As a woman working in sports media, I must battle constant micro-aggressions | Rebecca Adams

As a woman working in sports media, I must battle constant micro-aggressions | Rebecca Adams

We are told to accept that sports broadcasting is changing but I still experience subconscious bias and outright sexism at work

I keep being told the sports media industry is getting better, that there are lots more opportunities for women who want to work in it. I’m not sure. It was great to see the BBC’s Olympics-presenting team being led by women this summer and there were more female faces pitchside at the men’s Euros too. But there is still an awful long way to go. The micro-aggressions that have peppered my 16-year career and those of my female friends and contemporaries still very much exist, with the constant need to prove yourself more than an equally or less-qualified man. I don’t even see a change in how people treat me now that I am “talent” rather than the runner/dogsbody I was when I began working in broadcasting.

I work across a range of sports and always do my homework, not least because I still have to prove I deserve my spot in front of the mic. This year, I did a couple of stints in the Middle East anchoring a sports programme. It wasn’t my “main” sport, but I had an analyst with me to do the deep dive into its intricacies and what was happening on the field. I needed to know enough to tee him up to get the best out of him, but crucially I can hold a broadcast together; following a running order, taking cues from the gallery and knowing what kind of questions to ask the analyst.

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