Criticism is as inevitable as breathing, or so TS Eliot would have us believe. But the debate over whether criticism is applied fairly to women in sport continues to do the rounds, questioning why our female athletes are not criticised for their mistakes in the same way their male counterparts are. The problem is of course that this question springs from an assumption that we have equality in sport in the first place. That it is only a lack of fair criticism holding women’s sport back from achieving its peak.
With the rise of women’s sport over the past five years, you don’t have to look very hard to see female athletes described as “golden girls”, role models or being compared favourably to male athletes for their behaviour and composure. The likes of Ash Barty, Ellyse Perry and Liz Watson are often given as examples of how an athlete can be talented and successful as well as gracious and humble.
While that may seem complimentary to these women, it only adds to the messaging of what is acceptable for girls and women. It conjures the image of a primary school teacher admonishing the boys for misbehaving and praising the quiet and obedient girls. It tells girls and women that you must be subservient to succeed, but even then you won’t get the same opportunities as your free-spirited male equivalents who are rewarded for their misdemeanours with more media coverage and higher pay.
The other problem arises when our “golden girls” fail. When Barty exits a tournament in its early stages or Perry drops an easy catch in the outfield, the instinct is to preserve their reputation, to avoid criticism lest we recognise that these athletes we have put on a pedestal are in fact only human.
For those who have followed and nurtured women’s sport for years, there is a strong desire to move on from this limited view and embrace the humanity of female athletes, but we are wary of outsiders who stalk in and demand the right to criticise. As much as we want the sports to be taken seriously, every potential piece of criticism sparks the memories of comments on our stories telling us that no one cares about these sports that we have poured our hearts and souls into. We are protective of the athletes because we have followed their careers, we understand their sacrifices and don’t want to throw them to the wolves who want the right to belittle their skills and pass judgement on their appearance.
If Pat Cummins bungles his field placings or declares too late to ensure a result, people can speak their mind and point out his mistakes without critics emerging to suggest that men probably aren’t suited to Test cricket. If Tom Rogic misses an open goal, that can be discussed without anyone saying that he’s ugly and suggesting he should get back to the kitchen. Male athletes can make mistakes that represent only an individual failing. When female athletes make mistakes, bad faith critics hold them up as an example of their gender, a reason why women don’t belong in the cutthroat world of sport. Criticism is good and healthy, but criticism of women’s sport is so often rooted in misogyny that there is an understandable fear of opening the sports up to too much of it.
The balance is hard to strike, but if you look beyond the back pages of the mainstream newspapers there is nuanced and contextual criticism to be found. Analysis from critics who understand that while male cricket captains have 10 Tests a year to hone their decision making, women are lucky to have one. Who know that an AFLW season is made up of shortened games, no full home-and-away season and played in the height of summer by athletes who fit full time jobs around their football. Who can see the lack of scrutiny applied to the often all-male coaching and selection teams whose decisions have as big an impact on the situation on the field as the mistakes that the players make.
So how do we solve the problem and allow for more constructive criticism of women’s sport? The answer is simply more coverage from more diverse voices. When women’s sport takes up the same amount of space in newspapers, websites and TV news bulletins as men’s sport, there will not be the option to fall back on stereotypes because there is space that needs to be filled, which means more than one story needs to be told. When the people who cover the sports in the mainstream media have the appropriate context and understanding of the sports they are following that space will be filled with legitimate analysis.
As is the case with almost every perceived problem that can be found in women’s sport, the first step is to level the playing field. There is no quick fix, the only solution is equality.
