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(Note: this is being composed stream-of-consciousness and on the fly, so will very likely be refined, updated and edited as time goes on)
This was sparked by a twitter conversation between me and PRK:
PRK:
Are women allowed to represent their country in Test Cricket? Or is it a male only sport by rule? #TheAshes #Ashes
Me:
@prkaye It turns out there are Womens' #Ashes http://tiny.cc/2dw7o. It's a bit like noone knows Aust has two soccer teams: mens and [redacted]
PRK
@Maharetr ahhh, thanks! Is it considered positive or negative to have separate sports leagues based on gender? Seems negative to me?
Pop quiz for Australians: name the Australian soccer teams that play on an international level?
It’s....not inherently negative that we separate sports by gender. Or at least, it’s a discussion I’d love to have, but isn’t what I want to focus on right now.
Swimming, gymnastics and diving comes to mind as sports that are separated by gender, but that it doesn’t matter in the eyes of the media, attention and .. well, I have no real idea about funding, although I suspect it does (feel free to chime in). These are also sports where we have women’s events and men’s events and they are BOTH identified as such. That is to say as far as I know and hope, we never have ‘women’s beam event’ and ‘Gymnastic Event: Vault.’ We have ‘women’s beam event’ and ‘men’s vault event’.
Where the separation is a problem is in the level of attention given to the teams and events. For example, to answer the question at the start of the post: Australia has two soccer teams playing at an international level. One of them one Australia’s first ever Asian Cup last year, and has secured their place in the upcoming World Cup.
Here is where the problem is. The above team is called the Matildas and, if you haven’t already guessed, they’re the Australian women’s team. Hands up how many people know there’s a women’s (football/soccer) World Cup? I didn’t until I started putting together a display on The (male) World Cup.
It’s the same with The Ashes (male). There’s a women’s Ashes, too, but I didn’t even think to look it up until PRK asked. Note the worry over funding to keep it going. Can you imagine a similar conversation about funding to keep the men’s Ashes running?
This sexism is seen at all levels, and everywhere. We see it in JJJ's Hottest 100 of All Time (almost? no women), we're undoubtedly going to see something similar in the Classical 100 of all time coming up soon. I'll be watching closely. I have no answers here, or conclusions, I just want to flail, and vent a bit.
This was sparked by a twitter conversation between me and PRK:
PRK:
Are women allowed to represent their country in Test Cricket? Or is it a male only sport by rule? #TheAshes #Ashes
Me:
@prkaye It turns out there are Womens' #Ashes http://tiny.cc/2dw7o. It's a bit like noone knows Aust has two soccer teams: mens and [redacted]
PRK
@Maharetr ahhh, thanks! Is it considered positive or negative to have separate sports leagues based on gender? Seems negative to me?
Pop quiz for Australians: name the Australian soccer teams that play on an international level?
It’s....not inherently negative that we separate sports by gender. Or at least, it’s a discussion I’d love to have, but isn’t what I want to focus on right now.
Swimming, gymnastics and diving comes to mind as sports that are separated by gender, but that it doesn’t matter in the eyes of the media, attention and .. well, I have no real idea about funding, although I suspect it does (feel free to chime in). These are also sports where we have women’s events and men’s events and they are BOTH identified as such. That is to say as far as I know and hope, we never have ‘women’s beam event’ and ‘Gymnastic Event: Vault.’ We have ‘women’s beam event’ and ‘men’s vault event’.
Where the separation is a problem is in the level of attention given to the teams and events. For example, to answer the question at the start of the post: Australia has two soccer teams playing at an international level. One of them one Australia’s first ever Asian Cup last year, and has secured their place in the upcoming World Cup.
Here is where the problem is. The above team is called the Matildas and, if you haven’t already guessed, they’re the Australian women’s team. Hands up how many people know there’s a women’s (football/soccer) World Cup? I didn’t until I started putting together a display on The (male) World Cup.
It’s the same with The Ashes (male). There’s a women’s Ashes, too, but I didn’t even think to look it up until PRK asked. Note the worry over funding to keep it going. Can you imagine a similar conversation about funding to keep the men’s Ashes running?
This sexism is seen at all levels, and everywhere. We see it in JJJ's Hottest 100 of All Time (almost? no women), we're undoubtedly going to see something similar in the Classical 100 of all time coming up soon. I'll be watching closely. I have no answers here, or conclusions, I just want to flail, and vent a bit.
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