Gender Equity and Women’s Sport: The Champion’s Mind View
I was on holiday in 2016 when I struck up a casual conversation with an elderly American couple over a beer. It was the height of U.S. election season, so naturally the topic turned to politics, and who they would be voting for.
“Hilary Clinton”, said the lady, “can’t be president”.
Why not, I inquired?
“Because”, she continued, “the job is too stressful. Only a man can do it”.
Let me draw a very deep line in the sand here and now.
My wish is that our next generation of leaders should be brought up with the confidence that they can be part of shaping the world they live in. It saddens me that this conversation came nowhere close to hitting that bar.
Sport is often the starting point of social change. The lessons we teach (and learn from) our athletes today are the values of our society tomorrow. This is why the undercurrent of inequality that the March Madness fiasco highlights is so damaging.
March Madness
The greatest celebration of college sport took a nightmare turn when a social media post by Stanford performance coach Ali Kershner highlighted the disparity between the men’s and women’s training areas in the NCAA March Madness basketball bubble.
The post quickly went viral. First, the NCAA reacted by making an excuse about limited space (since proven to be a lie), and when caught, finally rectified the situation and issued an apology.
At the same time, other disparities were quickly coming to light. The quality of food and the quality of swag bags also had considerable differences. Most worrying of all, it was shown that the Corona virus test kits being received by the women’s teams were of a cheaper and lower standard than the men’s.
As a non profit organization, the NCAA had allowed a financial motivation to overtake that of their purpose and values. They exist as a champion for college sports. To make their values of fairness, integrity and teamwork accessible to all athletes regardless of gender. In that they failed. Before the first game started this year, they were already an own goal down.
Professional Discrimination
Gender discrimination in sport is not an amateur issue only. In Italy, professional volleyball player Lara Lugli had her contract terminated after she informed the team owners that she was expecting a baby. But that wasn’t the end of it. In addition to withholding back-pay, Lara’s former club then proceeded to sue her. They claimed that she hadn’t warned the club she was planning to get pregnant during her previous contract negotiations. The case is still pending.
Until recently, being a competitive athlete and being a mother wasn’t compatible in Nike’s world either. For years, they had effectively penalised the female athletes they sponsored. Sponsorship deals included penalties for non-appearances and not placing or ranking highly enough with no allowance for maternity leave. They have now changed this policy, but it was still in force at the time that Colin Kaepernick was being paid millions of dollars to promote Nike’s equality campaign in 2018 (and while the company was preparing for its new maternity range). Equality should be a core principle — not a PR exercise (though respect is also due to Nike for owning and improving this misstep).
But Men Get Paid More!
There are some who say it’s all about the money. It’s true that Men’s college basketball brings in a lot more money than women’s. In the case of March Madness, it’s $850m for just men’s basketball v.s. $42m for a multi sport deal in the women’s. But those who say this are missing the point. The goal of sport, particularly amateur college sport, is to prepare athletes for the rest of their life.
Very few college athletes (˜2%) go on to pursue a professional career in sport. The rest take the confidence, teamwork and leadership skills they develop into their future careers instead. Being treated as a second class citizen in sport has lifelong career implications. Inequality from early beginnings compounds and reinforces for decades to come.
There are others who say that men’s sport is more competitive. The standard is higher. So ask yourself this: do you honestly think that the women who make it to the top of their sport show any less dedication, commitment and passion when they play? Does a women’s teams represent your town, your values or your nation with any less pride than a men’s team would? Are we giving lip service to pride and personal development, or do we truly believe that it is what sport is really about?
Gender and Sport Psychology
It would be fair to ask why a post about gender balance is considered fair game for a blog on sport psychology. This blog, and the work we do with mental skills training for athletes, isn’t just about winning on the field. Our goal is to help every single athlete develop the mental skills that will help them in sport and throughout their life. Mental performance skills can be used in many more areas of life than just sport.
For example, the leadership skills developed on the court, track or pitch carry through to success in other career paths too. Women who have played competitive sport are more likely to rise through the ranks in business compared to those who haven’t. A survey of 821 high-level executives found that a whopping 90% of women sampled played sports. Among women currently holding a C-suite position, this proportion rose to 96%.
Those companies perform better than their peers too — a separate McKinsey Report showed that gender diversity in executive positions positively influenced the profitability of a company.
If we want a world where everyone can reach their full athletic and professional potential, equal treatment in sport is an important step in allowing every athlete to start from the same starting line.
The Final Score
Since that fateful day long ago when I sparked up a passing conversation with a holidaying couple, I’ve been fortunate enough to become a father to a wonderful daughter. As she grows, I want to help create a world where the opportunities she gets comes from the work she does and not the gender she was born with.
Ending the unequal treatment of women across all levels of sport is an important step in allowing women to achieve their full potential in all walks of life. For a select few, that may mean a professional contract, but for most, it simply means being able to pursue a career without inequitable barriers being placed in front of them. Let the players play!
—
Are you interested in working on your mental game as an individual or as a team? Download the Champion’s Mind app for athletes or inquire about team mental training and get all your athletes thinking not like a champion, but as a champion.