The Women in Sport Media Workshop, organised by the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), ended on Saturday 16th May with the production of the “Doha call to action”.
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The new initiative articulated the participants’ commitment to lead the change in the media’s portrayal of women in sport.
President of the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee (QWSC) and recipient of the 2013 IOC Women and Sport Award World Trophy, Ahlam Al-Mana, delivered the keynote speech in the Opening Session.
Al-Mana gave an overview of the QWSC’s achievements in advancing gender equality in sport in Qatar as well as emphasizing the importance of positive female role models in achieving this.
Speaking after the workshop, she said: “As President of the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee and someone who has devoted a significant part of my life to providing opportunities for young females to participate in sport, it was an honour for Qatar to host this workshop and to personally participate.
“Whilst progress has been made over the years in bringing attention to gender equality in sport, greater effort by all involved is clearly needed.”
تحدثنا الان مريم فريد من احد نجوم ألعاب القوى القطرية Mariam Farid member of The Qatari national athletics … https://t.co/IxMBBMNSJR
— Qatar Olympic Team (@qatar_olympic) May 16, 2015
Panel sessions and interactive discussions took place over the two-day conference with 113 representatives from the IOC, National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and media from Asia, Africa and Oceania.
Speakers included Secretary General of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), Tomas Sithole, IOC Head of Olympic Games Media Operations Anthony Edgar and Secretary General of the Association of International Sports Press (AIPS), Evelyn Watta.
Aimed at raising awareness of the role of media in advancing gender equality in sport, the workshop saw topics such as media coverage of women’s events, the role men can play in advancing gender equality, and the promotion of the leadership of women through the media.
Promising Qatari hurdler, Mariam Farid, who also wants to be Qatar’s first female sports presenter following her athletics career, took part in a panel session that addressed the reasons for the deficit of female journalists in sports media.
Session 2 day 2 #WomenAndSport : Media Coverage of women’s sport events & the rules of media coverage pic.twitter.com/dmmtBUs2OD
— Qatar Olympic Team (@qatar_olympic) May 16, 2015
“My experience as an Ambassador for Doha’s Bid to host the 2019 World Championships in Athletics taught me so much,” said Farid.
“I did my first interviews, went on TV for the first time, recorded messages to camera and learnt how the media works. It was really interesting to see how the media raised my profile and also raised the profile of women’s sport in Qatar and in the region.”
One of the main calls to action from the delegates was that the IOC, Continental Associations and NOCs should be encouraged to promote media training to raise the media’s awareness on the importance of promoting gender equality, particularly by using messaging that focuses on achievements over appearance.
The “Doha call to action” took into account the massive shift in media consumption from traditional print sources to online portals as well as the importance of focusing on young journalists and their empowerment.
