The Womens Sports Foundation Essay Example for Free

The Womens Sports Foundation Essay There are initiatives in place to try and improve the number of women in senior roles. For example, the UK Strategy for Women and Sport (a three year plan that aims to increase the number of women leaders in sport by changing the culture of sport), the Sport Coach Delivery plan. The government has also developed a plan, which aims to 50% female representation on all public bodies (inclusive of all sporting bodies). The effectiveness of these proposals is yet to be discovered. Womens Sport In The Media  Since the growth of womens sport and sport in general, the main way of communicating with the general public has been through the media. Recently there has been a large increase in the different types of media available, apart from the traditional newspaper; there has been an increase in the number of specialist magazines available and numerous Internet websites available to display sporting results, match fixtures and other such information. However, even with the expansion of the media, coverage of womens sport is grossly neglected. Womens sport is rarely shown (with exception to large sports events such as the Olympics) and when it shown their accomplishments is rarely celebrated, instead their private life is often the topic.  Television Radio  The main terrestrial channels and satellite channels rarely show womens sports events; mens sport is often prioritised over womens. For example, in 1993, womens sport only made up 0.5% to 6% of the overall coverage of sports on television and even when female sport was covered, action shots were rare. Newspapers  Newspapers also have a long history of under-representation of womens sport. It is quite common to find absolutely few or no mention of female sports within many newspapers sports section (this is regardless of whether they are a broadsheet newspaper or a tabloid). This can be exemplified by a study between December 2000 to January 2001, which was conducted by The Womens Sport Foundation. After the analysis of 49 different issues of newspapers, they found that out of 701 pages of sports reports, there were 1,564 photographs of men in comparison to just 36 of women. This meant that overall; womens coverage was just 2.3%. The media overall has the ability to define and shape the views of women in sport. Often the coverage that female competitors receive, concentrates on their femininity and treats them as sexual objects rather than a powerful sportsperson. This type of coverage has the effect of undermining womens sports in general, and in limiting the amount of sponsorship that top female athletes receive. The Womens Sports Foundation (WSF) was created in 1984, by women who were concerned by the lack of representation women received in the world of sport. It is funded by the government body Sport England, however since May 2003, the Pentland Group Plc has sponsored them. The aim of the Womens Sports Foundation is to increase the profile of women within many sporting roles. This has been partly achieved by: The National Action Plan for Women and Girls Sport and Physical Activity this was designed to encourage sporting organisations to identify targets and implement actions that would help to address the imbalance between the two genders. The Women into High Performance Coaching Project this was a three-year pilot scheme, (established in 2000 by the foundation and Sports Coach UK) that was created to develop women into senior coaching positions.  The WSF also aims to increase the number of women and girls that are participating in sport.