The next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, in 2028, will have many firsts! The number of women athletes exceeds their male counterparts. There will be a full gender parity in all team events, while the number of women’s football teams surpasses men’s. There is another first! Kirsty Coventry, a Zimbabwean athlete, elected this year, takes up the mantle of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), becoming the first-ever woman to lead the Olympics in its 131-year history. In the Olympics, in terms of the number, women athletes scaled new heights from 2.2 per cent representation in 1900 in Paris to achieving gender parity in Paris again in 2024, a quarter and a century later. But, the journey remained fraught with multiple challenges. Lack of financial resources impacted the quality of training, facilities, and overall support available to female athletes (Blinde et al., 1993), and hampered the growth and sustainability of women’s sports leagues and teams (Sartore & Cunningham, 2014). Potential brands often undervalued women’s sports, considering it to be an arena of ‘unproven returns’. There was, however, a significant shift in recent times when angel investors and venture capitalists came forward to explore the over-looked market and made use of the best available data, and content on digital/ social media. The emergence of Angel City FC in 2020 in the US National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), set a new precedent, when its all-female founding team ‘inverted the accepted business model of sports franchise, moved their brand beyond the local base, to digital brand building’. Within the first three years, it could raise a market valuation of $250 million in 2024. Such experimental ventures remain not confined to Europe and the USA, but, in areas like the Middle East, where governments are increasingly directing resources towards grassroots initiatives designed to foster greater girls’ participation in sports.
In India, around 1200 companies invested a combined Rs 526.14 crore in 2022-23 on CSR investments, nearly double compared to the previous financial year (Rs 291.75 crore), for promoting sports, including women’s. However, many sports analysts believe that ‘not many companies consider women’s sports while choosing their CSR goals’ (Goodera). Nevertheless, a 2024 survey (Service Monkey & Parity), found that ‘women athletes are trusted influencers’, the majority of sports fans (88 per cent) regard them as ‘impactful role models’ and almost 73 per cent said that they watch women’s sports at least a few times a year, which is 81 per cent in case of men’s sports, and an overwhelming majority think (92 per cent) that it is ‘important’ for girls to play while growing up. A 2023 report (Deloitte) highlighted that 85 per cent of women who played sports as children, and are now Fortune 500 CEOs, believed that the ‘top skills they developed by playing sports helped them to succeed in their professional careers’. In 2024, global revenues for women’s sports moved up $1.3 billion, with an impressive 300 per cent growth in just three years (Deloitte). Moreover, sponsorship deals for women’s sports have also seen a 20 per cent year-over-year increase since 2020 (Sports United). ‘In recent years, attendance, viewership and social engagement for women’s sports have spiked, leading to long-overdue financial backing through investments and sponsorships…’ said, the CEO and founder of SponsorUnited. Across all countries, 32 per cent of fans of women’s sports say they are more likely to purchase products when a brand supports women’s sports. While in 2022, there was a 30 per cent surge in the number of advertisements featuring women sports celebrities in India (TAM AdEx). The owner of the UP Warriors in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and the head of Capri Sports, were categorical that ‘perception about women athletes as brand endorsers has transformed significantly because of changing consumer mindsets, and growing data-backed proof’. Now, this momentum requires a strategic roadmap that balances innovation with a focus on core business fundamentals for sustained growth and commercial success as well. Industries must move from a short-term return on investment (ROI) to a venture capital mindset driven by values, long-term vision, and a commitment to societal impact for the long-term health of women’s sports.
Undeniably, digital space could boost the visibility of women in sports to about 18.5 per cent in 2022, marking a 2.53 per cent average annual increase. But, women sportspersons face a ‘different scrutiny on digital space as audiences expectations are still deeply embedded in societal norms’ and brand marketing strategies continue to focus more on ‘traditional femininity’. A social media analysis during the 2018 Commonwealth Games, found that words like ‘strong’ and ‘talented’ were frequently used in the case of male athletes, while women athletes were labelled with terms like ‘pretty’ or ‘girls’. A similar analysis of the online sports stories and images posted during the Rio Olympic Games found that men athletes were portrayed in ‘active or competitive roles’, while women athletes were frequently depicted in ‘passive or aesthetically appealing ways’. Women athletes’ Instagram posts on non-sport-related images receive significantly higher engagement. As a result, many high-profile women athletes adopt branding strategies that promote polished, heteronormative femininity, avoiding controversial political stances and thus limiting their abilities to challenge gendered perceptions in sports’, argued a study on feminist neo-liberal marketing strategies. Women sportspersons also continue to face ‘widespread, overlapping and grave forms of violence at all levels’ (UN). Nearly 21 per cent of professional women athletes experienced sexual abuse as a child in sports, almost double the rate of male athletes (11 per cent). A 2021 study (World Athletics) found that 85 per cent of online abuse in the lead-up to and during the Tokyo Olympics was directed at women. But, sports bodies tend to focus more on curbing doping and match-fixing as sports integrity measures. In India, the prolonged protests by Olympic medal-winning women wrestlers exposed the ineptitude of such bodies.
In 2023, the UN Women and UNESCO outlined a 10-point ‘Call to Action’ for gender equality in and through sports, addressing issues like fair pay, media representation, and safeguarding standards. Countries must adopt it, and standardise procedures to strengthen the grievance redressal mechanisms of sports bodies with a strong legal framework, ensure survivor support and accountability, and also take technology companies and social media platforms on board to tackle online abuses. Governments, Corporations and media houses should all come together to create a level playing field with resources, exposure and voice to herald an era of equitable, safe and inclusive sports.
(The writer is former Director-General of Doordarshan and AIR. She is also the former Press Secretary to the President. Views expressed are personal)
