The article this week by women’s rugby awesome advocate Alice Soper really hit close to home for me. She articulated the phenomenon where when there is a development in women’s sport, we are expected to be grateful. Like Alice, I am incredibly grateful when there is a step taken to address something unequal. But the expected gratitude often comes with a side of expected “so quit your whining”. The consequence is that I frequently feel like a grumpy feminist, where I feel like I am always pointing out what else can be done, that just because x has happened, does not mean I am giving up on y and z.
I recall being at a webinar with a panel of some awesome women involved in sport in Australia and Aotearoa. At the time, a women’s game in Australia was televised for the first time, but had been bumped from the main channel to a secondary channel mid way through the game for a movie. Mid game! The sentiment from many on the panel was that they were just grateful the match was on tv at all. Being an online webinar, I only had my computer to rant at, but I found myself thinking No! We should be (vehemently) questioning why it was bumped! And many did react. There was a furore about it in the media and on social media with people shared viewing numbers of the movie versus the match etc. But the reaction from some of the panellists had me checking myself, am I wrong to want more? At bare minimum, I thought an apology would have been necessary and a promise to never ever do that again. Let’s be honest, and my go to reality check, it wouldn’t happen to a men’s match.
I think this highlights one of the challenges. Some people can’t always challenge the crumbs without it threatening their job or place in the team because of power and the structures that persist. And some people are genuinely excited for any kind of step. But there are others of us, like Alice, like me, who question, who celebrate the wins and steps taken by sports organisations when they do better, but also keep pushing.
Sometimes I worry that HerStory might come across as a bit negative, a bit grumpy. Alice’s article reminded me that I’m not grumpy, I am curious. I am always looking for where we can do better, and I am not content with crumbs.
Massive kudos to Wellington Phoenix coaches Gemma and Nat for supporting their player Grace, and a massive shout out to Grace herself, for deciding to sit out tonight’s game for her mental wellbeing. That’s a brave decision and shows that the coaches and players are giving weight to not just physical fitness to be able to take the field, but psychological too. Also in this space, mental health was a feature internationally for athletes in 2021, as detailed here just before Christmas and LockerRoom profiled Tina Ryan, who is looking after the wellbeing of our rowing athletes.
The cricket world cup kicks off in one month and the Aotearoa team was announced this week. Jimmy Ellingham has delved into the herstory of the first ever women’s cricket world cup in 1973 in England. He provides a fascinating insight into the team, the challenges of travelling to England and the matches, such as each player having to pay $1000 and not being allowed to play at Lord’s, unlike for the men’s world cup two years later.
Also this month in herstory, in February 2002 the Hillary Commission became SPARC (which eventually would become Sport NZ), and the focus at a community level shifted to general participation and the focus for high performance (and the associated funding model) shifted to winning medals. Nick Hill was appointed CEO and it was formed following the merger of the Hillary Commission, the New Zealand Sports Foundation and the policy arm of the Office of Tourism and Sport.
In January 2019, Parliament released it’s report into harassment and bullying, finding the majority of women MPs suffer ‘violence and harassment’ in Parliament. In January 2020, Cricket’s gender gap was reported, with female players missing out compared to their male counterparts, and a year later the headline was very similar – Australia’s summer of cricket during Covid is about money and power – and men. On 1 February 2021 Collingwood AFL Club was found guilty of systemic racism by a review, while in the same week, a review of AUT found bullying was rife, processes to resolve sexual harassment inadequate.
A couple of weeks ago I posted on social media the list of international sports events involving Aotearoa wāhine. It’s a big year, so here’s the list in case you missed it!
January-March: A-League Women (Australia)
7 January-April: AFLW (Australia)
4-20 February: Winter Olympics (China) – Starts today!
18-24 February: SheBelieves Cup (football) (U.S.)
4 March-3 April: Cricket World Cup (NZ)
4-27 March: Super Rugby Aupiki (NZ)
13 March-May: ANZ Premiership (netball) (NZ)
May-November: National Women’s Soccer League (U.S.)
“Mid year” (dates tbc): National Basketball League (NZ)
1-17 July: Hockey World Cup (Netherlands and Spain)
16 July-11 Sept: Farah Palmer Cup (rugby) (NZ)
24-31 July: Tour de France Femmes (France)
28 July-8 Aug: Commonwealth Games (England)
10-28 Aug: FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (Costa Rica)
9-11 Sept: Rugby 7s World Cup (South Africa)
23 Sept-3 Oct: Basketball World Cup (Australia)
8 Oct-12 Nov: Rugby 15s World Cup (NZ)
15 Oct-19 Nov: Rugby League World Cup (England)
Early November: Fast5 Netball World Series (NZ)
For all the headlines on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the media this week, check out HerStory.
Alida Shanks 