A SCOTTISH presenter and politician are among those backing a campaign to tackle gender inequality in Scottish print sports journalism.
The Sexist Shame of the Beautiful Game campaign is being supported by sports journalist Gabby Logan and SNP MP and former journalist Hannah Bardell.
Created by Women in Journalism Scotland (WiJS), the new initiative seeks to highlight the discrimination many women face in sports journalism after anger over former lawyer Bill Copeland’s after-dinner speech at the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Awards on Sunday night.
Following his comments, two tables of female journalists walked out of the ceremony with attendees such as TV sports presenter Eilidh Barbour and WiJ Scotland co-chair Gabriella Bennett leaving in disgust.
Hannah Bardell, MP for Livingston, said: “It’s so sadly depressing to hear of how little progress has been made that the awards had a comedian who told racist, sexist and homophobic jokes. If you can’t be funny without being any of those you don’t deserve the stage.
“Huge respect to Eilidh Barbour and those other women who have used their voices and who have taken a stand to challenge this nonsense. Without them it may not have come to light.
"If we really want structural change to tackle the fact that there are so few women and people from different backgrounds in sports writing it’s going to take everyone, particularly the men, to step up and make changes. Now is the time for everyone in the sports world to take some real and meaningful action.
“We need better support for young women and those from different backgrounds to enter the field. We also need programmes and employers that are truly inclusive and see the value in different voices reporting on sport.”
WiJS’s findings have discovered that out of 95 staff roles on sports desks at national and regional print titles in Scotland, just three are filled by women.
Additionally, their findings cited “sexist abuse, pay disparity, macho culture, male-dominated meetings and management structures, lack of opportunity, tokenism, and lack of flexibility” as reasons for women not entering the industry or leaving it.
They also discovered that a prominent sports journalist and commentator had told female sports journalism students that women working in sports journalism would only find employment due to “tokenism”.
Sports journalist and broadcaster Logan said: “I totally support what Women in Journalism Scotland is doing to make sports and football journalism in particular a more inclusive place to work in Scotland.
“In 2022 there should be no barriers or discrimination to anyone who wants to enter our profession and once there they should be made to feel welcome and encouraged to excel.”
The campaign has begun to offer solutions to the problem of gender discrimination within the sports journalism industry by providing mentoring for select up-and-coming female sports journalists.
They have also set up an online community for their mentors, mentees and sports journalism members and students where they can share opportunities, advice, and links.
Broadcast training workshops have been offered to prospective female sports journalists and the campaign hopes to extend its reach to girls in schools and youth clubs.
