The debate regarding gender equality in sport continues to gain momentum. With new facts and figures released on an almost weekly basis highlighting this disparity we are constantly reminded that the we still have some way to go, especially in cycling.
While listening to Silver Olympic medallist Emma Pooley and Ruth Holdaway of the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation we were yet again astonished. We have summarised the main stats below. If you fancy listening to the whole discussion, it is available on the BBC Player.
1. 70% of sports now offer the same amount of prize money for men and women. But in the 30% that don’t, the difference runs into the millions. Cycling is in the 30%.
2. There are 2million more men than women taking part in sport at least once per week.
3. 0.4% of the total commercial investment in sport goes into women’s sport.
4. In cycling the UCI do offer equal prize money at the World Championships, elsewhere though the differences are huge.
5. For example the Giro d’Italia has a total prize fund of £1.3million, the overall winner took home £200,000. The Giro Rosa is dubbed as the equivalent race for women, The total prize fund for this race was £17,600 and the overall winner of the race Marianne Vos took home just £535.
6. The minimum wage for a male Pro Tour rider is in the region of £27,000 and up. Most professional female cyclists are lucky to make £15,000 per annum.
7. Only half of the governing bodies in sport currently meet the government target to have women making up one quarter of the people sitting around the boardroom table.
8. A girl recently counted all of the pictures of sportsmen versus sportswomen in the Guardian over the course of a week – there were 127 pictures of men and one of a woman.
@BBCWomansHour @RuthHoldaway @PooleyEmma My daughter counted pics of sportswomen v sportsmen in the Guardian pic.twitter.com/58etMPSN6d
— Kirsty Logan (@RabbleChorus) October 28, 2014
Enjoyed this? You will also find the following fascinating:
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