Betterment of women's sports tackled in forum

MANILA, Philippines – In celebration of Women's Month, Evident Integrated Marketing and PR hosted a forum called Equal Play: Accelerating Progress for Filipina Athletes, to discuss the progress of Filipina athletes in terms of representation and opportunities.

Women in sports was, for a time, not taken seriously. Young girls were discouraged to try their hands at sports like basketball or football and were told that these were only for boys. Sports was meant for boys, and women were meant to dance and other similar activities.

"You have super basic things like not having a women’s toilet in most sports facilities. There was no women’s toilet in the backroom. I had female referees, and the men had to leave the room so that these women could change," said Girls Got Game Philippines managing director Mariana Lopa.

Tin Ferrera, Secretary General of the Philippine Trailrunning Association, shared that it was the same for trailrunning. Out of usually 200 runners in an event, only five were women. Even though participation for the last few years have grown, women are still hesitant to participate in sports like trailrunning because of the many barriers it has for women.

"We want [trailrunning] to be a place where women are participating and are no longer scared. Where there are no more barriers to enjoy the sport. We hope that organizers can make their events more encouraging for women to participate, more friendly for women like changing areas specific to women, and have feminine supplies like pads and tissues," adds Ferrera.

When talking about empowerment, film director Samantha Lee has noticed that society is losing the real meaning of the word, especially during Women's month.

"Empowerment is working for equality until everyone is free. When we talk about safe spaces for women, we're talking about across all aspects of sports [from players to coaches to managers]. It's about making sure the woman besides you has the same freedom and rights as you," said Lee.

But even with women finding success in sports, public opinion hasn't shifted away from that idea that it's unique for women to be great at what has been previously perceived as a manly domain.

"Back in 2011, I won a bronze in the SEA Games but when I was covered in the media it read that 'It was amazing because I was a women and I was working'. Women are expected to do so many things, to play so many roles. Why can't it be amazing that I won and that's it?' asked Erica Samonte, Evident's Director for Digital Marketing.

For her part, Ceej Tantengco of podcast Go Hard Girls has shared that she had conducted research before about the difference in coverage of men and women in sports.

"Men were described by their skills while women were described by their looks. Men's skills in their sport were talked about by media 82% of the time while women were at 52%," said Tantengco.

For sports journalist Luisa Morales, it’s the media's job to get the message out there —  that society should invest in women’s sport.

They add, "Sports is not just for boys, it's for everyone. Getting that message out there through articles, through content, that's the way to bridge the gap."

Filipina athletes have been seeing a change in the past 18 months, with the stigma of women in sports slowly being left behind in the past. 

"Participation is up. Media coverage is up. Opportunities is up. International performance is up," said Lopa, referring to the success of many Filipina athletes — from Hidilyn Diaz winning an Olympic gold to the Philippine women's football team reaching the Women's World Cup last year.

Lopa adds, "Malayo na pero malayo pa. Marami pang pwedeng gawin and we should view it as something we are excited to see in the future. We should start changing our mindset that these changes aren't revolutionary. These should be the norm and how it should be moving forward."