Female Participation in Sport and Physical Activity

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament am ar 28 Tachwedd 2023.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Paul Sweeney Paul Sweeney Llafur

I could not agree more with that. There is significant bias, which is potentially subconscious, but is certainly controlled heavily by sportswear manufacturers. We need to continue to engage with them on dealing with that.

We know that the media have a crucial role to play in promoting women’s elite sport to a wider audience, and we have heard a lot about that today. Our report makes practical recommendations as to how we might make that happen in the future. A key focus should be on expanding routine coverage of women’s sport outside the window of major international tournaments. Such tournaments are critical moments when it comes to people realising their potential—they are inspirational—but coverage cannot just be restricted to the Commonwealth or Olympic games. We need the idea that people can take sport to the next level to be more normalised.