[mkdf_dropcaps type=”normal” color=”#f55549″ background_color=””]T[/mkdf_dropcaps]
he BBC Elite British Sportswomen’s Survey has revealed 84% of British sportswomen believe they are not paid enough, compared to sportsmen.

The survey, which was sent to 1,068 women across 39 sports and received 537 responses, also found 85% of British sportswomen believe the media does not do enough to promote women’s sport, despite 93.4% agreeing media coverage of women’s sport has improved over the past five years.

The survey proves the gap between men and women’s sport is still undeniably strong, with 60.2% of respondents believing fans have different standards and expectations of behaviour from female athletes compared with male athletes, and 48.5% saying their governing body does not support them equally, compared with their male colleagues.

Alarmingly, 64.6% of respondents revealed they have experienced sexism in their sport, and only 10.1% have reported sexism, with 77.5% admitting they are conscious of their body image, and 34.3% have delayed starting a family because of their sporting career.

Northern Ireland and Charlton Athletic footballer, Rachel Newborough, told BBC she has encountered many comments from people she has worked with in football and fans that have made her feel uncomfortable.

“Perhaps when you were younger, you don’t have the way to articulate how it makes you feel,” Newborough said.

“There’s no pathway of how to get help for it.

“There are things I never reported and still don’t feel comfortable reporting because we haven’t been told as sportswomen where to go with that information confidentially.

“You do feel involving individual people in instances could do something to jeopardise your position when you have been given everything to be in the position that you are in,” she said.

The survey also asked the respondents about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their sport, to which 20.5% of respondents said they are concerned they might have to give up their sport because of the financial impact of COVID-19.

When asked how concerned they were about the impact of COVID-19 on women’s sport, 20.3% said they were extremely concerned, 33.5% said they were concerned, 28.3% said they were somewhat concerned, and 7.8% said they were not at all concerned.

Finally, 29.9% of respondents said they have been trolled on social media, and 26.7% said they have either witnessed or experienced racism in their sport.