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PROMOTION AND UNDERSTANDING OF GENDER EQUALITY IN SPORT HAS BEEN LONG OVERDUE, BUT THERE ARE POSITIVE SIGNS OF CHANGE, SAYS NANCY LEE BEYOND THE RINGS TIME TO BREAK DOWN GENDER BARRIERS T he headlines and commentary from the Olympic Games Rio 2016 were typical. Korean reporter refers to archer Chang Hye-jin as the “city fairy” with the “beautiful face and refreshing smile”, asking her if “Cupid’s arrow had reached her heart”. Despite becoming Spain’s first-ever female Olympic swimming champion, an article on Mireia Belmonte focuses on her coach. Canadian online outlet suggests marriage proposal is better than winning an Olympic medal. British commentator calls women’s judo match a “cat fight”. For Katinka Hosszú and Corey Cogdell-Unrein, credit for their success is given to their husbands. And of course, the usual athlete maternity stories, this time Dana Vollmer and Maialen Chourraut. There are many reasons why the media disparage women’s sports. Obliviousness is at the top of that list. Gender-neutral portrayal is just not on their radar. However, there are signs of change. I have worked at 12 Olympic Games and, for the first time in Rio, witnessed media colleagues expressing their own frustration with the maligning and sexism. It was 2016 and change was well overdue. In November, the IOC’s Press Committee, consisting of representatives from the major international sports news agencies, launched a strategy to promote awareness for gender- neutral portrayal. Great Britain’s BBC has increased its coverage of women’s sport, utilising a variety of means including a full-time editor who presents sportswomen’s story lines to all BBC platforms. And host broadcasters are training and recruiting more women into freelance production and technical roles. Even if the media too often give short shrift to women’s sport, it would be short-sighted to lay all the blame in that court. There are plenty of changes that sports organisations can make to put female athletes on an equal field of play for media coverage. Allocating women’s events to venues far from the media centres makes it more difficult to assign reporters. Too often publicity campaigns emphasise the athlete’s appearance, not her athleticism. Why expect gender-neutral portrayal when sports leaders believe certain styles of competition apparel make female athletes attractive for the cameras? And it’s not the media’s fault if gender equality is not reflected in the boardroom – where the key decisions on women’s sports are made. Despite the barriers, there are some positive signs for change. A gender lens is now part of the decision-making for the Olympic Games competition schedules. Quick wins happen. In PyeongChang, on the final day of the Olympic Winter Games, there will be an equal number of women’s and men’s events. On the last day of the Games in Sochi in 2014, there were three events for men, zero for women. Four years earlier in Vancouver, there were two events for men, zero for women. The media cannot cover women’s events if they don’t exist. The results of the 2017 IOC Gender Equality Review Project are very encouraging. This comprehensive Below Maialen Chourraut on her way to K1 canoe slalom gold at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 initiative undertaken by the IOC with its Olympic Movement stakeholders has produced recommendations for gender equality which are actionable and achievable, several of which address gender-neutral portrayal. If there’s a message to take forward, it is that ensuring sportswomen are treated equally and respectfully portrayed is not just a job for the media, it’s an assignment for everyone. ■ Nancy Lee is the former Head of Sport, and Olympic Chef de Mission, for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and was Chief Operating Officer for Olympic Broadcasting Services at the Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010. She is currently the advisor to the IOC Gender Equality Review Project. 26 OLYMPIC REVIEW COLUMN