Sexism in Sport

Sexism in sport has been on my mind for the past few months. I live in New Zealand, a country who loves its sport and treats sportsmen like heroes. Note I said sportsMEN. We currently have the best mens rugby team in the world and second men's cricket team. These guys get so much attention and glorification from the media and general public.

But what about the New Zealand women's teams? Our women's rugby team were world champions in 2010, but did they get parades or any sort of recognition by the media? Not that I can remember. In comparison, when the All Blacks won the men's rugby world cup in 2011, there was a huge celebration. I'm surprised the government didn't declare the Monday afterwards a public holiday there was so much fuss made about it. The website that I got the below picture from makes some very good points about gender inequality in sport (see link below).

Source: http://www.teara.govt.nz/files/40408-pst.jpg

Earlier this year, New Zealand was joint host with Australia for the men's cricket world cup. There was so much fuss made about the men's cricket team and all the matches being held (the fact that our cricket team were doing well helped as well - but that's another story). At the same time, there were several international women's cricket matches going on in this country. Did they get any media attention? No. Despite the fact that they have previously been world champions (the mens haven't).

I remember a few years ago, AJ and I went to Eden Park for a day watching cricket. There were two games on and you didn't have to pay any extra. There was an international women's game first, which was very entertaining cricket. There were a smattering of people in the stadium - despite the fact that it was a nice close game. The further on in the match, more people started to arrive to see the men's match that was on afterwards (in which NZ got demolished).

I just don't get it.