Kristen Worley

HALF THE ROAD: The Passion, Pitfalls & Power of Women’s Professional Cycling

Modern society has long believed that women hold up half the sky in terms of equality and progression. So when it comes to the sport of professional cycling, why aren’t women receiving half the road?

HALF THE ROAD is a documentary film that explores the world of women’s professional cycling, focusing on both the love of sport and the pressing issues of inequality that modern-day female riders face in a male dominated sport. With footage from some of the world’s best international UCI races to interviews with Olympians, World Champions, rookies, coaches, managers, officials, doctors and family members, HALF THE ROAD offers a unique insight to the drive, dedication, and passion it takes for female cyclists to thrive. Both on and off the bike, the voices and advocates of women’s pro cycling take their audience on a journey of enlightenment, depth, strength, love, humor and best of all, change & growth.

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Published May 2013

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European Athletics underlines commitment to gender equality by signing Brighton Declaration
Published April 25th, 2013

European Athletics and 37 of its Member Federations have reaffirmed their commitment to gender equality by signing the Brighton Declaration on Women and Sport.

The endorsement of the Declaration and its 10 principles came on the occasion of the 23rd European Athletics Congress in Skopje.

The Declaration is meant to complement all sporting, local, national and international charters, laws, codes, rules and regulations relating to women or sport.

“The signing of the Brighton Declaration underlines our continued commitment to increase the involvement of women in our sport and celebrate the important contributions made by women to athletics,” said European Athletics President Hansjörg Wirz.

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Published April 2013

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TED Talks
Alice Dreger: Is Anatomy Destiny? “Why not change minds instead of bodies?”

Alice Dreger works with people at the edge of anatomy, such as conjoined twins and intersexed people. In her observation, it’s often a fuzzy line between male and female, among other anatomical distinctions. Which brings up a huge question: Why do we let our anatomy determine our fate?

Alice Dreger studies history and anatomy, and acts as a patient advocate.

Alice Dreger is a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University in Chicago. She describes her focus as “social justice work in medicine and science” through research, writing, speaking and advocacy.

She’s written several books that study subjects on the edge of norm-challenging bodies, including One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal and Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex and Intersex in the Age of Ethics.

She says:
“The question that has motivated many of my projects is this: Why not change minds instead of bodies?”

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Published April 2013

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Marquette Sports Law Review
Playing With the Boys: Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports
Authors Eileen McDonagh & Laura Pappano
[New York: Oxford University Press, 2008]

The authors argue that this segregated structure in sports stems from three false assumptions: “female inferiority compared to males, the need to protect females from injury, and the immortality of females.

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Published April 2013 

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University of Toronto, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education
Centre For Sport Policy Studies Research Reports

The London 2012 Olympics: A Gender Equality Audit
Authors Peter Donnelly & Michele K. Donnelly

This Gender audit permits a comparison between 26 sports/36 competitions (“disciplines”) and 302 events at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. It enables us to identify all of the remaining differences between men’s and women’ summer Olympic sports. Such an analysis enables us to see where equality has been achieved, and to consider and debate the remaining gender differences in order to determine whether they are acceptable or legitimate. Specifically, is there and agreed upon reason for maintaining the difference? The data will also enable debate about whether the remaining gender differences are consistent from sport to sport and event to event. Inconsistency across sports and events may highlight the irrationality or illegitimacy of some remaing differences.

Download Full PDF Report – “Click Here”

Published March 2013

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New SHARP Center “Women in the Olympic and Paralympic Games” Report Reveals Equity Gaps in Participation, Leadership Opportunities for Women
US Women’s Sports Foundation
Press Release Published April 11, 2013

Ann Arbor, MI (April 11, 2013) – The 2012 London Olympic Games were widely recognized as the “Year of the Woman,” because with the exception of two nations, for the first time in the history of the Games every nation that sent a delegation included at least one female. However, today the Sport, Health and Activity Research and Policy (SHARP) Center for Women and Girls, a Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) and University of Michigan collaboration, released the results of “Women in the Olympic and Paralympic Games: An Analysis of Participation and Leadership Opportunities,” a study that provides new insights into the generally poor representation of women in leadership roles and sports participation in the international and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic organizations. The groundbreaking report also assesses the extent that the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and United States Olympic Committee (USOC) are fulfilling their stated missions with respect to gender equality.

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Published April 2013

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Women Play Sport, But Not on TV: A Longitudinal Study of Televised News Media
Authors: Cheryl Cooky1, Michael A. Messner2, and Robin H. Hextrum3
Published April 4th, 2013

Abstract
One of the long-standing trends in research on gender in sports media is the lack of coverage of women’s sport and the lack of respectful, serious coverage of women’s sport. In this article, we critically interrogate the assumption that the media simply provide fans with what they ‘‘want to see’’ (i.e., men’s sports). Using quantitative and qualitative analysis, we examine 6 weeks of the televised news media coverage on the local news affiliates in Los Angeles (KABC, KNBC, and KCBS) and on a nationally broadcast sports news and highlight show, ESPN’s SportsCenter. Part of an ongoing longitudinal study, the findings demonstrate that the coverage of women’s sport is the lowest ever. We argue that the amount of coverage of women’s sports and the quality of that coverage illustrates the ways in which the news media build audiences for men’s sport while silencing and marginalizing women’s sport. Moreover, the overall lack of coverage of women’s sport, despite the tremendous increased participation of girls and women in sport at the high school, collegiate, and professional level, conveys a message to audiences that sport continues to be by, for, and about men.

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Published April 2013

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PLAYTHEGAME – Sports Governance Observer: A new tool against corruption in sport

At a seminar attended by over 100 sports organisation leaders and experts in Brussels today, the Sports Governance Observer was launched by a group of experts from six European universities coordinated by the Danish-based sports democracy campaigners Play the Game.

KEY POINTS…

AGGIS is carried out by the universities of Loughborough, Leuven, Utrecht, Cologne, Ljubljana and Lausanne as well as the European Journalism Centre. The group has worked on the new tool and an extensive report on sports governance since early 2012 and is co-financed by the Sports Unit under the European Commission.

A test survey carried out by AGGIS among 35 international federations governing Olympic sports based on 2012 data showed among other things:

Only 3 of the 35 surveyed international sports organisations (9 pct.) have a truly independent ethics committee. Only one of these committees have a clear mandate to carry out independent investigations.

Most sports federations have elite athlete representation. 28 organisations (80 pct.) have an athlete’s commission, but only 4 (11 pct.) have a seat for athletes on their organisation’s board.

With regard to executive body members, there is preponderance of male officials. Only 12 pct. of the executive members of all international sports organisations are female. 15 of the 35 analysed organisations (43 pct.) do not have female representatives within the executive body and only three organisations (9 pct.) have a female president.

Only 8 out of 35 organisations (23 pct.) have regulations regarding the number of terms allowed in office. A federation president stays in office for an average of 14 years.

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 Published April 2013