Sportswomen unleash girl power

AN INTERACTIVE website is working hard to get sportswomen the recognition they deserve.

Well-known sports journalist Kass Naidoo is dedicated to ensuring that sportswomen receive the exposure through her gsport4girls initiative.

The initiative focuses on sharing the stories of sportswomen in South Africa, from emerging stars to established professionals. Articles and blog posts are shared on the gsports website, while the organisation also honours inspirational sportswomen and women working in sports media, at the gsport awards every year.

“The gsport initiative was founded to tell the untold story of women in sport,” says Naidoo, “but gsport goes beyond that and supports emerging and disadvantaged sportswomen through consistent media coverage.”

This ensures these stars gain prominence. It also helps their brands become commercially viable, which helps them make a living out of sport, she says.

Sportswomen can sign up to become members on the site.

“The membership allows members to use free gsport online tools to build their brand by blogging and promoting their athletic and/or professional achievements, to update the women’s sport calendar with women-insport calendar events and to post free adverts to promote their brands and women-insport business opportunities in the gsport classifieds,” Naidoo explains.

The organisation also focuses on job creation and skills development. “This year, gsport’s big focus is job creation. The initiative will ensure that members benefit directly from the 2020 Momentum gsport Awards campaign, by providing awards campaign-related services in the form of short-term work opportunities,” Naidoo says.

The first gsport member to benefit is Lonwabo Miso-Nkohla, who was appointed on 1 July as the awards campaign’s sub-editor.

“It is such an honour to be part of gsport. I applied because I was looking for an opportunity in sport that would help me grow in my career. I hope to do my bit for the young girl who is fighting to be heard, seen and acknowledged,” says Miso-Nkohla.

“Women’s sport needs to turn fully professional for us to truly claim that we are succeeding. For now, everyone is doing their best to play their part in changing the game, but until there is a strong commercial structure around women’s sport, telling positive stories alone will only change so much,” Naidoo says.