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The hugely popular and thought-provoking Al- ways “like a girl” ad left its mark on a hybrid media in- formative session on gender equality in sport held at the Olympic House in Novem- ber 2023. The powerful mes- sage of this nine-year-old campaign was a strong ref- erence during the discussion on gender, portrayal and un- conscious bias.
“ALL IN PLUS” Organised
in the framework of the European Union – Council of Europe joint project “All In Plus” in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Euro- pean Broadcasting Union (EBU), the ses- sion brought together leading sports media professionals to promote inclusive and di- verse dialogue on gender equality in sport.
GENDER-BALANCED GAMES The Olym- pic Movement will be celebrating a ma- jor milestone at Paris 2024, which is set to become the first Games to achieve full gender parity. Christian Klaue, the IOC’s Director, Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, stressed the Olympic body’s commitment towards gender equality - and other important topics like sustainable development.
WOMEN SPORTS JOURNALISTS However, gender gaps remain apparent in sports media and the gender equality table of To- kyo 2020 gives an idea: out of 19,787, only 4,440 were women. While advocating for the improvement of women’s sports coverage, there were also calls for more female bylines.
“LIKE A GIRL” Stereotypes and biases are at the root of gender inequality in sports and other spheres of life. “We can take re-
A group photo of speakers and participants of the first hybrid media informative session on gender equality in sport held at the Olym- pic House in November 2023. (Photo by CoE)
sponsibility for understanding how bias influences our own actions, communi- cations and how we respond to different situations,” said Jane Dennehy, Director, Gender Hub. She shared the aforemen- tioned Always commercial, which ran during Super Bowl 49, to show the ripple effect of a stereotype that associates “like a girl” to being weak and not good enough, and how the insulting narrative can be changed to mean “amazing things”.
PORTRAYAL GUIDELINES Nadia Bonjour, Consultant of the IOC for Portrayal in Sport, explained how portrayal in sports coverage can challenge stereotypes. The IOC’s definition of portrayal is “The lan- guage (words and expressions), images and voices used, the quality and quantity of coverage and the prominence given when depicting individuals or groups in communications and the media.” Jalinka N. Michaux shared how the Internation- al Basketball Federation (FIBA) hopes to increase the number of fans consuming women’s basketball and also spoke about FIBA’s initiatives aimed at increasing fe- male representation in basketball media.
INTERESTS AIPS Pres- ident Gianni Merlo raised a point about media outlets going af- ter the athletes, subjects and sports that their audiences are interest- ed in. “It is not a matter of men or women, the newspapers want to sell copies.” Evelyn Watta, AIPS Vice President and News Producer, Olympic Channel, ech- oed this point when she
showed examples of how some media out- lets sexualise female athletes because “we need to sell the paper, men want to see the ‘sexy’ volleyball player”.
STORYTELLING Watta spoke about how to consistently create connection points be- tween female athletes and your audience in order to build and maintain a fanbase for women’s sport. She emphasised that the media has the power to shape and change the narrative. “We don’t need to find the male versions of the women athletes,” she said.
ABUSE IN SPORT From personal stories to institutional policies, a panel of five experts addressed how to report on cases of abuse in sport in a manner that is respectful and does not contribute to harm. They dis- cussed building trust and being patient as a journalist and the importance of data col- lection and developing a database.
EBU Elsa Arapi, Women’s Sport Lead, Eu- ropean Broadcasting Union closed the session with this message: “Free-to-air ex- posure for women's sports isn't just about viewership; it's about visibility, validation, and voicing a powerful message: that every athlete regardless of gender, deserves the spotlight.”
By Chibuogwu Nnadiegbulam
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Gender Equality stereotypes on focus as sport media professionals converge at “All in Plus” informative session
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