While the mainstream media continues to focus on the games politicians play, this column will focus on the games women play, such as cricket, tennis, football, hockey, and athletics, and how the media covers their problems and accomplishments.
International Women’s Day (IWD) has just passed, and women in India are being praised, their achievements celebrated, even as they continue to be targeted for consumer goods, or suffer from’mansplaining’ as erudite ‘experts’, usually all men, hold forth on what should be done to promote women’s equality. All of this has become an annual, somewhat predictable ritual. However, the ritualistic recognition of one day for women was not always the norm. In fact, when I worked for a national daily newspaper in the mid-1980s, I tried to persuade my editor to run an editorial commemorating the day. This was a moment when Indian women’s groups were out on the streets, seeking reforms to laws affecting women, such as rape and dowry. To his credit, the editor agreed that the day warranted an editorial comment. Although IWD is widely recognized, the majority of Indian women continue to fight misogyny, sexual harassment at work, violence in their homes and on the streets, unequal pay, low employment, poverty, and other issues throughout the year. However, certain things are changing gradually. One cannot help but note the remarkable increase in print media coverage of women’s sports. Is the media finally recognizing that these women, too, need attention? More likely, the emphasis is due to major money finally supporting several women’s sports, such as cricket. There is little doubt that the Women’s Premier League has propelled women’s cricket to the top of the sports news. Women have been playing cricket for a while and are doing well. However, they rarely received the level of media attention that they do now. Prior to the WPL, the U-19 women’s cricket team won the World Cup. The Indian Express reported on their victory in its lead story on the sports page, with an atrocious headline. “First Ladies” . Ladies? Really? These are determined and courageous women who pushed for and excelled at a sport they love. “Ladies” is not an appropriate way to characterize them. Fortunately, the rest of the page provided a different story, with information about individual players revealing that the majority of these women hailed from “humble beginnings” (a cliché devoid of meaning). Not only did they struggle to obtain financial resources to train, but they also had to combat the ingrained chauvinism in Indian society that prevents young girls from achieving their aspirations, as described in this story about bowling all-rounder Archana Devi. Archana’s tale represents the current state of women’s sports in India. Unlike individual sports such as tennis or badminton, team sports such as hockey, football, and cricket, as well as athletics, draw women from underprivileged backgrounds. Each narrative you hear after they achieve tells of their battle to overcome parental resistance before convincing a sports organization to give them a shot.
