While the latest news isn't all bad for women's sports coverage in NZ, there's still a marathon ahead to reach equality, reports Suzanne McFadden.
The reporting of women’s sport may have grown in New Zealand in the past decade, but it’s still nowhere near good enough.
Women’s sport accounts for 15 percent of coverage in our nation's media, a new study released by Sport New Zealand shows. That’s increased from 11 percent in a 2011 study here.
While that may put New Zealand among the leaders in the world, it still isn’t a lot to crow about.
What it shows is that, globally, there’s still a massive skew towards male sport in the media. In the United States, women’s sport is given just five percent of the coverage; Australia, seven percent.
Female journalists account for a pinch over 20 percent of the bylines on New Zealand sports stories – which also shows women are still underrepresented in newsrooms.
Raelene Castle, the CEO of Sport NZ, says the data from the study will be the “new bottom line of what’s acceptable” in media coverage here.
“It’s an improvement on where we were, but we still have a long way to go,” she says.
“[The 15 percent] also tells us if you really put your mind to something and focus on it, you can make a difference. If you raise people’s awareness, take away their unconscious bias, have some champions who are repeating the message, you can make some strong gains.
“We need to make that the norm, rather than people championing the conversation.”
Could 15 percent be a breakthrough?
University of Auckland professor Toni Bruce has been researching sports media for more than 25 years. Her study in 2008 covered a year of women's sports coverage in the NZ Herald and Waikato Times, which averaged 12 percent – “above the 10 percent we’d been hitting in New Zealand for a while”.
She was then part of an international study of 22 countries in 2011, where the New Zealand average was 11 percent.
She believes 15 percent is an important figure in the drive for more women’s sports news.
“Research in psychology shows once you hit the 15 percent mark of any particular group or organisation, then it’s no longer tokenism,” says Bruce. “So we’re reaching a point of women in sport becoming normalised in every-day news coverage.”
How does NZ compare with the rest of the world?
Sport NZ says we are world-leading in this area. But how do the numbers stack up?
A 2018 UNESCO report found globally four percent of sports coverage was devoted to women.
In a study carried out by the European Union that same year to measure the visibility of women’s sport in the media, Malta and Greece both fell under two percent for female sport in their nations’ total coverage. In Sweden, it was 3-6 percent, and the United Kingdom 4-10 percent.
The closest comparison to New Zealand is Romania, where it’s 14 percent. But their statistics are driven heavily by former world No.1 tennis champion Simona Halep, who enjoys celebrity status in her home nation.
In Europe, it was noted both broadcast and live audiences for major women’s competitions had grown considerably over the past few years, reflecting an expanding fanbase for women’s sport.
So is it job done?
Women in Sport Aotearoa CEO Rachel Froggatt has her concerns. While there’s been an “incremental improvement” in volume in stories about sportswomen, she says there’s a risk it may be seen as ‘job done’.
"The results show New Zealand is the best of a bad bunch," she says. “This shouldn’t be our end position. We have to accept it as a challenge to set the agenda and pull everyone else in the world up with us as we keep increasing and increasing. ”
Why have a study?
The Sport NZ-Isentia study covered 14 months and 40,000 news items – around a third of all sports coverage for the period. It started in July 2019, but skipped four months from March 2020 because of the Covid-19 lockdowns and the absence of sport.
It’s part of the 'value and visibility' commitment made in the Government’s women and girls in sport and active recreation strategy released in late 2018.
LockerRoom’s daily coverage of women’s sport was included in the survey of 'independent' media organisations (and our stories also contributed to Stuff.co.nz 's figures).
Which sports get most?
Netball may be the leading women’s sport in New Zealand with one of the highest number of players across all sports, but it only ranked sixth in coverage given to each sport, the study found. It accounts for 4.3 percent of all sports coverage (this would no doubt be higher measured throughout a World Cup year).
The five sports ahead of netball – rugby, cricket, football, league and tennis – snared three-quarters of the coverage across broadcast, print, internet and magazines in New Zealand. But the female side of those sports gets on average just 6.6 percent of the headlines.
Five sports have more female coverage than male coverage: netball, hockey, canoe sprint, snow sports and gymnastics.
How are our sportswomen portrayed?
A 2016 study of New Zealand’s media coverage from the Rio Olympics showed an imbalance in the portrayal of women’s and men’s athletes. It found women were nine times more likely to be pictured with their partner – that’s now dropped to 1.5 times more likely.
The language used to describe female athletes has also changed.
A Cambridge University study from Rio found words like ‘married, pregnant, older, strive, participate’ describing sportswomen dominated stories. But the latest Sport NZ survey showed the most-often used words for females were ‘strong, super, able, great’ – similar to those depicting men.
“One of the things that’s really struck me is the mindful shift by the media in how they portray women since the NZOC study in 2016,” says Froggatt.
“Females are now presented as athletes, spoken to as athletes, coaches aren’t speaking for them now and they’re not referred to as the partner of a male athlete. That’s part of a long-term legacy piece for us - women and girls coming through need to aspire to role models they can be proud of.”
But females are still three times more likely to have their appearance commented on.
Where are all the female sports journos?
Castle says the media organisations she’s spoken to are aware there aren’t enough females in their sports newsrooms, with only 21 percent of stories by women. Questions need to be asked why there aren’t more roles for women, and why women don’t see sports reporting as a valid career choice.
“TV have done a good job of putting more female faces on panels. Someone like [Sky rugby and league presenter] Honey Hireme-Smiler is outstanding,” Castle says. “She adds professionalism, real value in her commentary and diversity. And she’s there first and foremost for her expertise, not because she’s a female.”
So what happens next with the data?
Sport NZ is talking to media organisations and sports about the findings and how changes might be made to keep the coverage of women’s sport on the rise.
“We want them to understand what the new baseline is and the areas where they’re performing well and the areas where they need to improve, and that will help with the strategies and focus points they put in place,” Castle says.
The three women’s World Cups being played in New Zealand over the next two years would “provide a massive opportunity to drive further change”.
Castle may have only been back in the country for six months, but she’s already noticed a difference.
“It may be subtle, but when the Super Smash cricket was on, the sports news on TV led with the women and followed up with the men. That wouldn’t have happened previously,” she says.
She gave LockerRoom credit for making a difference to the sports reporting scene since it began in Newsroom in March 2018. “It goes beyond the 500-word stories and has the luxury of building relationships with readers and builds up the characters and authenticity in women’s sport,” she says.
“LockerRoom is an amazing role model for what’s possible," Bruce adds. "You’ve proven there is an audience for women’s sport.”
* You can read the full Sport NZ report here
