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The 2024 Summer Olympics made history by achieving gender equality among athletes who competed in Paris – 5,250 female athletes and 5,250 male competitors. But what about the gender breakdown of the reporters, editors and photographers who came from around the world to cover the Games last summer?
The accreditation numbers still show that those in the press tribunes and photo pens have yet to achieve the same parity as the athletes they’re covering on the field of play. The number of women at the Olympics has been growing steadily over the last two decades, but only about one in four accredited journalists in Paris was a woman.
ONGOING DISCUSSION The issue of gender in sports media has been an ongoing discussion at the IOC’s Press Committee, a group of journalists and Olympic officials from around the world that meets annually to receive updates on press operations for upcoming Games and to debate a number of issues facing the media industry.
Ashley Abbott, a Strategic Communications Consultant and former Public Affairs and Communications Director at the New Zealand Olympic Committee, recently made a presentation to her colleagues at a Press Committee meeting in Milan about the number of female journalists in Paris and what advances there have been over the last six Summer Games.
Data provided by the IOC showed 23 per cent of accredited press at the Paris Games were women.
STEADY-BUT-SLOW INCREASE Breaking down the various Olympic accreditation categories gives more insight into the issue: women made up 26 per cent of broadcast media, 37 per cent of commentators at Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS) and 39 per cent of press attachés for the various National Olympic Committees. At the Athens Olympics in 2004, only 13 per cent of all journalists were women. Twenty years later, there has been a steady – but slow – increase.
“The Press Committee is about what matters to the media – what’s changing, what’s coming up and what’s needed to ensure press have what they need to do their jobs,” said Abbott, who is chair of the Press Committee’s Gender Equality Working Group. “Gender equality is part of that discussion.”
IMPACTFUL STEPS “One of the most impactful steps we’ve taken is to simply publish the reality of the numbers and highlight the benefits of what more diverse teams bring to any high performing organization. Independent media make their own editorial decisions, but connecting with decision-makers and influencers helps build awareness and that is leading to positive change.”
Press Committee meetings are also an opportunity to look at the barriers to change, consider strategies to overcome them, and to showcase success, Abbott added.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS AGENCIES There is one segment of the media that has been sending more women as part of their Olympic teams – the international news agencies. Women made up 32 per cent of the Associated Press’s team in Paris; 34 per cent of Xinhua’s and 45 per cent of the Reuters squad.
And while just 15 per cent of accredited photographers in Paris were women, there was tremendous progress from one of the world’s major news agencies.
REUTER'S DIVERSITY PROJECT Reuters had an equal number of male and female photographers at the Olympics. It’s the culmination of a diversity project that Reuters started back in 2018. Prior to then, only about nine per cent of the agency’s photojournalists were women.
Rickey Rogers, Global Editor for Reuters Pictures since 2017, said that began to change when the agency started using data to track its progress: how many female photographers were being interviewed for jobs; how many were hired on freelance contracts; how many were being assigned on a regular basis.
“Little by little, we managed to push forward,” said Rogers. “Now we’re about 32 per cent sustained female” in the agency’s monthly global report.
REUTER'S GENDER EQUITY PLAN For the Paris Olympics, Reuters wanted to do even better – especially because the IOC had announced the 2024 Summer Games would have equal numbers of male and female athletes.
Rogers said part of Reuters’ gender equity plan included using regional Games like the Pan-Ams and world championships to assign female photographers to sports they may not have covered before. This allowed Reuters to come to Paris with equal number of male and female photojournalists.
“As journalists, we should mirror the societies that we are reporting on,” said Rogers.
CULTURE CHANGE One of the other things Reuters has been working on is culture change among its photographers.
“Photojournalism has been one big boys club for ages,” said Rogers, who has been with Reuters since 1997. “We’re changing the culture. We’re seeing great changes.”
“All of this takes extra work, but we’re all willing to do it.”
PAYING OFF Abbott said having more women working in sports media is paying off.
“They have brought a different lens to traditional sports coverage creating more diverse storylines and, with different voices and perspectives, they have been able to tap into new audiences. Women’s sport is more readily covered and is portrayed as more equal in excitement, quality, and value. New heroes have been created and bit by bit there is more exciting sport to watch, and more people who want to follow it. Women working in sports media has been part of this change.”
AIPS Media / Scott White is the former Sports Editor and Editor-in-Chief of The Canadian Press news agency and a current member of the IOC’s Press Committee, Photo by Geoffroy Van der Hasselt-Pool/Getty Images
