Netball: still languishing on the side-lines
Women’s sport has been left in the shadows for too long, argues national netball player, Millie Williams.
Of course we’ve all spent this year celebrating the England Roses reaching the finals of the Women’s International Netball Quad Series. No? You haven’t heard? Well, I’ll be damned.
Of course the actual truth is that female sporting events seem to happen in the shadows, whilst the likes of football (which evidently is a ‘man’s’ sport) are perpetually in the limelight, broadcast globally. We are told female athletes are paid less than men because they generate less money. But would that still be the case if women’s sport was promoted properly? We talk a lot about the importance of equal pay. The main focus of the conversation is usually on how women make less than men, the unfairness of the disparity despite the equal amount of work they put in, and how female athletes often have to work full-time jobs on top of being full-time athletes. It’s hard to imagine Harry Kane working in your local Tesco as well as playing for England. So why are women receiving a reduced salary for performing at an equal work rate? It clearly doesn't make sense, and something obviously needs to change.
Globally, many female athletes have pushed for equal pay and addressed the issue of sporting inequality. The US women’s soccer team has brought the conversation to the forefront over the last three years. After they won the World Cup in 2015, it was revealed that the US women’s team were paid a quarter of what the men earned. This was despite the women generating $20m more than the men that year. Unbelievable. It was the same old “well, more people watch the men's football” line that circulated in the media, with writers desperately trying to excuse the blatant sexism in the sport. The women’s national team filed a wage discrimination act against US Soccer, and in turn received a significant raise and more financial aid for players who are pregnant. Sounds pretty good right? But in reality, compared to men’s benefits, it isn’t.
The media lasered in on the equal pay portion of the lawsuit, but ignored the more important facts of the matter. There's one issue in the lawsuit that is more important than equal pay: the glaring fact that the women’s team is not marketed or promoted as much as the men’s, which leads to lower attendances and merchandise sales. When we make equal pay the central part of the conversation, we miss all the smaller things that continue to enable a system that restricts women’s advancement in sports and their opportunity to generate equal revenue, and in return warrant equal pay. When the marketing isn’t there, it gives ammo to the usual critics who say: “See? They don’t generate enough interest.”
In fact, the marketing issue should be the headline, but writing “Women’s soccer doesn’t receive as much marketing” isn’t as attention grabbing as: “Women’s soccer team, wildly more successful than the men, makes less than half of what men earn.”
If women’s football got the same marketing promotion as men's, would the excuse for gender inequality would still wash? Men’s sport is globally broadcast on TV and radio - including the predominantly men’s sport station ‘TalkSport’. Let's be honest, how many channels do you see for women's sports? We’re lucky to appear anywhere at all. Granted, sports such as netball now get featured on the Sky Sports YouTube channel, but they have yet to be considered good enough for big screen coverage.
The issue isn’t equal pay. The issue is marketing and promotion.
Let's look at netball in more detail. First played in Victorian times and now one of highest played sports across the country and worldwide (with over 4000 clubs in the UK alone), it receives almost zero interest from the media. It’s a fast paced, intense game and, as a player myself, I know that it deserves more: more recognition and more respect. One of the most insulting things is the exclusion of netball from the Olympics. It blows my mind every time I think about it. If we look at the newer, male dominated, niche sports that have been added to the Olympics such as skateboarding and surfing - both of which only arose in the mid 1900s officially as a sport, it makes no sense that a sport with over a century of heritage still isn't being introduced. Of course, the irony is that maybe now that more men are playing netball, our chances of being noticed in our own right are rising.
The truth is, women’s sports will not achieve parity if the barriers that keep them in the trenches remain. We can talk about equal pay all we want, but until we start investing equally in how we market and promote these athletes, nothing will change.
Millie Williams is a national netball player currently representing London Pulse.
Millie Williams, Y12
Of course we’ve all spent this year celebrating the England Roses reaching the finals of the Women’s International Netball Quad Series. No? You haven’t heard? Well, I’ll be damned.
Of course the actual truth is that female sporting events seem to happen in the shadows, whilst the likes of football (which evidently is a ‘man’s’ sport) are perpetually in the limelight, broadcast globally. We are told female athletes are paid less than men because they generate less money. But would that still be the case if women’s sport was promoted properly? We talk a lot about the importance of equal pay. The main focus of the conversation is usually on how women make less than men, the unfairness of the disparity despite the equal amount of work they put in, and how female athletes often have to work full-time jobs on top of being full-time athletes. It’s hard to imagine Harry Kane working in your local Tesco as well as playing for England. So why are women receiving a reduced salary for performing at an equal work rate? It clearly doesn't make sense, and something obviously needs to change.
Globally, many female athletes have pushed for equal pay and addressed the issue of sporting inequality. The US women’s soccer team has brought the conversation to the forefront over the last three years. After they won the World Cup in 2015, it was revealed that the US women’s team were paid a quarter of what the men earned. This was despite the women generating $20m more than the men that year. Unbelievable. It was the same old “well, more people watch the men's football” line that circulated in the media, with writers desperately trying to excuse the blatant sexism in the sport. The women’s national team filed a wage discrimination act against US Soccer, and in turn received a significant raise and more financial aid for players who are pregnant. Sounds pretty good right? But in reality, compared to men’s benefits, it isn’t.
The media lasered in on the equal pay portion of the lawsuit, but ignored the more important facts of the matter. There's one issue in the lawsuit that is more important than equal pay: the glaring fact that the women’s team is not marketed or promoted as much as the men’s, which leads to lower attendances and merchandise sales. When we make equal pay the central part of the conversation, we miss all the smaller things that continue to enable a system that restricts women’s advancement in sports and their opportunity to generate equal revenue, and in return warrant equal pay. When the marketing isn’t there, it gives ammo to the usual critics who say: “See? They don’t generate enough interest.”
In fact, the marketing issue should be the headline, but writing “Women’s soccer doesn’t receive as much marketing” isn’t as attention grabbing as: “Women’s soccer team, wildly more successful than the men, makes less than half of what men earn.”
If women’s football got the same marketing promotion as men's, would the excuse for gender inequality would still wash? Men’s sport is globally broadcast on TV and radio - including the predominantly men’s sport station ‘TalkSport’. Let's be honest, how many channels do you see for women's sports? We’re lucky to appear anywhere at all. Granted, sports such as netball now get featured on the Sky Sports YouTube channel, but they have yet to be considered good enough for big screen coverage.
The issue isn’t equal pay. The issue is marketing and promotion.
Let's look at netball in more detail. First played in Victorian times and now one of highest played sports across the country and worldwide (with over 4000 clubs in the UK alone), it receives almost zero interest from the media. It’s a fast paced, intense game and, as a player myself, I know that it deserves more: more recognition and more respect. One of the most insulting things is the exclusion of netball from the Olympics. It blows my mind every time I think about it. If we look at the newer, male dominated, niche sports that have been added to the Olympics such as skateboarding and surfing - both of which only arose in the mid 1900s officially as a sport, it makes no sense that a sport with over a century of heritage still isn't being introduced. Of course, the irony is that maybe now that more men are playing netball, our chances of being noticed in our own right are rising.
The truth is, women’s sports will not achieve parity if the barriers that keep them in the trenches remain. We can talk about equal pay all we want, but until we start investing equally in how we market and promote these athletes, nothing will change.
Millie Williams is a national netball player currently representing London Pulse.
Millie Williams, Y12
