Sexist shame of the beautiful game
Women in Journalism Scotland (WiJ Scot) is launching a campaign to tackle gender inequality in Scottish sports journalism. We're doing this for many reasons but one is that we've gathered info on the current gender split in Scottish print titles and out of around 95 permanent staff positions, just three are held by women. While the balance is better in broadcast there is still work to be done there too. During the pandemic when cuts were made across some journalism sectors, it became clear that sports journalism often offers the most stable, secure, well-paid work and talented, hard working women are missing out on this.
Sexist abuse, pay disparity, macho culture, male-dominated meetings and management structures, lack of opportunity, tokenism, lack of flexibility, barriers to a career path are all reasons cited by our members as deterrents to sports journalism, and frustratingly, as reasons for leaving by those few women who make it into the sector.
There are numerous causes and negative consequences of this gender imbalance but from speaking to our members we realise it’s pervasive, systemic and perpetual. For this campaign we are interested in solutions.
Mentoring
The first part of our campaign was to ring-fence five sports journalism mentorships with WiJ Scotland’s 2022 scheme. These pairings are proving successful and it’s clear that mentoring is an area which has tangible benefits for up-and-coming female sports journalists, and something we hope to expand on.
Online community and support
We have also set up an online community for our mentors, mentees, and sports journalism members and students for the sharing of opportunities, advice, links and to highlight work done by members.
Jobs, work experience, shadowing, training
In order to level the playing field, we want to share as many opportunities with female sports journalists as possible. We are actively seeking these opportunities with media partners and approach editors directly to ask for support, but while we source these roles, if you are working in this field and would like to help our campaign by offering an opportunity then please do get in touch at wijscotland@gmail.com
Broadcast training
Past attendees from our broadcast training workshops have told us of their success in sports broadcasting as a direct result, therefore we are organising further sessions with media outlets to boost confidence, practise interviews and familiarise the next crop of sports commentators with studios, cameras, microphones and broadcast etiquette. If you are a potential collaborator, we want to hear from you.
Stemming the tide - working with schools and sports clubs
Our members and research have told us that the problem needs to be addressed earlier than university and college level. If young women who are interested in sports don’t see journalism as a viable career (and a possible alternative to professional sports), they will not choose that path. We want to promote sports journalism as a career option by engaging with youth sports clubs and schools and holding presentations to show that women are needed and indeed, do excel in this field. We are working with several partners to pilot a presentation. More on that soon.
Academic Research
Our campaign has benefited greatly from input by two Masters students from the University of Strathclyde. Hannah Nicol and Rowan Clark have carried out interviews with student journalists and those working in the industry to quantify the barriers and inform solutions. Their fascinating findings will be posted here shortly.
Steering Group
We are pleased to partner with several women in other key sectors who are helping us to shape and inform this campaign.
Catriona MacPhee - Co-chair, Women in Journalism Scotland
Anna Burnside - Treasurer, Women in Journalism Scotland
Professor Karen Boyle - Head of Gender Studies at Strathclyde University
Maureen McGonigle - Founder of Scottish Women in Sport
Elizabeth McLaughlin - Senior Lecturer in Sports Journalism, University of West Scotland
Claire Thomson - Sports Editor at Glasgow Guardian, WiJS 2022 mentee
Gabby Pieraccinni - Athletics Journalist and WiJS 2021 mentee
Moira Gordon - Sports writer for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and Edinburgh Evening News.
Fiona McKay - Journalism Course Leader, Robert Gordon University