TORONTO – In recognition of International Women’s Day, CBC Sports said Friday it will commit to gender-balanced coverage of sports and athlete stories in its original content.
“In addition to the weekly broadcast of Road To The Olympic Games, this commitment will be reflected through digital streams, online articles at cbcsports.ca and the CBC Sports app, and social media content, and seen in on-air personalities, writers, producers and new hires,” reads the press release. According to research provided by Canadian Women & Sport, only 4% of sports programming on Canada’s national networks feature women’s sport.
The announcement comes following the launch of CBC Sports’ “I Commit” digital campaign, an initiative in partnership with Canadian Women & Sport that asks audiences to increase their support of girls in sport by making their own commitments to enact change, posting them to social media and challenging friends, colleagues and organizations to do the same.
“We’re committed to providing audiences with equal opportunity to watch, read about, meet and hear from female sporting heroes, and as a result, allow more young women to visualize themselves achieving great things through sport,” said Chris Wilson, executive director, sports and Olympics, CBC.
Entering adolescence, girls’ participation in sports drops by 22 %, and 84% of adult women don’t participate at all, adds the release. Contributing factors include peer influence, lack of social support, encouragement, funding, positive role models and self-confidence. The “I Commit” campaign is based on the notion that active girls have a far better chance of being physically healthy and mentally strong, confident young women, and future leaders, if they are participating in sports through adolescence.
To join the movement, please visit: www.cbc.ca/sports/iwd
