Asked by Lord Addington To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps
they are taking to celebrate the success of national women’s
sports, particularly in team sports. Lord Addington (LD) My Lords,
it is no secret as to why I have brought this issue forward. We
have had a long run of great sporting success. For someone who
would sooner cheer for Scotland, unfortunately this has been mainly
by English teams. We have all seen our national women’s
sides...Request free trial
Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to
celebrate the success of national women’s sports, particularly in
team sports.
(LD)
My Lords, it is no secret as to why I have brought this issue
forward. We have had a long run of great sporting success. For
someone who would sooner cheer for Scotland, unfortunately this
has been mainly by English teams. We have all seen our national
women’s sides enjoying a tremendous run of success in team games
that were originally thought to be male dominated.
The Euros were an odd one—for me, a hardened rugby union player,
football suddenly became enjoyable to watch. This was not only
because there was a successful team to relate to, but also for
the sheer joy the players seemed to have in competing and in that
success. Who would have thought that a song, brought out in 1969
by Neil Diamond, would be belted out with such great gusto and
with which everybody would join in? “Sweet Caroline” has become
an anthem for British sport. It happened because a group of
female players enjoyed and enlivened their success. It engaged
the vast majority of us in a way we did not expect.
This success has been backed up—though this is a little
bitter-sweet—by the England rugby union team, which had 30
consecutive victories at international level. I do not know how
many records that broke, but it was magnificent. If we cannot
celebrate this degree of success with better grace and embrace it
a little more than we have done so far, we are going to be in
trouble.
The whole structure of sport encourages people to take part and
enjoy it. I am asking the Government what we are doing to get the
best social, health and emotional health benefits from it. How
are we going to do this?
What did we do to allow that success to be seen? First, we made
sure that it was all on free-to-air television. If either of
those tournaments had been tucked away in even the most brightly
lit corner of a streaming service, the vast majority of the
population would not have seen them. This had to be something
that the BBC and ITV particularly took on and said, “Here it
is.”
It is also about the warm-up to it, not just the events. Women’s
football has been available for a long time, mainly on the BBC—we
have seen it. If you did not see it, it does not really matter,
and that applies to any form of public entertainment or
engagement that goes on. For the first time, rugby union having
the women’s competition in stand-alone tournaments when you can
watch it has been massively beneficial to getting people engaged
in it.
Why does this matter? If you are getting the women and girls to
think that sporting activity is normal, you can encourage more of
them to take part in it. It is not a totally closed book because
they are out there now, but most of the clichés and stereotypes
which have stood against female participation are thus addressed.
You are going through and making sure that people can get out and
get involved. How do you access this and encourage people to do
it? You start at school, I hope by having a smorgasbord of
opportunities to try. You encourage children to get out there and
enjoy the sports that are going on. However, the thing about
school is that you leave it. Generally speaking, people drop out
of sport post 16, 18 or 21, when they leave this controlled
environment where to an extent it is made easier for you or you
are encouraged—indeed, forced—to take part in sport.
What do we do to break that down? You encourage children to try
sports, hopefully ones that are culturally available to them. For
instance, if you are talking about codes of rugby, I suggest that
St Helens rugby league might be your first port of call—this
might be the first opportunity to celebrate that other bunch of
Lionesses who got into the semi-final of that particular
tournament. You have to make sure that it is culturally available
for your background and the groups that you are going out to, and
then you must encourage people to go from the club at the school
to the small amateur clubs—the big, professional, international,
shiny stuff does not really matter that much as regards the
benefit to society if you do not get people taking part in these
games on a voluntary amateur basis.
In this country, government is very lucky that we have a
tradition of sports clubs which founded themselves, fund
themselves and look after themselves. Sport does a lot.
Government helps but primarily, sport helps itself. That is why
they are there and why, for instance, local government finds
itself assisting football clubs with their grounds, not providing
all of them as they do in most of Europe. The Government should
be encouraging that. One of the easy ways of doing this is to
make sure that there is an effective link between school and club
activity. You get better coaching and the idea that you can carry
on afterwards. I hope that this will be encouraged.
For women and girls, this might mean expanding the traditional
bill of fare. We have just spoken about two sports which are not
encapsulated in the traditional diet of netball and hockey,
although they should both be represented. Indeed, both those
sports have had their degree of success but possibly, if we
televise them more we might do them a bit of a favour. However,
maybe that is taking the debate a bit too far down one
avenue.
How are we going to encourage this, making sure that that offer
to take on these things in later life is done? We have to do more
on that. School sport partnerships took a step in that
direction—I do not know whether they were all-encompassing and
fully working that through, because in most cases they got
stopped when they had only just started to get going. Can the
Minister give us an idea of what they are going to do?
I return to one of the things which government should probably do
more of, which is to celebrate better team sports generally. We
are in an odd position here, in that we have handed out honours
and awards like toffees for people who have had modest successes.
It was great back in those heady days when England won the Ashes
for the first time, but they should have beaten Australia before
that. Everybody got a gong—or whatever the correct term is in
cricket; others will correct me later—at the end of it, even if
they sat on the bench. Then England win the Rugby World Cup.
Great: everybody gets a gong. The England women’s team were
amateurs in 2014. The definition of amateurs is that you pay to
play, you are not paid; you give up time and effort and you put
money in. When they won the World Cup—and they are much more
consistent about getting to finals, and so on, than the men—two
of them got medals. Has the person who devised that for a team
game never actually watched a team game, let alone participated
in one? Do not goalkeepers and defenders count in football, or
the people who do the hard work to win the ball in rugby, or is
it only the glamour boys? I speak as someone who was definitely
in the grunt brigade.
This is what the Government could easily do. If it upsets some
weird table of achievement or the giving out of awards, give one
medal to the entire team and give people a copy of it. That is a
way out. The example I give of where that has been done is the
equestrian teams for eventing. There used to be one medal; now
they give them each one, but it still counts as one medal. That
is something that the Government could do easily.
I know the Government had a lot on their plate this summer, but
they did not have an official reception for the Lionesses: come
on. There was enough of the Government left to celebrate that
better. Why did that not happen? You could probably do it now and
nobody would lose any Brownie points for having a party late, as
opposed to not having it.
As the clock beats me, I thank everybody for taking part and hope
that the Government will be able to answer my questions and the
other thoughtful ones that I know are coming.
2.57pm
(Con)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, , both on obtaining the
debate and on his erudite and detailed analysis of the
circumstances of women’s team sports over recent years. I intend,
as is natural for me—as with the noble Lord—to concentrate on
rugby union and leave football to the noble Baroness, Lady
Taylor, and others.
I start with the observation that, tomorrow evening, my rugby
club, the Kings Cross Steelers, will be celebrating on the
Terrace their victory in the worldwide gay tournament, the
Bingham Cup. In itself, that victory is not relevant; what is
relevant is that we will have three members of the England
women’s rugby team present: Shaunagh Brown, Ellie Kildunne and
Sadia Kebaya. We are honoured, because their success in recent
weeks has caught the attention of the nation. I say to Sarah
Hunter, our captain, on behalf of the whole team, not only have
you caught our attention but you have gained our respect. We all
know how difficult it is to accept defeat—and such a close
defeat, at that—but you have gained our complete respect.
Why? When I told my members that we were going to have three
members of the England women’s team present, the reaction was a
communal, “Wow, that’s great!”. For the first time ever, because
of television coverage and the like, the rugby union team has
attracted our attention in the same way that the football team
has done. Why has it attracted our attention? Let us be honest,
with the level of professionalism that we now have—which is
rising and can go on rising—the skill levels in team sports have
risen. Therefore, nobody dismisses them now and says that it does
not matter, or that they are just out there playing rugby union,
football, cricket, rugby league or whatever; there is a skill
level now available which everybody can and should
appreciate.
Along with a number of other Members of both this House and the
other place, I had the pleasure of pressing the Government for
funding for the women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025. I was pleased
that the Government granted that assistance. In Auckland, a week
ago, the stadium was full to 40,000—its maximum capacity. The RFU
has set a target of filling Twickenham, with a capacity of well
over 80,000, for the final in 2025. It is a great target and it
should be achieved. It reflects the growing interest in women’s
sport that is being displayed across the nations.
As the noble Lord, , said, although we can
admire the achievement and the increased professionalisation and
skills, we must recognise that it is not a total success story. I
served on a committee with the noble Lord, , and the noble Baroness,
Lady Grey-Thompson, and others. We looked at the statistics in
relation to activity levels. Among women, those levels are on
average 10% below male activity levels, and markedly lower among
certain socioeconomic groups and ethnic communities. Those are
the people who need to be attracted by the performance of women
in team sports to generate an interest on a day-to-day basis at a
lower level in sport generally, because role models are not the
only solution to achieving participation.
3.01pm
(Lab)
My Lords, I too congratulate the noble Lord, , on securing this debate,
and share his pleasure in the recent successes. But I want to
emphasise that we should always bear in mind that national
success of this kind is built on the grass-roots activities that
underpin them and which are so important and so common throughout
the country every weekend. That is very important.
As the noble Lord, , said, my particular interest
is in football. I make no apologies for that, though as a good
northerner, I should say that women in rugby league, while not in
this Saturday’s final, deserve some credit for giving that game a
much higher profile. They need recognition for what they have
achieved over the last few weeks, especially given that they are
not even fully professional.
Football has seen remarkable changes recently in the public
perception of the women’s game. It is remarkable that attendances
at women’s football matches have gone through the roof—over
50,000 on some occasions. The noble Lord, , is right that free-to-view
television has been an important factor. However, this weekend, a
large number of people will pay to watch women’s football on
television. That is partly because there is no FA Premier League,
but nevertheless it is a significant breakthrough. Another
breakthrough is the number of women commentators, not just on
women’s football but on all football. We have made some successes
there.
As I said, it is the grass roots that have built up to this
success. I must mention AFC Bolton Ladies, who are self-funding
but have had real difficulties post Covid. The Government must
consider these small clubs in the light of what has been
happening there. I make special mention of a group of women
football players, the pioneering Manchester Corinthians, of Fog
Lane Park, not least because they were founded by a scout from
Bolton Wanderers in 1949. They made breakthroughs, and were the
first women’s team to represent England at an international level
and beat the Germans—just to mention that. The team even played
in front of 50,000 people in Benfica—and this was when women’s
football was banned. It is incredible that it was not until 1971
that women’s football was recognised as even existing. It has
been an uphill struggle, and a lot of that struggle was conducted
at that very low level. I hope that Manchester Corinthians get
the recognition that they want for their history.
But all is not well and easy. A report by sports scientists out
just yesterday highlights the lack of football kit actually
designed for women, and how women therefore have more injuries of
certain kinds, because there has not been that recognition. While
we are celebrating success, I will celebrate in particular the
success of the Lionesses: undefeated in 26 games, winning the
European Championship and providing that role model. I agree with
the noble Lord, , that a reception would be
very nice, but I think the Lionesses would rather have the legacy
of the Government making sure that football is available for
every girl and woman to play, with the kind of support necessary
to make that success continue into the future.
3.06pm
(LD)
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on obtaining this debate and
opening it in such a thoughtful and constructive manner. In the
short time allocated, I will concentrate my remarks on one
specific area: the benefits of involving women in custody and
those on the cusp of the criminal justice system in sport.
When I became Minister of State for Justice in the coalition
Government in 2010, and later chair of the Youth Justice Board
for England and Wales between 2014 and 2017, I instinctively
assumed, from my own experience, that sport would play an
important part in diverting young people from the criminal
justice system or helping in rehabilitation once they were within
it. The advice I was initially given was that there was no
evidence that participation in sport could play such a
constructive role. I spent my seven years at the MoJ actively
searching for such proof.
Fortunately, over those years, individuals and organisations
helped change attitudes to the importance of sport in our
criminal justice system, not just for boys but for girls and
women too. There was the ground-breaking research by Professor
Rosie Meek, of Royal Holloway, University of London, in her 2018
report for the Ministry of Justice, which reviewed sport in youth
and adult prisons. In her foreword to that report, Professor Meek
said:
“Evidence confirms that sport can play a huge role within our
Criminal Justice System. As well as being a way to bring together
disparate groups, develop communication skills and learn life
lessons, it also has the advantage of being something many people
are passionate about.”
I was also encouraged by James Mapstone, co-founder and chief
executive of the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice, and was
given great encouragement by a member of my Youth Justice Board,
now the noble Baroness, Lady Sater. I look forward to her remarks
later in this debate. Protocol prevents me referring to her as my
noble friend, but perhaps I may refer to her as my partner in
crime. She is now a co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group
on Sport and Physical Activity in the Criminal Justice System,
along with , with James Mapstone
providing the secretariat and Rosie Meek as an adviser. I am
confident that we can keep up the pressure for greater
recognition of sport within the CJS.
Beyond the need for change in the criminal justice system, it is
also clear that much still needs to be done to provide access to
facilities and the right equipment, and in the recruitment of
coaches. I was interested in the point that the noble Baroness,
Lady Taylor, just made about equipment. Forty years ago, as an
MP, I remember being approached by a young female constituent who
told me that access to sports bras was a deterrent to girls
playing sport. As the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, said, a report
earlier this week called for more comfortable and practical
sports bras, shorts and hijabs, as well as boots and other
equipment specifically designed for the needs of women and girls
and their bodies. As she said, there is still work to be done at
that level.
Although time has prevented me paying full tribute to the way
that the skills of, and opportunities for, women in sport have
exploded into the public consciousness, I do so now and hope that
we will enjoy success in more sports and at all levels in the
years ahead; that we will celebrate, as the Motion asks us, the
success of our women’s team; and that we will put forward
practical measures to underpin that success in future.
3.10pm
(Con)
My Lords, like every other noble Lord, I express my pride in both
the Lionesses and England’s women, who put in such a gutsy
performance in the world championship, losing by such a small
margin against New Zealand.
As the noble Lord, , said in his excellent
opening remarks, during their teenage years girls drop out of
sport at three times the rate of boys, yet girls need
load-bearing exercise even more than boys during those years. It
is the best time to build bone density, helping to protect us
from osteoporosis later in life. The push from our sports
councils to get more females into exercising and keep us there is
not just a social move towards some sort of sporting equality. It
is important for our health and well-being, including the impact
on the NHS budget.
Football is the most popular team sport in the UK, with millions
of people playing regularly. It is a “gender-affected activity”,
in the words of the Equality Act, meaning that mixed-sex play
would not be fair for females because males are stronger and
faster, even when they are the same size. From the age of 12,
boys and girls play separately to give females fair and safe
play. Even in primary schools, it is common to have girls’ teams
and boys’ teams. A 10 year-old girl will tell you that boys will
not pass to girls and that she prefers playing with other girls
because boys are too rough. The effects of male puberty are
clear: more muscle, bigger heart and lung capacity, denser bones,
stiffer tendons and the rest.
In the school playground or in the park, you will see boys, not
girls, having an impromptu football game. The result is that for
every female playing football in the UK, there are nine males.
That is almost a whole team. If football is to become a girls’
game too, it is obvious that girls and young women need their own
teams. They also need role models. After the success of the
England women, girls can see they can be female and sporty, and
that can be life-changing.
Here is the problem. Since 2015 the Football Association has had
a policy that males may play in women’s teams if they lower their
testosterone or, in some cases, even if they do not. Lowering
testosterone will slow them down a little but does not reverse
male puberty and it certainly does not remove male performance
advantage in sport. An average male runs 10% faster than an
average female. In a dash to the ball, he needs to be only half a
metre in front every time and she will never get a touch. Up to
the age of 18, even that requirement is absent. The FA’s current
policy says that under-18s may play in the team of “their
reassigned/ affirmed gender”, so although talented girls can be
forced to drop out of boys’ teams after the age of 11, boys who
say they are “girls inside” get to join a girls’ team.
This year the England Universities women’s football squad has a
trans-identifying male player, a 30-something six-foot-tall
post-pubertal male who now identifies as a woman, in goal, where
size advantage really counts. If you had to play them, would you
not want a trans-identifying male player in your women’s team
too, in order to level the playing field a little?
Last autumn the UK’s Sports Council Equality Group published new
guidance on transgender inclusion in sport. It said that the
inclusion of trans-identifying males in female sport could not be
balanced with fairness, and in many cases safety, for females.
This summer English and Welsh rugby reinstated female-only teams,
though Scottish Rugby has yet to follow, but football is not
there yet.
Women’s football was huge in the early 20th century but was
outlawed by the FA in 1921 and remained so for 50 years. Now,
once again, women’s football has a chance. Let us hope the FA
will not hand it to the boys this time.
3.14pm
(CB)
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, , and also the noble Lord,
, for today’s debate. I would
like to draw noble Lords’ attention to my entry in the register
of interests; I have many connections in sport.
There is indeed a lot to celebrate. Ten years ago, the London
Olympics and Paralympics became known as the “women’s games”
because of the success of British athletes. This summer I have
loved the Euros, the rugby union and rugby league; it has been
incredible. Women’s sport is on the rise, but we are not there
yet. It still feels like we are at the beginning of a journey. We
have to be careful about the next steps we take and what we might
consider giving away, and we must not be complacent about the
future.
The organisation Women in Sport has said that the successes are
built on shaky foundations, with “stubborn inequalities”,
stereotypes and practical barriers, which may be different at
each stage of life, disrupting many women’s and girls’
experiences of sport. Over the years many misogynistic men have
told me that women do not play sport because apparently, “they”
do not like it. Turning it around, “they” are hopefully starting
to realise that we do like playing sport and we are good at it,
but there is still so much more we have to do.
I was part of a conversation recently in which someone tried to
tell me that you know women’s sport has made it when top
coaches—they meant men—decide they want to coach women. Let me be
clear that I am not against men coaching women; three out of four
of my coaches were men. I know incredible men in sport. But the
inference that we are only good at sport when men decide we are,
is just a little bit irritating. There is not enough time to go
into that particular debate.
We have to keep looking and checking. Where are the women
coaches, administrators and volunteers, and what opportunities
are we going give women athletes? What platform do we give them?
Sport matters and women must be part of the discussion about the
future. In the US, Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination. I
have long believed that we need that in the UK, perhaps now more
than ever, in order not just to keep investing in success but to
make sure that we have the right opportunities.
Also in the US, the NCAA rules have recently changed, benefiting
some women, who have been able to sell their name, image and
likeness for great financial reward. It is probably seen at the
moment as a non-traditional form of endorsement. It does give
some power to women, but not all women can do this or want
to.
Women are catching up in sport. Women have been allowed to
compete in the Olympic marathon only since 1984, and in the pole
vault, since 2000. There are plenty more other sports I could
mention. We have an opportunity now not just to celebrate success
but to turn the tide of inactivity. So, what do we need to do? We
have to stop sexualising the uniforms women are required to wear,
or at least give them a choice. We need to listen to what women
want in sport and to tackle the inequalities in sponsorship and
media coverage, and at the grassroots.
Women in Sport says that
“4 in 10 girls feel women’s sport is still viewed as of lower
value than men’s sport and that girls are not expected to be good
at sport”.
More than one-third of parents of girls, 37%, think that girls
are not encouraged to do sport and physical activity as much as
boys are. You have to see it to believe it, and this summer we
have seen the success of women’s sport in spades. It has been
incredible, and there is a lot to celebrate. Now, we have to do
more to widen the opportunities and ensure we have future
success.
3.18pm
(Con)
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, , on securing this short
debate and on his excellent speech. Many national women’s teams
in the United Kingdom have cause to celebrate a fine year. To
name a few, gold medals have been won at the Commonwealth Games
by the England women’s hockey team and by the GB women’s rowing
crews at the European championships. In rugby union, the Red
Roses were unlucky to lose narrowly against the All Blacks.
English women were also runners-up in the cricket world cup.
Above all, of course, we celebrate the magnificent victory of the
Lionesses. That was great for women’s sport. It brought in a
large audience, has raised the sport’s profile and has attracted
many new players.
It is important that we celebrate, and that government now build
on the enthusiasm generated to promote support for girls and
women equally with boys and men. Champions attract newcomers.
From the mass of young participants come future champions. With
them, we will have future successes. It must and can be a
virtuous circle. Government must nurture young sportswomen.
It is good for society if we all exercise and participate, with
greater or less success, in sports. Teams are valuable for the
less-gifted participants. Many children love sport, if encouraged
and given the chance. Many just want to be in a team, even the
third or fourth team—and that applies, as I know, to boys and
girls alike. Team sports promote loyalty and friendship; to be a
“team player” is a compliment we give people in life. Society
wins from more involvement in sport.
However, too many girls do not play sport in their teenage years.
The reasons are complex, but puberty and changing body shapes
cause difficulties. There is embarrassment in changing rooms, so,
wherever possible, there must single-sex changing facilities.
They should not have to share facilities with boys or, later,
with men. Nor should they be deterred by faster and stronger
trans women in direct competition. It is simply not fair for a
taller, well-built natal male with artificially lowered
testosterone levels to play contact sports with girls or women.
It is not just unfair; it carries increased risk of serious
injury. It is not a level playing field. Inclusivity must not
mean being unfair to females, who, after all, are half our
population. Being kind to trans women does not justify invading
the dignity of the female sex or putting them at a physical
disadvantage; sensitivity to female needs and fairness to females
must come first.
Sport for women should result in happy and confident persons. If
we drive proper sport for females forward, we shall have more
champions to cheer. So let us celebrate, build on the success we
have had and drive women’s team sports to still greater heights.
Let the Government now show that they believe that women and
girls are the equal of men.
3.22pm
(Con)
I too congratulate my friend the noble Lord, , on securing this excellent
debate and thank him for highlighting and celebrating women’s
team sports. I also thank the noble Lord, , for his kind words, for
raising a very important issue, for all the work he has done in
promoting sport and physical activity at the YJB and for his
continued support with the APPG.
As others have mentioned, there has been huge progress in the
last few years in bringing women’s sport to national attention,
most notably through the fantastic achievement of the Lionesses
in winning the Euros earlier this year. We have also seen, in
recent days and weeks, the GB tennis team make the semi-final of
the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time in 41 years, and the
England women’s team make it all the way to the final of the
Rugby World Cup. A wide variety of women’s team sports are
clearly on the rise and getting more exposure in the media—and
what fantastic role models they are.
We must maintain this focus on women’s sport and build upon the
progress and success we have seen. It is vital that we continue
to strive for greater equality and opportunity in sport. We have
an amazing opportunity to help inspire the next generation of
sportswomen by teaching girls in schools the right skills and
strategies from an early age. We know that more work remains to
be done on this agenda as, according to a Women in Sport report
published earlier this year, girls are not only “less physically
active generally” than boys but are
“also far less likely to take part in team sports”.
While 55% of girls play team sports, the figure is 71% for boys.
Schools have an important role to play along the journey in
achieving national successes. We know that many schools are
delivering excellent sporting facilities, but I am afraid that
this is not true of all schools, be it down to a lack of
workforce, facilities or equipment.
We all know the knock-on effects of what better physical health
can have on mental health and helping our children with their
learning in school. The Association of Physical Education
states:
“The difference that high quality Physical Education, School
Sport & Physical Activity make to the lives of young people
is quite remarkable.”
That includes improved behaviour and attitudes and building
confidence, social skills, personal development and much
more.
With all the successes of national women’s sports and the
increased demand in recent years, perhaps we should consider
modifying and adapting the curriculum so that we can build on the
success. We must always listen to the voices of girls; they are
not a homogenous group—they have different attitudes towards
sports, and we must recognise this to help inspire more girls to
get active. It should, of course, not come at the expense of
individual sports and other activities, which is why we need to
provide a broad and balanced offer.
Sport and physical activity should be a must-have, not a
nice-to-have. One way to embed more focus on sport and physical
activity, including encouraging more girls to play sport and
giving them more opportunity to play team sports, would be to
classify PE as a core subject. Does my noble friend the Minister
agree that this would give PE a higher priority and focus in
schools?
I agree with the noble Lord, , in his comments about
clubs, and the pathway between schools and clubs. Sport does not
stop at the school gate. We must ensure that we support and
strengthen the relationship between schools and local clubs so
that we can help more girls on their journey to becoming elite
sportswomen. I have no doubt that on the back of the successes
that we have seen across a wide variety of women’s sports on the
national stage in recent years, there will be an increased demand
from more girls to play more sports in schools. We have an
opportunity here to unleash the full potential of women in sport
in this country, and we must seize it.
3.26pm
(LD)
First, of course, I congratulate my noble friend on securing this important
debate.
I would like to tell noble Lords a story about my first serious
engagement with women in sport. As the newly elected MP for
Solihull, I was invited to see a women’s rugby match at a local
constituency club called Camp Hill. Warmly wrapped up, I stood on
the try line nearest the bar, ready to cheer the Camp Hill
Chargers on, not really expecting to find women’s rugby a very
serious endeavour. How wrong I was. I can tell noble Lords that
it was not handbags. Indeed, to prevent a try being scored, a
Charger threw herself on top of the ball so no opposition player
could get to it, winded herself, took off her scrum cap, had a
little sick, put the cap back on and ran back on to the pitch. I
began to appreciate that women’s sport is, to women, an
incredibly serious matter.
That game was in 2005, a time when women’s sport was grossly
undervalued, both in the attention it received in the media and
the financial support that it was given. But these days, the
popularity of women’s sport is huge, and is growing at different
rates right across the board. Only days ago, the Red Roses
reached the final of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand—who, as
we know, won, playing on home turf. Britain’s Rugby Union chief
executive, Bill Sweeney, agreed that the nail-biting finish
“was probably more entertaining than the men’s game”.
But success attracts investment, and this rugby final attracted
the largest crowds ever for the women’s game.
Is the real win the benefits it brings to those who take part?
Many minority groups have been mentioned by noble Lords this
afternoon for inclusion. My noble friend mentioned sports participation
and the criminal justice Bill. It is about inclusion of all
kinds. Several noble Lords have also taken the opportunity to
raise the trans issue, an important issue on which we should
perhaps have a further debate on another day.
My noble friend queried the value of what
the Government are doing to celebrate the success of these
fantastic teams. Why did the Lionesses not get invited to a
formal reception at No. 10? While I appreciate that there have
been one or two other small things on the Government’s plate of
late, it is a simple thing to recognise our women’s success. It
does not cost a lot. It creates good publicity. It improves
public morale, which we could certainly do with at the moment,
and shows that, even though we can mess up the economy in six
days, we are good at something. That should be recognised and
celebrated.
3.30pm
(Lab)
My Lords, I too congratulate the noble Lord, , on bringing this debate to
us today. He has a habit of enriching the Chamber with his
knowledge of sport, particularly rugby, and I congratulate him on
all that he does to promote that.
It is right that we celebrate the achievements of our national
women’s sporting legends, but we need to do much more than
that—we should celebrate those who have led the way in opening up
sport generally so that women, so long excluded, can feel welcome
and able to play competitive sports on equal terms with their
male counterparts. We have, as all speakers acknowledge, much to
celebrate and even more to look forward to, but it is worth just
reminding ourselves of the journey women in sport have been on. I
will tell a story which, I hope, illustrates the point.
In 2000, when I was a Minister in the Home Office, I was
travelling home late in a ministerial car and had a new and
rather sparky temporary driver. As you do, we fell into a
conversation about football, and within a few minutes my driver
explained that she played for one of the top women’s clubs and
had played for Doncaster Belles, Arsenal Ladies and Croydon Women
in recent seasons. She also told me she was England’s centre
forward. I remarked, “There’s clearly something wrong here, I
should be driving you”. Imagine the noble Lord, , being driven home by Harry
Kane—well, that is how it felt.
We then embarked on a conversation in which it was explained to
me just how hard it was for women footballers to perform at the
highest level. To train and get time off for games they had to
plead with their employers, who were often wholly unsympathetic
and opposed to helping the women’s game. Senior women footballers
of that era were truly pioneers to whom the current generation of
England and Women’s Super League players are grateful. Many were
just paid “boot money”.
Much has changed in the world of football for the better for
women players, but there remains much more to do in the marketing
of the game, clubs giving greater exposure to the women’s game in
their stadia, pay levels in the professional leagues, the
transfer market and the treatment of the game in the media, in
particular. Schools football, its governance and the
encouragement of the grass roots, as the noble Baroness, Lady
Taylor, explained to us, all need work before we can get anywhere
near parity with the men’s game. I remind noble Lords today that
the highest transfer fee for a woman footballer is £350,000, paid
back in September this year. Women, despite their incredible
drawing power, as illustrated by the Euros, are still
undervalued.
Women are powering ahead as winners in UK sport in football,
cricket, rugby, rugby league, athletics, tennis, gymnastics,
cycling, curling, rowing and a whole range of Olympic and
Paralympic sports and much more. Our sports bodies and
organisations are doing much good work in opening up
opportunities and making sport more inclusive. For the long term,
we need to do more to ensure we protect our sporting heritage
with secured funding and investment in school facilities, playing
fields and open spaces—much missed in the last few years. We need
to challenge unconscious bias and ensure that the culture
surrounding women in sport is right and appropriate by ensuring
that we raise standards in the world of sports
administration.
There is much to celebrate but, as the noble Baroness, Lady
Grey-Thompson, said, much more to do. Let us learn from our
wins—and our defeats—celebrate today our women’s achievements and
ensure that future generations build on that legacy.
3.34pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ( of Whitley Bay) (Con)
My Lords, like other noble Lords, I thank the noble Lord, , for securing this important
debate on the success of women’s sport. The timing is, as noble
Lords noted, particularly apt with so much success occurring
across women’s sport, not least the success of England’s Red
Roses reaching the final at the women’s Rugby World Cup last
weekend—and coming so tantalisingly close to winning the
tournament—and the Lionesses at this summer’s Euros. I am very
happy to be responding to this Question for Short Debate at such
an exciting time, and I assure noble Lords that His Majesty’s
Government are keen to build on this success and momentum to
create a lasting legacy for women’s sport.
The Government are fully committed to supporting women’s sport at
every opportunity, pushing for greater participation, employment,
commercial opportunities, visibility—a point that the noble Lord,
accentuated—and
opportunities at school. It is important that we take the time to
recognise and celebrate success, which is why today’s debate is
so important as well as so timely.
This summer we witnessed a major success in women’s sport the
Lionesses beat the German team at Wembley to lift the UEFA
European championship trophy. This inspirational tournament was
staged in July across England, from Rotherham and Wigan to
Southampton and Brighton. As noble Lords have noted, the final at
Wembley was attended by a record crowd of over 87,000 people.
That was not only a new record for a women’s international game
in Europe but broke new ground for a women’s or men’s Euros final
tournament game. The tournament also became the most watched
women’s Euros ever, with a global cumulative live viewership of
365 million people across television, out-of-home viewing and
streaming. This massive figure is more than double the number
that watched the last UEFA European Women’s Championship in the
Netherlands in 2017.
The tournament was truly a ground-breaking moment for the sport
and has dramatically boosted interest in the women’s game,
bringing it to the forefront of people’s minds. The event held
for the Lionesses in Trafalgar Square the day after the final was
a momentous occasion and saw 7,000 fans celebrate with their
heroes. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State and the
former Prime Minister met the Lionesses at their training ground to
congratulate them and were very proud to support the event in
Trafalgar Square. However, as the noble Baroness, Lady , said, it is also
important that we focus on the long-term legacy by way of
celebration. To commemorate their already incredible achievement,
we are working with the Football Foundation and the FA to name
sites after the players in towns and cities that shaped their
careers. We hope that that will inspire many generations of more
players.
We will also continue to invest in grass-roots sport to bring on
the next generation of Lionesses. We know how valuable physical
education at school is: it gives pupils an opportunity to excel,
to be active and to lead healthy lives. My noble friend Lady
Jenkin of Kennington talked about the importance for bone density
and preventing diseases such as osteoporosis. That is why we are
actively working with the Department for Education to understand
the barriers that prevent the ambition of two hours of PE a week
being achieved. We will also continue to work with the Department
for Education to ensure that girls have equal access to
sports.
There is more work for us to do to identify and address the
different barriers to participation that exist for young people;
we have heard about some of those again today. We will continue
to adopt a more targeted approach as part of our new sport
strategy. Alongside this, the Department for Education is working
on updating the School Sport and Activity Action Plan, which will
set out steps to improve PE teaching in primary schools and to
help schools make better use of their sport facilities.
On facilities, my noble friend spoke about the importance
of single-sex changing facilities. The Government are committed
to maintaining the safeguards that allow organisations to provide
single-sex services and we do not plan to announce any changes to
the law.
Aside from the Women’s Euros, there are a number of other recent
examples of success in women’s sport. Over the last week, we have
seen the England Red Roses reach the final of this year’s women’s
Rugby World Cup, as well as the other Lionesses—as the noble
Lord, , put it—reach the semi-final
of the Rugby League World Cup. The Great Britain team reached the
semi-finals of the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time—as my
noble friend Lady Sater said—in 41 years. Great Britain’s women
also won three medals at the recent Gymnastics World
Championships in Liverpool. Jessica Gadirova claimed an historic
floor gold medal for Great Britain on the final day and sealed
Great Britain’s first ever women’s all-round World Gymnastics
Championship medal with bronze in Liverpool. This year’s
Commonwealth Games also highlighted the success of women’s sport
with Eilish McColgan’s outstanding performance in the 10,000
metres, to give just one example. Some 173,000 spectators
attended the T20 women’s cricket at Edgbaston, a record for
women’s cricket.
It goes without saying that Emma Radacanu’s win at the US Open in
2021 truly inspired the nation as well. A peak audience of 9.2
million tuned into the match on Channel 4, including 48% of 16 to
34 year-olds. The UK’s honours system can provide a way of
recognising stellar sporting achievement and moments of national
celebration. Examples of this include the MBEs awarded to the GB
women’s hockey team who won gold at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016
and the damehood awarded to Dame Laura Kenny as a result of her
becoming the most successful female cyclist in Olympic history
following her performance at the Tokyo Games in 2020.
(LD)
The fact is that we have given out honours to every member in a
team. If you are giving out only two, the only team you are ever
going to honour is beach volleyball. Can we do something about
it?
of Whitley Bay (Con)
I take the point the noble Lord raises. Of course, the honours
system is independent of government, but his point will be well
heard and, I am sure, fed back to those who sit on the
independent committees.
All those sportswomen, whether honoured yet or not, are inspiring
the next generation to follow their dreams. We are looking
forward to this momentum being maintained and built on with the
rugby league World Cup final this weekend, the ICC women’s T20
World Cup in South Africa, the FIFA women’s World Cup in
Australia and New Zealand, the netball World Cup in South Africa
and the Solheim Cup in Spain. I am sure all noble Lords will want
to send our best wishes to the mixed England team who are in the
finals of the wheelchair rugby league World Cup tomorrow.
As noble Lords can see, there is much to celebrate in women’s
sport, but it is not enough that we celebrate these successes; we
must continue our hard work in ensuring that they continue for
decades to come. We are doing this by investing £230 million
between 2021 and 2025 to improve grass-roots facilities across
the UK. In addition, after Emma Radacanu’s spectacular win, we
put just under £22 million into tennis court facilities. We will
also look to continue our world-leading reputation for hosting
major and mega sporting events and bringing all those special
moments, like the Lionesses’ victory, to the United Kingdom.
Major events make people feel good in a way unlike others and it
is right that we should all have the opportunity to witness at
first hand the successes of our brilliant athletes, men and
women.
With this in mind, we must continue to build our pipeline of
sporting events so that we can inspire more people across the
country to watch, participate in or volunteer in sport, putting
emphasis on the need for events to consider their social impact
and legacy at the early bidding stage, to maximise the benefits
after conclusion. It is worth highlighting in that regard that we
successfully won the bid to host the women’s Rugby World Cup in
2025 in May this year, and I pay tribute to my noble friend
for securing the financial
commitment from the Government for that and pass on, via him, my
congratulations to the Kings Cross Steelers for their victory in
the Bingham Cup. Hosting the women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025 and
delivering the legacy programme will generate transformational
social impacts across rugby fans and more widely, including in
the towns and cities which play host, and the legacy programme
will look to focus on access to rugby for women and girls across
the country. The 2026 ICC women’s T20 World Cup was announced as
being awarded to England and Wales in July this year, another
important opportunity that will further boost the ECB’s strategy
to make cricket a gender-balanced sport.
The UK has also won the bid to host the International Working
Group on Women and Sport from this year until 2026, another great
opportunity not only to share the fantastic work we are doing but
to learn from other countries. There is no doubt that the
visibility of women’s sport is continuing to grow, and this was
boosted earlier this year when we added the FIFA women’s World
Cup and the UEFA Women’s European Championships to the listed
events regime, meaning both tournaments will remain available for
free-to-air television broadcasters and to the biggest
audiences.
We want to continue to build on recent successes, such as the
Women’s Euros and the good work already being done to encourage
more women and girls to participate in sport and physical
activity. We need to look ahead and be prepared to take advantage
of opportunities and find ways to overcome challenges, such as
have been outlined in today’s debate. We need to keep talking
about issues relating to women in sport, asking questions and
pushing ourselves to do more, so that women can continue to be in
the driving seat of our national sporting success and not just of
the Government Car Service. I am very grateful to the noble Lord,
, for today’s debate and to
all noble Lords who participated in it.
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