The Rising Role of Women in Football Media,Commentary and Analysis: Breaking the Barriers in a Male-Dominated Industry

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Throughout sporting history, we've always seen the media/ commentary and analysis industry be forcibly dominated by men, especially in Football, but why was this? Was it due to the fact women weren't interested? Or was it because they were never allowed to have their say? In this article I will be taking a dive into and analysing the topic of women in a male dominated industry, or at least it used to be.

The topic of “women in the sports industry” was a phrase that used to make men’s smiles churn. We have seen so many cases of women being utterly embarrassed by gender discriminating Men in life, specifically in Sport. Examples like Rubiales grabbing World Cup Winner Jenni Hermosos face and kissing her on the lips while representing Spain with the Womens World Cup 2023 Trophy after their win over England, and the racism and cyber abuse analyst and former England player Eni Aluko received last year over her commentary takes and her opinions when analysing games.

In the last 10 years, we've seen more and more women push against the fence and break their way into football media/commentary and analysis. The likes of Sue Smith, Karen Carney, Jill Scott, Alex Scott, Izzy Christiansen, Laura Woods, Kate Scott, Kelly Cates and Steph Houghton are all stand-out names in the industry for females, most of these women are ex-professionals who have major experience in the game with vast silverware to their name, more than most male analysts, but due to the fact they are women, their “unlikeable” and their opinions aren't correct and their achievements are often belittled.

From recent readings, it's clear to see most women still aren't fully confident working in a male dominated industry, this is due to many things ranging from sexist remarks to belittlement and toxic environments. A journalist for the Guardian shared a story in her article called “As a woman working in sports media, I must battle constant micro-aggressions” about a time where she was in a news studio going over her script, when a male walks up to her and says

“I'm looking for the head news reporter, I don't suppose he's here, is he?” When she proudly turned around and said “No unfortunately, It's she that's here”.

She said it felt like a mic drop moment for her seeing the mortified look on his face. And in my eyes that pretty much sums up what it's like being a woman working in a “male dominated” industry, all while women are told the societal narrative is changing, it's a different slap in the face everyday.

But there are many positives to come out of these developing times. Women in sports coverage are setting the standards every day for men to live up to, while also inspiring young girls all over the world.Speaking from personal experience and for girl all over the world, i can safely say there has never been more of a demand from women to get into womens sport, whether it's journalism, media, being a player, coaching or backroom staff, and it's unbelievably amazing to see, this is all due to the current role models we have who do women proud day in day out, who don't let the belittling males of the world get to them in the slightest.

It just goes to show, when women are given a chance to shine, they grab it and run with it. The examples of Jill Scott has been recently working on a Sky Sports Podcast with Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane and Ian Wright, who is also a massive supporter of The Women's Game, while Kate Scott is the head presenter on paramount with Henry, Carragher and Micah Richards, and the likes of Sue Smith, Kelly Cate, and Alex Scott play vitals roles in the game with them either being head presenters or key parts of analyst teams on the BBC and Sky Sports.

Overall, we Women still have a long while to go, but we’ll get there someday, even if it takes 50 more years, at least it'll mean it was better than the day before. The advice to the girls out there who get belittled day in day out on the school ground or anywhere, just remember the wise words of Alex Scott,

“To all the women in football, in front of the camera or behind it, to the players on the pitch, to everyone that attends games – keep being the role models that you continue to be to all those young girls that are told 'no, you can't'. Football is a better place with us all in it."