WE often talk about the impact a male ally can have in the quest for gender equality in sport. How often have we lauded statements from Andy Murray, straight off the cuff, challenging a sexist comment or statement? For me, that is the perfect male ally.
We now have another in the shape of father Simon Kemp, who recently challenged a sports retailer on their marketing of Scotland’s football shirt and highlighted that everyday sexism that still exists.
I hope most sports have a male ally. For women playing football in England, they have a whole team behind them. Lewes United, who you may recall made media headlines a few season ago announcing they were putting their male and female players on equal pay, have hit the headlines again.
Lewes Utd are now challenging the FA to look at the level of prize money issued to women in comparison with men and suggesting that a radical increase in the women’s FA Cup prize fund is required. Highlighting the current inequality, they used the analogy of explaining to your children why men are paid more than women for doing the same job. The club’s board deserve credit for this – let’s be honest, you don’t give your son more pocket money than your daughter based on their gender.
Also, for the first two months of this football season, both their male and female teams took to the field showing their support for the amazing #WhatIf campaign, displaying the hashtag on the front of their tops. This campaign has made a significant impact in sport in general and several organisations pledged their support prior to the launch to make some of the #WhatIf pledges become reality. I look forward to the benefits that women in sport will reap from this.
Some quick facts: the total FA Cup prize fund for men’s teams is
£30.25 million. The equivalent for women’s teams is £250,000. The women’s total is less than 1% of the men’s. The amount paid to the losing men’s teams in the first two rounds of the FA Cup is £291,600 – more than the total prize money paid to all of the winning teams in the women’s FA Cup.
It is food for thought and time for change.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here