Women’s teams fly second class
AUSTRALIA: Federal Sports Minister Kate Lundy has hit out at the discrimination where the Australia’s women Olympic basketballers flew to London economy class, while the men went business class.
After Fairfax revealed the Opals flew premium economy to London, Lundy and Sex Discrimination Commissioner Liz Broderick called for the inequality to be rectified. Further investigation reveals the Opals are not alone in being treated as second-class citizens.
National women’s football and cricket teams are flown economy, while their male counterparts’ teams go business class. This is despite both the women’s football and basketball teams having a much higher international rankings.
Other Olympic teams, such as men and women’s hockey and the track cyclists, travelled the same airline class to London. Swimming Australia has a policy to say that all athletes fly economy, although individuals can upgrade, if they arrange it privately.
In London, Australian chef de mission Nick Green declined to criticise Basketball Australia – which recently installed former New South Wales premier Kristina Keneally as chairwoman – saying only that the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) provided return economy airfares for all team members with Qantas, an official sponsor.
‘‘We’re comfortable for the sports to look after their athletes . . . We give them the travel subsidy to travel with Qantas, our partner, and the sports themselves determine how they use that,’’ Green said.
Fairfax has been told that the men’s basketball team has a written agreement with Basketball Australia that members will be flown business class for any flight over three hours. It is understood the women have no such deal.
Opals captain Lauren Jackson travelled first class to London, but only because she is a Qantas ‘‘ambassador’’.
A Basketball Australia spokeswoman said the women’s and men’s teams have separate budgets that the respective leadership teams were consulted about.
However, Fairfax has been told that frustrated current members of the women’s Opals team have been lobbying for better treatment for some time.
Basketball Australia’s spokeswoman said that the height of the teams was also considered: the average height of the men was just over 2 metres; for the women it was 1.83m.
But the Opals include Victorian Liz Cambage, who at 2.03m is a future international star. In contrast, Boomers star Patrick Mills is 1.83m. He travelled business class, as did Cambage – after she upgraded her premium economy ticket out of her own pocket.
Lundy said that travel arrangements were a matter for the and the individual sports organisations, ‘‘however my view is that team travel should be equitable for our male and female athletes’’.
‘‘Our Australian basketball teams, the Opals and the Boomers, both play the same game, they’re both tall and they are both equally committed to representing Australia at the Games. They shouldn’t have to travel a different class because they’re both world class.’’
The Opals have won silver medals at the last three Olympics, but the Boomers have never got an Olympics medal.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Broderick said: ‘‘I’ve had people tweeting me back ‘it’s about size’ .’’ But it was not about size — Lauren Jackson was over 1.95m and Cambage was over 2m.
‘‘So these are Australia’s finest athletes, both male and female, but treated very differently.’’