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As women start to shine in the Olympics, Lizzie Armitstead raises sexism in sport

Silver medal winner makes comments on eve of her Time Trial

As the women in Team GB prove their worth yet again with a gold medal (finally!) in the women's rowing pairs, Lizzie Armitstead, silver road race winner, has spoken out about the 'overwhelming sexism' in sport.

It's a valid point - the Tour de France is all about the men, who benefit from the vast sums of money sunk into teams like Team Sky - and look who actually rode to victory when Olympic crunch time came around.

The Times (£) reported on how Japanese women footballers and the Australian women's basketball team had to travel to London in economy seats while the men put their feet up in business class.

“It can get overwhelming and frustrating, the sexism I’ve experienced in my career,” said Armitstead.

“If you focus on it too much you get very disheartened.”

Emma Pooley has also voiced similar concerns about the visibility of women's cycling.

In the Guardian, she said: "A lot of women's teams you're lucky if they buy you a sandwich at the race… sponsors keep pulling out of races so they get cancelled… the calendar has been more than decimated.

"I get enough to live off, better than most women in the sport. The depressing thing is that there is so much money in cycling but it all stays in one bit of the sport, not much of it trickles down."

Armitstead even said that she wanted to bring up the subject with Pat McQuaid, UCI president, but "didn't want to come across as negative and moaning".

Well Lizzie, we think he might just sit up and take notice of you now.

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39 comments

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phax71 | 11 years ago
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Surely she can make her own sandwiches ..

I've always found women to be pretty good at that type of thing ..

(I jest of course) ....  1

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anicell | 11 years ago
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"look who actually rode to victory when Olympic crunch time came around" Not her! Did she not come second and a man won gold!

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Coxyboy83 | 11 years ago
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This is going to sound a bit harsh but generally when you watch male versions of sports you are ultimately watching THE best in the world at the respective discipline. That is what interests me, a lot of other people and as a consequence a lot of the sponsors too. This isn't sexist, it's a fact.

If womens sports want more money then it's women who'll have to do something about it. Set up dedicated governing bodies so they can have more control (like tennis for example), as mens sports will generally always end up taking preference. Maybe then they could build a proper female fan base, with a men and some old perverts thrown in for good measure?

PS. It's hardly fair to slag off the mens performance in the road race, when they'd only six days since finished the toughest race in the world. Makes it sound a bit bitter.

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thereandbackagain replied to mikroos | 11 years ago
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mikroos wrote:

@thereandbackagain

How about you actually determine the number of women taking up pro or club cycling (or even training seriously) and women watching sports? Both are MUCH, MUCH lower than the number of man in each of these categories.

I happen to work in a bike shop and what I can say is that about 90% of my customers are men. How can you expect sponsors to invest their money in women's cycling then?! Please bear in mind that the prices of equipment and other costs related to sponsoring are about the same in women's and men's cycling, so the return of investment is much lower in women's cycling.

Like I said, this has nothing to do with any kind of hostility. It's just a simple and measurable fact that the women's sports market is way smaller.

You've misunderstood my point. All you're doing is arguing for the status quo.

From my professional experience, I know that you can generate demand by sending out the right messages, encouraging people to think about what they want, what they can expect, then support those expectations. That's how you get people to change behaviours, at least in part.

Perhaps the heavy weighting towards men in your shop is partly due to the bias in your marketing, your customer service, your merchandise selection? Have you surveyed women to understand what would stop them from coming in and buying?

On a separate point, costs per media exposure are going to be way, way lower for women's cycling than men's there's not such a premium placed on the sport, so it'll be a very cost-effective sponsorship opportunity for the right brand.

Commonly, women feel intimidated by the attitude of bike shops, and that lack of confidence will put them off. Also, most manufacturers women's product lines are appalling.

Like I said, someone is going to realise this eventually, and actually start marketing effectively to female cyclists. Based on your attitude, that's not going to be where you work, unfortunately.

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acjim | 11 years ago
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Outside of the club / pro / race structure (as I am) but living in an area that's frequented by lots of road cyclists I'm seeing loads more Women riders in groups, mixed and single sex.
They tend to be less "serious" looking than the blokes but are all on road race bikes and tend to be going along at a fair clip.

To develop the sporting element I think the UK should try to break down the club system, or at least make it more accessible. Weekend rides with the chain gang just don't appeal and don't fit into modern Women's lives. Having something more like what running clubs do, i.e. post work stuff - very open access, closed / semi closed road & track sessions. All of this would take obstacles out of access.

From my limited experience, via my wife and her mates, getting into competitive sport (running races) tends to come from having fun and wanting to try new things rather than the goal driven urge that chaps tend to have.

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mamil1965 | 11 years ago
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That more men than women cycle is hardly a case for maintaining the status quo. Every effort should be made to encourage and support the growth of cycling for everybody. If giving more media coverage to professional women's cycling helps with that, then broadcasters can make that decision. Once they do, then sponsorship will follow.

Let's not forget, however, that the strength of British men's professional cycling has come from a huge investment from the lottery which has been targetted towards development and support to bring home medals. Broadcasters had largely ignored cycling (particularly road and MTB) as a sport until these recent successes. Once the broadcasters were there, then sponsors weren't hard to find.

So, let's forget all this nonsense about women being slower, more self-conscious or less competitive. Forget too the idea that business is somehow detached from the interests of broadcasters. The key thing to remember is that if we want top athletes in any discipline and of any gender, it's the state through the lottery that can create the conditions for that to happen.

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paulfg42 | 11 years ago
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Reading some of the sexist pish on here, you can see what women cyclists and women in other sports are up against.

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Michael5 replied to Simon E | 11 years ago
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Simon E wrote:

Also, if women cyclists are treated like sportswomen instead of 'dollies on bikes' than maybe mainstream interviews will focus on more interesting topics rather than avoiding 'helmet hair', how they manage to pee and so on.

Of course, Vicky P has done nothing to promote that idea amongst the media...

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emily.b | 11 years ago
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I like watching cycling, male or female, I've been cycling all my life, even when it was very unpopular and media showed us in a very bad light.

Sad that now so many feel one type of cyclist doesn't deserve the same respect and opportunities.

History shows you'll never be able to stop hatred or prejudice that some groups inflict on other groups, even when this is the majority...but that doesn't make it ok.

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