When women were banned from the Olympics after International Olympic Committee founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin declared women being involved in the world’s top sporting echelon would be ‘‘impractical, uninteresting, unaesthetic and indecent’’.
Sunday is International Women’s Day - a moment to take stock of just how far women have come in the sporting landscape.
New Zealand has had a big few years getting behind women’s sport, hosting the cricket, rugby and football world cups within a two-year period and the IWG World Conference on Women & Sport in 2022.
People still talk about the moment the Black Ferns claimed victory against all odds, the roar of the crowd when Hannah Wilkinson scored the Football Ferns’ opening goal or the platform the White Ferns gave young cricketers.
‘‘There is not really any way that anyone now can say no-one wants to watch women’s sport or women’s sport is boring,’’ Women in Sport Aotearoa chairwoman Susan Sawbridge said.
‘‘Those events knocked it out of the park and showed us that there is a lot of interest in women’s sport if you give it the same platform that you give men’s sport.’’
There are plenty of positives.
Women’s sport has received more media coverage in the past 10 years, more women sit on governance boards - ‘‘that’s really paid off’’ - and more national, and regional, sporting organisations have programmes tailored specifically to get more women and girls involved.
More female-specific training is on offer for coaches and officials, and more gender-specific research and information is available.
Down at the grassroots level, there is more opportunities for participation too.
Statistics from the New Zealand secondary school sport census for 2025, provided by Sport Otago, showed 63% of girls were involved in secondary school sport in Otago, well above the national average of 48%.
Last year 66% of Otago boys were involved in sport and 64% in total, making Otago one of the highest in the country for participation rates.
Otago’s secondary school girls participation levels have always been above average and peaked at 69% on par with boys in 2016.
More options and opportunities open the door for higher participation and allow women to realise their sporting dreams.
‘‘It’s a new era really,’’ Sawbridge said.
‘‘We’ve got to see that as a win that there’s a lot more sporting choices.
‘‘You should be able to, whatever your gender ... if you want to ice skate or play rugby, go for it.
‘‘Back in the day, you probably saw your options being pretty limited.
‘‘If your personality, or your body type ... whatever if was didn’t suit those two or three sports, you probably just didn’t participate.
‘‘More choice means more girls being active, more role models and hopefully that goes through to more investment.’’
Role models are crucial and Sawbridge loved sitting in the stands at the Rugby World Cup on home soil hearing teenagers screaming the names of individual players, not just cheering for the Black Ferns.
‘‘When I heard that I was like ‘Oh my God, have we cracked it?’. It was really cool.’’
Names such as Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Lydia Ko, Lisa Carrington and Sophie Pascoe rolled off the tongue these days and had become household names.
‘‘If we look back again I think like how stoked would Yvette Williams be?’’ Sawbridge said.
‘‘She was an absolute standard in her time. There’s no way she was the only female in New Zealand who was any good at sport, but the teams we had back then were predominantly male.
‘‘Women just didn’t have the opportunity and now they do - it’s an amazing thing.’’
But that age-old saying of there is always more to do is front of mind.
Historically, women still receive less media coverage than men’s sport, and while the tide is starting to change in that area, a bigger shift is needed.
Fewer female coaches are evident across the board - ‘‘we’ve got plenty of men that are coaching women’s elite teams, but not the other way around’’ — and begs the questions if there are fewer opportunities for women in management roles.
‘‘It’s really important that our best athletes get the best person for the job and gender shouldn’t have to come into it.
‘‘But the discrepancy and the imbalance is really big still.’’
Gender-equitable changing rooms and toilets are also a slow burn and many major facilities got a facelift during the world cups to make them more welcoming for women.
‘‘I guess when they build those facilities they just weren’t anticipating that there would be women playing.
‘‘That’s not the last sprinkles on the icing, right? That’s the cake.
‘‘That’s some pretty fundamental stuff.’’
The public is also still less likely to put their money where their mouth is and attend women’s sports games, and when they do, they expect to pay less than a men’s game.
‘‘We’re obviously not valuing women’s sport in the same way as we value men’s sport.
‘‘We still don’t have that same level of commercial support ... and still, in many sports, the women’s game is sort of bundled together with the men’s game in terms of commercial support and sponsorship.’’
And one of the best ways people can show they support women’s sport is with their feet.
‘‘The British and Irish Lions Women’s Series is coming here next year - go.
‘‘Make it amazing and make it really evident as the public that you’ve got a real interest in women’s sport and keep that momentum going.
‘‘Because it does still need people to keep pushing it along. It’s not got enough self momentum that it doesn’t still need people to keep the ball moving.’’
Women in Sport Aotearoa (Wispa) also plays its part in helping keep the momentum going.
The charity was founded in 2016 by Massey University professor Sarah Leberman and Tennis New Zealand chief executive Julie Paterson, the former Netball South chief executive, to champion gender equity in sport and physical activity.
‘‘We’re there to be Aotearoa’s champion for gender equity in sport and physical activity,’’ Sawbridge said.
‘‘We know we aren’t the only ones that have got that sort of shared dream, so we work with others wherever we can.’’
Traditionally women have few opportunities than their male counterparts, which can hinder other aspects of their lives.
‘‘Sport is this platform for life skills right? So if you’re missing out on that just because of your gender, then that’s a lot to miss out on — that’s why we do it.’’
Wispa has helped run several programmes, including helping women and girls on their coaching journeys, supporting leadership and young pacific leaders.
‘‘We want to make it as easy as possible for people to find the information that they need to so that they can do that why can and be a little part of the world to improve equity in sport.’’
Sawbridge hopes women’s sport continues on an upward trajectory.
That national sporting organisations and grassroots clubs can help remove barriers and make a ‘‘positive disruption’’ in gender equity to help more people become involved in sport.
‘‘We’re really keen to see all of those things continue to move forward to help people to do it by providing as much information as we can to them and help them see that gender equity is a solution for them and not just a problem that they need to fix.’’
She hoped the national strategy for women and girls in sport, which focused on value, visibility, participation and leadership, continued as a collective approach to getting more women on the field.
And while there is so much to celebrate in how far women’s sport has come - there is still work to do.
‘‘If I have a worry it’s that people think ‘oh cool, three world cups, tick done. The gender equity in sport stuff is sorted’ - but it isn’t.
‘‘If I have a hope it’s that people continue to recognise the need.’’
Here’s to strong women.
May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.
