Womens Sport and Recreation Tasmania

The latest News

Womens Leadership Development Training

      

WSRT recently offered a 2 day training course on Team Leadership Development for women involved in sport and recreation in roles in coaching, managing, officiating, and committees.  The response to our expression of intereset was overwhelming with close to 30 women showing an interest in the training.  Initially WSRT only anticipated being able to provide training for 10 participants, but with so much interest WSRT wanted to offer as many places as possible. This was achieved through a partnership with the training provider which enabled WSRT to extend an invitation to 15 women to attend the training.

Two full days training were held on Saturday 28th April and Saturday 12th May. The focus of the training was centered around two key areas:

1. The self as a leader, and
2. The leaders orientation within a group

Women that attended came from a diverse background in sport and recreation. Amongst the group were instructors, coaches, board and committee members from golf, underwater hockey, ten pin bowls, gymnastics, volleyball, swimming, hockey, equestrian, tae kwon do and health and fitness. Just as diverse was the age range from 20 years to 60 years. This eclectic group brought a wealth of experiences together and enabled shared learning between participants that is best summed up by comments from the participants themselves.

" Meeting other females from lots of differnet sports was great..."

"The interaction with other women experiencing the same leadership issues as what I am going through was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the training..."

Overall the leadership training course has proven to be both successful and of great interest to women in sport in Tasmania.  Based on this WSRT anticipate attempting to continue to access funding that will allow further leadership training and to deliver the training to other regions in the state.

Following are further comments made by participants that endorse the training. 

"I enjoyed all aspects of the 2 day course. All topics tied back into each other giving an overall perspective. It was good to get some framework around my leadership style and how to utilise my skills within situations."

"I was surprised that it went so fast and was so lively interesting. Initially I was hesitant as it was 2 Saturdays and my weekends are precious, but I had a brilliant time. Great mix of people and a diverse range of delivery methods to suit all learning types."

Seeking Mentors for The Mighty Mentoring Project 

 

The Australian Womensport and Recreation Association (AWRA) has developed the "The Mighty Mentoring Project" in response to the major under-representation of women in leadership roles within the sport and active recreation industry in Australia. The Mighty Mentoring Project aims to bridge the gap and increase the leadership skills of mentees in the sport and active recreation sector. The project will achieve this by:

• Providing a supportive environment for personal development and increasing self-esteem and confidence;
• Equipping mentees with the necessary skills to attain their goals and life skills;
• Providing mentees with an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses; and
• Providing mentees with new skills, industry knowledge and a personal development plan and pathway options.

If you think you would like to be a Mentor for women in sport or a mentee then contact WSRT on admin@wsrt.org.au or call mon to wed 03 6222 7410.

Womensport and Recreation Tasmania is celebrating the commencement of its 100th Get Active Program in Tasmania.

Tracey Turale a long time supporter and GAP facilitator will be supporting one of WSRT's latest trained GAP facilitators and enthusiasts Corina McCarthy to deliver the Midlands Get Active Program for rural women and men.

The Midlands GAP is scheduled to start Thursday 16th February at the Oatlands Community Health Centre Day Room from 10am to 12 noon.  So far there has been a terrific response from the community and 10 people are registered to join in.

As with all GAP's the theme for the group is fun,friends, physical activity and doing all this in a way that enables participants to learn about better ways to self manage their health and well-being.  Good luck to everyone involved and we will post updates and photos on the progress of the group as they journey together.

 Tasmania's Female Football Week : 18^th -24^th of February

The week will consist of the following: 

• 18^th/19^th of February - FREE Junior Licence for Females (1 course in Hobart and 1 course in Launceston) to enrol visit www.footballfedtas.com.au
• 21^st of February - Junior Girls Gala Day Hobart
• 22^nd of February -  Free Introduction to referee course - Junior Game Leader Course (1.5 hours) 
• 23^rd of February - Junior Girls Gala Day Launceston (Special Guest - Sydney FC and Matilda player Heather Garriock to attend)
• 24^th of February - Hobart Morning Tea with Heather Garriock for FFT community female members, i.e players, coaches, committee members

 For more information contact Anthony Alexander sdo@footballfedtas.com.au

Media Release from Minister for Workplace Relations David O'Byrne, MP, Tuesday, 31 January 2012 Protecting Tasmanian Workers' Health and Wellbeing

The Minister for Workplace Relations, David O'Byrne, today launched an innovative new program to help Tasmanian workers stay fit and healthy, as well as boosting productivity for businesses.

 The Health and Wellbeing Advisory Service will be delivered by WorkCover Tasmania over the next two years."Tasmanian workplaces should be healthier, happier and more productive because of this service," Mr O'Byrne said."Given the amount of time Tasmanians spend at work, it has a huge influence on how we feel, eat and exercise."More than ever, busy workers need advice and support to make the best choices about their health and wellbeing," he said.

As examples, those projects could include: 

• Educating workers about healthy eating alternatives;
• Introducing a workplace fruit or vegetable plate, and having a refrigerator so workers are not feeling the need to "eat out" all the time;
• Providing a work environment that encourages walking and physical activity (the national guidelines recommend at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day);
• Developing a health and wellbeing program, and identifying activities that are well-suited to each workplace;
• And, putting workers and employers in contact with community health organisations and providers.

To book a visit from a WorkCover Health and Wellbeing Advisor, phone the WorkCover Helpline on 1300 776 572, visit www.workcover.tas.gov.au, or email workcoveradvisors@justice.tas.gov.au.

Comparison on National Statistics and Tasmanian Female Board representation

Statistics on female participation in Tasmania gathered from three different reports conducted by Sport and Recreation Tasmania.

Women Leaders in Sport

• There are 70 SSO's in Tasmania, 28 are funded by Sport and Recreation Tasmnania (SRT). SRT report that of these 28, 34% of the board membership are female. This figure makes up only a fraction of the number of sporting boards in Tasmania.
• There are over 550 sporting clubs in Tasmania each with its own board and there is no information gathered that can report on how board membership is made up.
• Whilst this report looks at females on boards there is no information that looks at women in other leadership roles such as coaching, officiating and technical positions.

(Determining the gender balance on Tasmanian state sporting organisation boards- Prepared by Ms Julia Tomat, Sport and Recreation Tasmania , August 2009)

 The table below shows you what is happening with women on board around the world.

 

   Events of Interest

Latest news

Expressions of Interest to participate in a Womens in Sport Leadership Training Course

WSRT will be calling for expressions of Interests for women in coaching, officiating nad administrative roles to join a Womensport Leadership Training Course to be hosted by WSRT tin 2012. Keep checking this page for updates.

 

The Hon Mark Arbib's speech for the launch of Women's Health "I Support Women In Sport" campaign

On this page is copy of The Hon. Mark Arbib's speech at the launch of the Women's Health "I Support Women in Sport" campaign on 19th January, 2011.

To read the speech please click here 

How to spend $45 million on women's sport!

After the recent outcomes for the Football World Cup, the Australian Womensport and Recreation Association has been putting together some ideas on how the $45 million for the bid could have been spent to increase female participation in sport, and reduce some inequalities, in Australia.

Click to read the media release.

Women's Sport and the Media

It is very difficult to explain the lack of balance in coverage of Australian sport. Why is it the about 90-99% of all sports coverage (depending on whether you look at print, radio or television) is devoted to male sport? Is it entrenched sexism of the media outlets, the journalists and sports editors or is it a matter of prejudice and dollars involved to cover only the sports that have a personal or financial interest/gain?

Lack of media coverage of women's sport is a major issue for the sports industry, not just for women involved in sport. Until there is a better balance the Australian sports industry is not going to develop to its full potential.

Australian female athletes and teams have had may great achievements at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March 2006 the women won more gold and silver medals than the men despite having fewer team members yet women's sport still receives little media coverage. It is an old saying to many in the women's sport movement but still accurate "that greyhound racing gets more coverage in the newspapers than women's sport". While equity of opportunity has increased playing and competition opportunities for girls and women, it is most disappointing that there is ongoing poor coverage of women's sport by all media.

An Illusory Image (1996, ASC) showed that print coverage of women's sport had increased from 2% in 1980 to 10.7% in 1996. A South Australian study in 2004 however, revealed a lower figure of 4.1%, despite a number of high profile women's events occurring during the study period. Radio coverage of women' sport is still very minimal to non existent.

None of the commercial free-to-air television networks would provide data on sporting coverage to the 2006 Senate Inquiry on women's sport. However, Fox Sports claims approximately 10% of its sports broadcasts is women's sport and the ABC is much better with about one third of its national televised sport being women's competitions (netball, basketball and bowls mainly).

The ABC is to be congratulated and applauded for its commitment to women's sport because if there was not this coverage the Australian public would virtually fail to see any women's sport on free to air television.

The limited media coverage of women's sport means limited commercial opportunities for women's sport. This severely affects a sport's revenue raising capacity and limits interest from broadcasters. Lack of revenue prevents both expensive competitions (for example flying teams around Australia for national league competitions) and puts mainstream advertising (such as television spots) out of commercial reach. This also affects venue quality and that can affect attendance at games. These factors all in turn reinforce a lack of media exposure and thus a lack if coverage. This is a vicious circle which many think needs some government intervention, possibly in the area of mandatory minimum coverage of women's sport or some kind of affirmative action.

Lack of media coverage also affects the exposure of girls and women to role models and the encouragement girls and women get to participate by seeing active healthy competitors.

While the quantity of media coverage is one aspect, another is the way the media portrays women's sport, often reinforcing gender stereotypes or undermining women's achievements. A long standing concern is that women' sport is more likely to be sexualised and women are more likely to emphasize their sexuality to achieve some media coverage.

What can be done?

 From the Senate Report About Time! Women in sport and recreation in Australia: 

1. It is hoped that through the increasing availability of additional television channels (subscription and multi-channelling) these channels will need more product and will turn to women' sport for new opportunities.
2. Many women's organisations support media content regulation by the government and while there may be some support in principle for this there is little political support for media regulation, and the Senate Report did not support this.
3. Better coverage of women's sport is possible if the Australian Government provides financial support for initiatives that provide specific opportunities for greater ongoing coverage of women's sport. The Senate Report recommended that the ASC should administer funding of up to $3million a year and that the initiative be reviewed after 3 years. It is thought that sporting organisations would form partnerships with broadcasters and then approach the ASC with proposals and the ASC would provide support to partnerships that result in agreed media coverage outcomes.
4. That the government allocate up to $1 million to the Australian Paralympic Committee to assist with the production and costs of television coverage of the 2008 Paralympic Games and that this arrangement is on the condition that there is balanced coverage of male and female athletes.
5. More consistent efforts are required of sports administrators in regard to media awareness and training.
6. There is a need for improved relationships and partnerships between the media and sport.
7. The Senate Report recommended that the Australian Government provide financial support, to be administered by the ASC, for the training of athletes and sports administrators to better utilise media opportunities.
8. An annual survey of media coverage of women's sport is required to track progress.
9. That the government funds the ASC to replicate in 2008-2009 the surveys and analysis performed in the 1996 report An Illusory Image.

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  Where are all the Women?  

This article written by Stephen Mayne discusses the low number of women on Australian company boards. It was published in The Mayne Report on September 30, 2010   Click here to find out more

AWRA provides a response the the Crawford report

Australian Womensport and Recreation Association (AWRA) provides a response to the release of the Crawford report.