Shane Sutton, British Cycling chief, recently resigned due to a sexism scandal where he reportedly told a female cyclist to ‘get on with having a baby.’ But this isn’t the first time a known sports figure has been removed over sexist comments: Richard Keys and Andy Gray, both Sky Sports presenters, were sacked over their “derogatory remarks regarding a match official”*. Sexism is commonly reported on within senior level sport, but what about the juniors? Do these budding sport stars, the next generation of athletes, receive sexist comments too?

According to BBC Sport, men get more prize money than women in 30% of sports. Female footballers are rewarded significantly less than their male counterparts. When talking to Hanna, a member of the AFC Wimbledon’s under 18’s women’s team, I investigated the attention given to this team, as they are currently at the top of their league.

When asked if they had experienced any sexist comments as a team, Hanna recalled one incident that ‘stayed with [her] even though it was 2 years ago’: ‘we were training at Raynes Park High School, and a car drove past with a man saying “You’re all shit girls!”’ As a young woman in sport, especially when there is an urge to try even harder to get noticed due to the gender inequality, receiving these sorts of comments affects motivation and self-confidence. But, vitally, these comments are often not being recognised and so continue. It’s important that those who say them, especially those who are in the top jobs (managers, pro players, commentators etc.), are punished or exposed.

I also proceeded to ask if there was anything Hanna would wish to change about women’s sport. She responded: ‘more coverage: the most common argument against women’s football is that it doesn’t gain enough views…well of course it doesn’t get enough views because it’s rarely EVER broadcasted!’ She also explained the benefits of this: ‘More coverage of women’s sport normalises it. More normalisation means less sexism, and more recognition of the fact that women have the same capabilities as men. Additionally, the coverage will bring more money in that can help remedy the awful facilities and payment women face.’

I decided to look at the social media coverage and recognition that women get for the Wimbledon team. The women’s team have a separate twitter page (@AFCWLadiesGirls), which gets retweets every so often from the main Wimbledon team’s twitter (@AFCWimbledon), which has over 52,000 more followers. Although there’s a clear divide here, another player of the team, Cerys, said ‘Wimbledon appreciate the women a lot more than other teams’ and that for International Women’s Day, ‘then men’s page uploaded a Youtube video about the women’s team.’

But it appears hope for recognition continues to be a battle. Hanna added ‘nothing is going to change anytime soon. Just look at what the Sussex FA brought out to increase participation [referring to a document with tips to increase female participation]: ‘no one cares, and there’s no one to make them care.’  Although some teams are increasingly trying to recognise women’s sport, it is evident there is a long way to go, and a lot more we can do together. The future can be bright for women’s sports, if we work together for equality.

By Monica Giuliani, Ursuline High School

Additional sources: *Independent.co.uk, BBC.co.uk/Sport