Women’s sport keeps growing!
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Spain is the pioneer country in terms of women's participation and sporting events, but the reality is that around the world it is already being promoted with force
There is a reality in professional sports, and that is that the number of women who practice it in its different forms and who follow the events of this nature strictly is increasing. Thanks to schools, this transformation occurred since the seventies.
Leer en español: ¡El deporte femenino sigue creciendo!
That, of course, has meant that the difference between men and women in sports has been significantly reduced in recent years. In 2018, for example, it was already common to see thousands of girls competing in marathons such as New York, London, Berlin, and Madrid.
That means a significant step for women in this discipline because, until 1967, when the athlete Katherine Switzer broke the ban on women in the Boston Marathon, women could not compete in events of this nature, and did so with a correct time 4 hours and 20 minutes.
The presence of female athletes as we said, is a reality and that is why the differences between both sexes in professional sport have been narrowed, not only in competitiveness but in impact, audiences and investment. Iberdrola itself replicated this, based on a study of the Women and Sports publication of Repucom de Nielsen in 2016 and that. Currently, almost 50% of the world's female population is interested in sports.
Why is the school fundamental in this growth? As the Nielsen report indicates, the studies showed that 76% of the girls who participate in sports activities in the school are still interested in the activity once they have passed the school stage. This, in turn, generates a second positive effect, and that is that women mothers are the most promoted sport in girls.
Figures to dream
Spanish contributes its article to the topic and begins by saying that, according to the last report of the Superior Council of Sports on federated licenses and clubs, the number of federated women has increased by 8.8% since 2017, twice as many as men in Spain. Despite this, women barely represent 22% of the federated athletes in that country. The conclusion is that there is still work to be done.
One of the aspects that must be worked with urgency is the space that they receive from the media in general. For example, Carlos III University analyzed that the leading sports newspapers concluded that women occupy 5% of that space.
The organization Universo Mujer, born in 2015, created a program for the development of women and their evolution within society, in which there is a chapter in which initiatives on sports values are promoted, other organizations such as Iberdrola and later other 15 Federations such as Soccer, Handball, Gymnastics, Volleyball, Badminton, Rugby, Swimming, Triathlon, Hockey and Canoeing, among others, were joined, adds El Español.
In the specific case of Iberdrola, it has already lent its support to more than 200 women's competitions between 2015 and 2017, and that included 7 leagues and 77 teams distributed throughout the Spanish geography. In the last edition, 2017-18, 65 matches of the Liga Iberdrola were broadcast through open television and with a record number of 280 thousand spectators, in what refers specifically to the match between Atlético Madrid and Barcelona. Other examples that have already reached television are the Women's Handball League and volleyball.
Other achievements have been the acceptance of the Women's Rugby League by the Spanish Rugby Federation after the first title of 'Las Leonas' on a power such as Holland. The first edition of the Iberdrola League of Artistic Gymnastics was also registered with relevant participation of 2 thousand 288 participants, as well as the Iberdrola League of Triathlon and the Boxing League, closed El Español.
Read also: Girl power! Here are the 5 best athletes so far this year
More attractive for the fans
Women's sport begins to gain more followers, and not only is it in Spain. In fact, Mundo Deportivo, informs that sponsor should identify the trends that are on the rise, and captivate audiences and consumers in 'upward', and in that sense, women in sports are an interesting niche.
The Nielsen report, mentioned above, ensures that the world's most active 'markets' in sports such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand, together have 66% interest in a female sport and 84% for the total of disciplines practiced by women, in addition, being men a little more than half of those consumers.
Football is the sport that has grown the most in popularity as far as women are concerned, behind the two main ones in this area, due to their tradition, such as tennis and golf. Note that the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 final achieved an audience of 150 million, and an attendance of 51 thousand 211 spectators. In turn, Liga MX Femenil had a television audience of 1.6 million in its most recent edition.
AS, in turn, pointed out that on April 22, 2017, the RCDE Stadium in Barcelona registered the highest entry in history for an official women's football match in Catalonia: with 20 thousand 615 spectators.
These are examples that clearly show that changes are taking place between 2013 and 2017, which are reflected in a 37% increase in sponsorship agreements for women's sports and a 49% increase in money received from these agreements, which undoubtedly invites to be optimistic in this particular. Women's sport seems to have come to stay.
LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano
Translated from "¡El deporte femenino sigue creciendo!"
