Women in Sports Communication
By Victoria Bortoluzzi, Account Supervisor
Girls… tell me how many times you’ve heard, “You only came to the game for the nachos,” and “I bet you can’t name five players on the team”. Is it way too many times to count or even remember? Women talking about sports has always been a head-turner, and the amount of women you see in the press box is still low. Being a woman working in sports has its challenges because sports communication has always been a male-dominated industry. According to the research journal by Marie Hardin and Stacie Shain, in the early 1970s, the Associated Press estimated that only 25 women worked in newspaper sports departments, and only five worked in sports broadcasting. Since then, it’s comforting to know that the “boys club” industry has made some progress, and there are women that are dominating sports communication one step at a time.
Several years ago, I read an article by Britni de la Cretaz titled “The Person Running Your Favorite Football Team’s Twitter Is Probably a Woman”. It’s definitely worth the read. The article was refreshing and insightful. Outlining that there are many women who run your favorite sports team’s social media pages, in fact, four of the big five teams in Boston have women running their social media.
Within the same article Samantha Woods, director of digital and social for the Philadelphia Eagles, explains that “Fans care far more [that] the person behind the keyboard is knowledgeable, fair, and creative.”
When I read this, it was like music to my ears, but the challenges and struggles are still there. I feel it every day from the minute I chime in with my thoughts on NHL trade updates. But I’m not alone, many girls can attest to that.
After having the opportunity to speak with Rebecca Edwards, senior vice president of global communications at Schneider Electric, she expressed her opinions on women in sport communication positions. “There are not enough women in on-air, producer, and director positions in sports broadcasting…What we’ve seen is that as men have been in decision-making power, male sports competitions get better air time and the way women have been portrayed has included many instances of bias.”
But there is a shining beacon of hope. During Edwards’s time working for the International Olympic Committee, she worked on a Gender Equality initiative which recommended training more women to be producers and directors of Olympic sports broadcasting. Also, training for existing sports journalists tends to be more sensitive to the occurrence of bias in the portrayal.
Starting a conversation is the first step, whether it be from people already in the sports communication field, or from women who are working towards professions within sports communication. This semester, I have the pleasure to work with an incredible teammate, Juliana Nikac. For our client UmpScores, we get to work closely with an app that helps fans and betters understand who the Umpire is prior to the game. When I decided to write this blog post on women in sports communication, I asked Nikac, who manages the social media channels for The Boston Pride, her challenges working within the field.
“There are some people out there who don’t believe women deserve a place in the sports world, much less working for a team. That’s a definite struggle, for sure. I’m lucky that none of that ideology has surfaced in my experiences. But you see it all the time in the media…It’s hard to not notice. But I don’t let it deter me from my love for sports communication.”
Although I can relate to Nikac’s struggles, I don’t want to make it seem that working in sports communication is always a battle, there are perks that come with it, something Nikac worded perfectly.
“Working in sports communication is awesome. Seeing how the fans and players appreciate all of your hard work. Not many people see how much goes on behind the scenes, so it’s nice to know that people love what I’m tweeting and posting on social media. I love interacting with the fans too, and that’s something that I never thought about going into this. Of course, it’s fun to do this for a living and work in professional sports, but it’s even more rewarding to see the impact your work has on the fan base and those supporting the team.”
It’s safe to say I am proud to read, to listen, and to personally know women that are making changes and starting a conversation about how important it is for gender equality within sports. We have come a long way from the 1970s, and I hope one day we will get to see a press box full of women.