thorpe about the framework, who welcomed the announcement. Critically, the framework focuses on inclusion, stating no athlete should be excluded from competing, and ends more than 50 years of “sex testing” of women athletes and athletes of different genders. The intention of the framework is clear in the 10 principles, which are; inclusion, prevention of harm, non-discrimination, fairness, no presumption of advantage, evidence-based approach, primacy of health and bodily autonomy, stakeholder-centred approach, right to privacy, and periodic reviews. It now sits with international and national sports organisations to use these 10 principles to guide their approach and inclusion of transgender athletes.
I am intrigued and pleased to see that the Sport and Recreation Complaints Mediation Service (SRCMS), has added an investigation arm to its offerings. SRCMS is an independent body (funded by Sport NZ) where complaints across all levels of sport can be made, and now, investigated. Previously, the main role SRCMS played was providing advice and mediation. I have contacted SRCMS and their support and advice was brilliant, and the investigative aspect is a much needed addition. Of major concern for me though, is in its first nine months the service has received a whopping 93 enquiries, complaints, or disputes across 42 sports, from community clubs to high performance. That’s a lot. And suggests, along with all the reviews that have taken place since 2016, that there is a big, underlying, systemic, issue here, that a complaints service is not going to address on its own.
It was another tough outing for the Black Ferns this week losing to France, but I was interested to read the post match analysis, which included (for the first time?) “power rankings” on how each player performed. In the post match analysis, on the same day Stuff published an article saying the coaches of the Black Ferns are confident they can catch up to England and France before the World Cup next year, Ali Donnelly published an interesting op ed questioning whether that will be possible given the historic lack of equity in resourcing.
Speaking of historical lack of gender equity, Saudi Arabia has this week announced the formation of it’s first ever women’s national team, to be coached by Monika Staab, and the launch of it’s first ever women’s national league. Given women were only allowed into football stadiums in 2014, and that this didn’t happen in reality until 2018, this is a massive milestone.
Google released an interesting visual summary exploring women’s sports, media and commercial partnerships. They state 84% of of sports fans are interested in women’s sport, but sports media coverage is 4% globally (or 15% in Aotearoa). Over the last five years, “women’s team” was searched 50% more than men’s team. And in the last 12 months, searches for “women in sport” is 80% higher than “men in sport”. The demand is there, the numbers don’t lie!
It was announced this week that Colin Craig has been ordered to pay Rachel MacGregor $400,000 for sexually harassing her, which seems like a win but her legal costs, incurred from defending herself from his continual litigation, came in at over $600,000. So she got sexually harassed, endured years of litigation, and has to pay $200,000. That is just wrong. Meanwhile, in a newsletter piece speaking against the government’s decision to scrap the 3 strikes legislation, the ACT party minimised violent or sexual offences as a “regrettable mistake” or two. Just no.
And it’s November, so it’s that time of year when we are reminded that women are working for free for the rest of the year due to the gender pay gap. If you are a Māori or Pacific woman, or a woman in your 40s with a tertiary qualification, you’ve been working for free since September. If you’re a woman chief executive, you’ve been working for free since July. Kaisa Wilson argued that, given there is a lot of talk and the occasional hand wringing, and very little action in this space, legislation is required for businesses to report their gender pay gap annually. This has been done in countries such as Australia, Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark and has seen results. This might be a positive step, but we also have the Equal Pay Act (since 1972!), how do we enforce existing legislation to address this needless and frustrating inequity?
And today, 19 November, is International Toilet Day! Most women have a toilet story, especially if you play sport or have been to a sports ground or any kind of sports match, and have ended up using men’s toilets or changing rooms because there either wasn’t a women’s changing room or toilet or the queue was shorter or we just got changed on the sideline. And that doesn’t include the state that most are in on a Sunday for women’s teams after men’s teams are done doing whatever it is they do to leave it filthy on a Saturday. Zoe George goes behind the stall door for some interesting insights into toilets and sports, including the importance of taking into account flow rate (not what you’re thinking).
This week in herstory, the first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup was held in China in 1991, with Aotearoa invited to take part, and in 2020 former White Fern Debbie Hockley was named NZ Cricket’s first female president.
Check out all the key media headlines in women’s sport for the week of 19th November right here.
Alida Shanks 