Women deserve sporting chance
THERE’S something odd about the Power 100 list.
Take a close look at the list at goldcoastbulletin.com.au and count the number of women.
If things were fair and even, there would be 50 women in the top 100 most powerful people in Australian sports. But we’re not even close to parity.
That’s not an oversight by the authors though, that’s a true reflection of the gender imbalance that still operates within Australian sport.
For all the talk about policies to
give women an equal pay and equal say in the running of Australian sport, the stark reality is that it’s still mostly just lip service.
Women are vastly underrepresented in all aspects of Australian sport - including leadership roles
Professor Clare Hanlon, who is the Susan Alberti Women in Sport Chair at Victoria University, said only a handful of Australian sports were being run by women.
“Those that do understand are changing systems and strategies to develop and grow the number of women as coaches, senior
leaders, and appoint women as CEOs and Directors,” she said.
“However the truth is in the numbers and these remain stagnant, for example it seems only seven national sport organisations have CEOs who are women and only 33 per cent of Presidents are women.”
Three women who were appointed to lead some of the country’s biggest sports organisations — Kate Palmer (Sport Australia), Raelene Castle (Rugby Australia) and Leigh Russell (Swimming Australia) — would all have made the list, but all resigned in 2020, underlining
the enormous challenges female sports administrators face.
The Power 100 list also reflects the lack of opportunities for female coaches in Australia.
While Wayne Bennett and Justin Langer head the long list of male coaches, there’s not a single woman coach, which shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The inclusion of the likes of Ellyse Perry, Tayla Harris, Cate Campbell and Liz Cambage offers some hope of a more equitable future for Australian women in sport as it reflects the increasing diverse success of our female stars.