Misogynistic comments ‘put women off sports’

MISOGYNISTIC comments are putting women and girls off participating in sports, Labour said.

Shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire said every sports organisation should have a strategy to tackle sexual harassment and abuse.

This comes as sports minister Stuart Andrew condemned “dangerous” comments made by former footballer Joey Barton about female football commentators and pundits earlier this week.

Ms Debbonaire also accused the Government of “failing women’s football” by not setting out how it intends to implement the recommendations from former England midfielder Karen Carney’s review of domestic women’s football.

She added that “fans, players, clubs deserve urgent action and leadership from the top”.

Speaking during Commons culture, media and sport questions, Ms Debbonaire said: “Unfortunately there’s been a spate in recent weeks of disgusting sexist, misogynistic abuse directed towards sportswomen just for being at the top of their game.”

The MP for Bristol West added: “Vile, misogynistic comments are dangerous, and the reality is it’s putting women and girls off sport.

“Does the Secretary of State agree with me that every sporting organisation should have a strategy to eliminate all forms of sexual harassment and abuse from their organisations?”

In response, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “We should not have misogynistic bullying behaviour in sport and all governing bodies should be looking at what their sports are doing. We have set out in our sports strategy about how we should have fair competition, and how we should have integrity within sport.”

Ms Debbonaire said there was a “complete lack of detail” on how the Government was going to implement Karen Carney’s review. The independent review, titled Raising The Bar: Reframing the opportunity in women’s football, was commissioned in September 2022, shortly after England won the Women’s Euros and the Lionesses subsequently finished as runners-up at last year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Ms Frazer said she “completely disputes” Ms Debbonaire’s comments, adding: “I have had the pleasure of meeting Karen Carney on a number of occasions, I think her report is excellent.

“We endorse all those recommendations, many of which are for the FA (Football Association) who I’ve also spoken to on this subject, and I will be ensuring that those recommendations are fulfilled.”