What Sports & Esports Do to Get More Women Playing

There are some sports and Esports which have always had a knack of bringing new women players into their ranks with the sport in question benefitting greatly as a result. Some that come to mind include athletics, swimming, and tennis. Unfortunately, there are others that for one reason or another have never been domains in which women feel comfortable or are just sports that do not appeal to women in general.

Any sport or Esport with such a problem should be at pains to try and fix a problem that is effectively closing them off from over half the population. While some governing bodies bumble on blindly, oblivious to the damage they are doing to the sport they purport to love, many sports and Esports are going the extra mile; trying everything they can to engage a new generation of women players.

Prize Money Equality A Step in the Right Direction

A sport that gets a lot of criticism for being elitist and unwelcoming to large parts of society, tennis may do many things wrong, but something it gets right is the equal prize money that men on the ATP Tour and women on the WTA Tour now enjoy. The measure was brought in after pressure was put on authorities by women players who were as bigger draws as their male counterparts, such as Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and Maria Sharapova. The only thing that now separates the two sexes is the fact that men play 5-set games at the grand slams compared to the women who play 3. That could soon change if the majority of the WTA Tour demands it.

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Starting a Conversation Led by Women

Sometimes in order for the seeds of change to be planted, difficult conversations must be had, so that problems can be solved and barriers are broken down. This means that lots of sports and Esports have advisory panels and workshops, many of which bring together industry insiders who all try to work out how women can be encouraged to participate more. This is a particularly important issue in the world of Esports, with women gamers being few and far between, meaning that those spaces that do provide room to celebrate and shine a spotlight on the wonderful women who have blazed a trail in everything from chess, to poker, to battle royale games, are very welcome.

Officials and Referees Matter

While it is always important to bring more players to a certain game or sport, another thing that can also be vital is to bring women into roles of significant power and influence. On match days those people tend to be referees, linesmen, and umpires.

It has always been the case in soccer that men officiate games across both male and female leagues, but not the other way around. This is now slowly changing with many elite-level female referees breaking through into some of the top domestic leagues around Europe. Not only does this help the careers of the female referees in question, but it also boosts the profile of women's soccer in general, as fans and the wider public see that women belong at the top levels of the sport.

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Getting the Media to See the Value in Women's Sport

Business leaders and media moguls relentlessly bang on about how important the balance sheet and the bottom line is, so that makes it all the more frustrating when they refuse to invest in the huge boom industry that is women's sport.

A recent study conducted by the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota found that women's sports coverage only accounted for 4% of total television sports content in the US. That is slowly changing in places like the UK, where Netball's Super League and soccer's WSL are now staples on Sky Sports and other reputable networks. Much more needs to be done to give proper visibility to such high-quality sports leagues.