Bryer Oden writes on the inequalities of women's sport, and how we can show up for our women's teams; published alongside a football-inspired shoot photographed by Matt Hurley and styled by Tom So.
I’ve never been someone who cared about sports… Until now.
Somewhere between the Rugby World Cup last November and the FIFA World Cup kicking off last week, I’ve realised that women in sport are all about fighting for their own rights, knowing their excellence and lifting other women up. Which are actually the things I care about the most.
It has taken viewing sports through a lens of feminism for me to get it. It is so much more than just caring about sports: it is one of the most visible representations of gender inequality we have.
You can’t see the gender pay gap, or internalised misogyny or unconscious bias, but you can see the women’s team being given less equipment, you can see less people filling up the stands and you can see the vitriol and sexist commentary online. Women’s sport is one of the most visible instances of inequality we have, and there is power in this visibility. When you can see it, you can inspire people to change it.
For me, the switch flipped last week while attending a ‘women in sport’ event hosted by the Social Change Collective. The panel featured Erin Roxburgh, Alice Soper, Mary Fisher and Tegan Graham, four incredibly talented, funny and intelligent athletes.
They discussed the challenges that women in sport are constantly faced with, and the obstacles they overcome time and time again despite all of the odds stacked against them. Soper hooked me in instantly by saying, “If you look at the history of sports, it’s a history of protest” – of women being told no, and doing it anyway.
Women have been ‘told no’ by receiving less payment than men, and having their historical achievements go unacknowledged. As Ensemble’s Tyson Beckett wrote last year, “Here in Aotearoa, the Black Ferns (who won the Rugby World Cup) only received full-time paid professional contracts earlier in this year. They didn't receive automatic bonuses for winning like their male counterparts the All Blacks would have.”
Building on this, Ruby Tui said, “In 2010, nobody knew who the Black Ferns were. We were told, ‘You will never be paid,’ and ‘Women’s rugby doesn’t matter.’ Then here we are 12 years later with a sold-out Eden Park.”
In a campaign from Puma ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, they mention that NZ’s women’s team winning the 1975 AFC Women's Championship was not even recognised for about 40 years. Then, last week, the opener for the tournament sold out 42,137 seats, making it the largest football crowd in NZ history, with the biggest TV audience for a football match shown in NZ for over 20 years.
These women have shown up for themselves and for every woman around them, proving that even when they are provided with less resources, funding and support, they can often outperform the equivalent men’s team and will continue to triumph in their sport regardless.
Last week’s women in sport panel covered a variety of challenges faced by women athletes, which are just a microcosm of challenges faced by women in everyday life.
Erin Roxburgh, who plays for the NZ Women’s Handball team, talked about how the way people view women’s bodies is a major factor in why women are reluctant to play some sports. She explained how being forced to wear bikinis while men get to wear shorts was reductive, and placed the focus on what women’s bodies looked like, rather than what they could achieve.
Roxburgh said in an earlier interview with Stuff, “The most important part is access and inclusion to sport. I can count a dozen women… who don’t play beach handball because of the uniform regulations”. Women do not deserve to be forced into choosing between offering their body up for public speculation, or not playing the sport at all.
Ilona Maher, rugby player and TikTok star, commented on this issue when speaking to Ensemble last year. “She's had people criticising her body for the entirety of her athletic career, but soon after she played her first rugby game near the end of her high school experience Maher had a realisation: ‘My body is made for this.’”
The paradox of women needing to be fit and strong but not muscly is hopefully being broken down: Maher proves this every day by championing her femininity in her videos, and this effect is hopefully trickling into even hyper-feminine arenas, such as Taylor Swift and her muscles recently trending on TikTok.
During the panel, sport commentator and rugby player Alice Soper brought up the issue that despite being continually underfunded and underappreciated, women are still asked to be grateful.
In a piece for Newsroom, headlined Time to Stop Saying Thanks, she wrote, “How thankful we must be, to uproot our lives to play a four-week Super Rugby Aupiki competition or a six-week Farah Palmer Cup. How lucky we are, to have endured a 30-year internship before being offered a handful of liveable wages. How fortunate we are, to be the understudies of male head coaches with little to no prior experience of women’s rugby.” It is time to stop saying thank you for the bare minimum.
Finally, Tegan Graham, professional basketball player for the Tokomanawa Queens, raised a point about how after spending years being defensive about the value of women’s sports, she has realised that “you don’t need to be angry about who you already are.”
I know what she means by this feeling: it is exhausting being constantly ready to go to war for the things you care about, sword at the ready to attack the barrage of patriarchal bullshit on a daily basis.
In fact, I think every girl knows this feeling, ready to defend their passions, hobbies and talents that are given half the attention of their brothers, boyfriends and peers, ready to defend the fact that “female” and “worse” are not synonyms.
Tegan’s point highlights the fact that you shouldn’t have to convince anyone you’re worth it – your value as a player is already clear to see.
Despite this, I believe that this anger is inherently valuable. Women in sport should be angry, and this anger shouldn’t be looked down upon, as if it isn’t “righteous and purifying, like a sword held by an angel.”
Women who are coaches, trainers and spectators are angry. This anger has propelled women in sport to where they are today. This anger has sold out the biggest football stadium in NZ history, this anger is educating younger women and inspiring them to give it their all, and this anger is making it clear that women’s sporting issues are just a symptom of women’s issues as a whole.
In Aotearoa, we place huge cultural value on our sporting endeavours. Unlocking this door for our women on the global sporting stage improves our whole country: if young girls can grow up idolising massive female names in sport, and are being taught resilience, determination and teamwork, imagine what doors this can open for them in other pursuits.
Showing up for women in sport is showing up for all women.
So, as unsporty girls, kind-of sporty girls, super sporty girls, or as anyone, what can we do to show up for our women’s teams?
The Social Change Collective provided a list of actions we can take:
Support:
• Go out and support women’s sports. ‘Bums on seats’ makes a massive difference.
• Even if you don’t follow sports or understand them, get out to a few games. Ticket sales and cheering in the crowds still contributes to the ongoing success of their teams.
Promote:
• Share content of women’s sports and encourage others to go and support them. Follow female sports teams, players and sports coverage pages on social media.
Educate yourself further:
• Learn more about the experiences of women in sport and what actions are being taken to address the inequities women experience.
• Check out Sport NZ’s “Women and Girls Action Plan”.
• Listen to Tegan Graham’s podcast episode with Universe Sports, where she talks about her journey from NZ to playing division 1 experience in the states, and her research on the gender pay gap in college athletics.
• Research what local politicians are doing to support women’s sport in Aotearoa.
Reflect:
• Reflect on your own role in supporting women’s sport: write down all the things you’re currently doing in your sporting communities.
• Think about what being involved with sport and recreation has taught you, and how you can share this joy or teach these lessons to others.
Together, we can use the Football World Cup to set the precedent for making a conscious effort to support our female athletes, ensuring that the future of women in sport continues to burn brightly in NZ.
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