Livingston MP Hannah Bardell has backed a new campaign by Women in Journalism Scotland to tackle gender inequality in Scottish print sports journalism.
The campaign - called The Sexist Shame of the Beautiful Game - comes after research by the Women in Journalism Scotland (WiJ Scotland) committee revealed that out of 95 staff roles on sports desks at national and regional print titles in Scotland, just three are filled by women.
That research was undertaken before a row broke out regarding sexist remarks made by an after-dinner speaker at the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Awards earlier this month.
Two tables at the event walked out of the dinner in disgust, including TV sports presenter, Eilidh Barbour, and WiJ Scotland co-chair Gabriella Bennett.
Bardell, a former broadcast journalist 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.”
She added: “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 programs and employers that are truly inclusive and see the value in different voices reporting on sport.”
As part of WiJ Scotland’s campaign, two Masters students at University of Strathclyde undertook further research into inequality in the sector.
Their research included interviewing eight women working in Scottish sports journalism and student journalists about their experiences in the industry.
One participant applied for a new position and later found out that a male candidate applying for the same job had been offered significantly more money than her despite him having “ten years less” experience than she did.
A sports journalism lecturer revealed there had only been eight female students during a sports journalism course’s 13-year history.
One guest lecturer, a prominent sports journalist and commentator, told female sports journalism students that women working in sports journalism would only get a job because of “tokenism”.
Sexist abuse, pay disparity, macho culture, male-dominated meetings and management structures, lack of opportunity, tokenism, lack of flexibility, barriers to a career path are all reasons cited by WiJ Scotland. members as deterrents to sports journalism, and as reasons for leaving by those few women who make it into the sector.
Catriona MacPhee, co-chair of WiJ Scotland, who leads the campaign, said: “This is a watershed moment for the media in Scotland.
“We need more women’s voices and perspectives in sports coverage and as an industry we need to work together to make sure women have access to this sector and are not pushed out.
“One way of doing that is calling out sexist behaviour but there are practical solutions here too and we call on our peers across the industry to help us drive this much needed change.”
Gabriella Bennett, co-chair of WiJ Scotland, added: “This new report confirms our suspicions about what life and work is really like for women working in Scottish print sports journalism, but it also drives us to bring about meaningful change.”
The new campaign features a number of solutions including mentoring, setting up an online community, broadcast training and working with schools and sports clubs.
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