A warning was sounded about Norwegian women’s sports in a report this autumn. Measures are now called for to turn the situation around. But news’s review of the national team in Norwegian sports and the flow of money also gives another clear picture of male dominance in top Norwegian sports. The numbers show clear differences. – We know that girls drop out earlier than boys, fewer girls invest as top athletes and we know that the few who invest consistently have worse conditions than their male colleagues, says Culture Minister Anette Trettebergstuen and adds. – It can’t be like that. There are around 50 per cent more men than women on the elite team in the sports where Norway had athletes during the Summer Games in Tokyo and the Winter Games in Beijing. In the recruitment team, the gender differences are small. The difference increases in the elite team. Almost two out of three athletes in the Olympic squads in Tokyo and Beijing were men. – The differences between male and female top athletes show that women must be given more space in the entire sports movement; as athletes, as leaders as coaches and not least on the media side, says Trettebergstuen, which sits on the public financial support for sport. Biathlon has equalized the number of women and men on the national team: Else, the image of these biathletes speaks volumes for Norwegian sport. A few women take many medals. But there are far more men than women both with medals, in the Olympic squad and on national teams in Norwegian sports. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB Former national team manager in cross-country skiing Vidar Løfshus believes that the disparity between women and men in Norwegian sports will become self-reinforcing, when the Norwegian system has set up performance requirements regardless of gender. Løfshus herself led a golden decade in Norwegian cross-country skiing for both women and men, before Johaug became the lone star on the women’s side. But now his old sport is struggling there… – The potential for extracting more medals on the women’s side is enormous, says Løfshus. Women and men on the Norwegian national team participated in 27 sports in the Winter Olympics in Beijing and the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. For the Olympic sports that have permanent national team athletes, the difference is almost 52 per cent between men (165) and women (109) on the elite teams. Handball does not have a national team with permanent players or size. The Olympic squad for the women and the men 15 players each Andre, for example, selects athletes from professional teams, such as road cycling. The Olympic squad consisted of two women and four men. If you add these Olympic squads to these two variable teams, the difference between men and women on the national teams in the Olympic sports becomes 46 percent. A few sports such as curling, gymnastics, sailing, diving and track cycling have more women than men on the elite team. Some sports have equal numbers of athletes of each gender. The rest have the most men on the national team. For the Olympic winter sports, the difference between the elite teams is 49 per cent more men. Source: The special associations’ websites and information from associations. Calls for a joint national team Top sports manager Tore Øvrebø believes that it is the special confederations that should answer whether the difference between women and men is too great at the national team level in Norwegian sports. He believes that the key factors are the economy and the number of relevant athletes. – How many women can be selected for the national team is more about an economic limit than a sporting limit, rower Birgit Skarstein believes. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Skarstein is herself part of a national team with four women and 13 men. This is nevertheless a joint national team across genders. And that includes athletes who are both aiming for the Olympics and Paralympics. Skarstein calls for more such combined national teams in Norwegian sports. She believes that pure men’s and women’s teams pose a risk of teams being treated differently. – I have heard colleagues in top sports being frustrated that men’s teams have had much better conditions for their teams than the women’s. Then the teams are separated by gender. There has been a feeling that the investment in women’s teams has had more of a b-feel, even if it is not robust everywhere, says Skarstein. She believes there are several reasons why fewer women invest in top sport, including a willingness to take risks without financial security. She also sees that some sports are becoming vulnerable with few female athletes. But she believes women should be given the same investment as men. – Norway as a nation must not have lower ambitions based on gender, says Skarstein. Demanding selection Løfshus points out that it is difficult to select athletes, if they do not initially qualify for the national team. – So you can say that you don’t have a good enough overview and could be better at doing a more thorough job with this. But it also takes resources, says Løfshus. Former long-time national team manager in cross-country skiing Vidar Løfshus. Photo: Erik Johansen / NTB But is less money spent on women’s sports? Olympiatoppen says that large resources have been invested in the women’s and diversity project. Fewer national team places are only one side of the story. One of the cash flows for female athletes is clearly lower for women than for men. Former World Cup winner in biathlon, Synnøve Solemdal, believes this arrangement is unfair to the women. A clear difference For many Norwegian athletes, the scholarship awards from the Olympiatoppen are decisive for their investment. But in order to get a scholarship, the same performance requirements apply for men and women. Solemdal points out that, for natural reasons, women take longer to achieve results in their senior years than men, because they tend to stagnate in their early twenties. She does not see that many leaders take this difference to heart. Synnøve Solemdal was part of the relay team that won gold during the biathlon World Cup in 2020. Photo: LEONHARD FOEGER / Reuters – The distribution of scholarships is now based on results, which means that the women will not benefit from scholarship money until late in the career. In that sense, the distribution becomes discriminatory, even if the criteria are the same, simply because the natural differences are not taken into account, says Solemdal. The difference between women and men is clear throughout the last ten years. Men have been awarded around 80 per cent more scholarship funds than women. Women have received around NOK 55 million in athlete scholarships, while men have received almost NOK 100 million. Just over 700 scholarships have been awarded to women in the last ten years. On the men’s side, the number is over 1,200. The biggest difference is at the top. Men have had well over twice as many a-stipends as women. – It is not the case that the international level will be lower if we lower the list to get scholarships. But having said that, we are looking at our awarding schemes and scholarship schemes to assess whether there are other ways to facilitate these, writes Øvrebø in an e-mail to news. He believes that economic insecurity affects women more in the choice to bet on sports. And that the weekday is more unsafe in some sports with weak finances. He points out that they have taken the initiative for a market concept to strengthen the finances of ten poor national teams. Top sports manager Tore Øvrebø during the Olympics in Beijing. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB – Requirements in the future Equality between men and women in sport was precisely the theme of the work on the evaluation report on Norwegian cross-country skiing, which was also critical of the development in Norwegian women’s sports. The committee, which included Therese Johaug, was led by NTNU professor Øyvind Sandbakk. – We discussed in the selection that there have been greater and greater demands for equality in the whole of society and in all sectors. As a committee, we believe it is important that sport takes the lead when it comes to diversity. Because we believe it will be an investment in the future and not an expense item. Both the public and private sector will probably make demands for it in the future towards sports, says Sandbakk Synnøve Solemdal, who has several World Cup gold medals in relays, is aware that the general spending is less on the women’s side than on the men’s side in Norwegian sports. – If this development is to change, I believe that a change of attitude and a greater understanding of the differences between the sexes among many leaders is needed, says Solemdal, who is now news’s biathlon expert. She feels that it is easy to get people to acknowledge that there is a women’s problem in Norwegian sport, but that it is also not easy to get someone to take responsibility. – It is communicated that it must be thought of in the long term, but in many cases age can be used against you as early as 22-23 years of age. It is probably the case of very promising juniors who have experienced adversity and are treated as “abandoned” after a few years, says Solemdal. Prerequisite for financial support Minister of Culture Trettebergstuen points out that an absolute prerequisite for the government subsidy to the Norwegian Sports Confederation (NIF) is that sport must be inclusive and equal and that it is an absolute. Culture Minister Anette Trettebergstuen reacts to the differences between men and women. Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB She hopes and believes that one will see positive results in the coming years from the processes NIF has underway. Among other things, NIF has received NOK 30 million from the gambling funds for a boost to diversity and inclusion in sport in the period 2022 to 2024. Gender balance and equality is one of the topics that must be prioritized, Trettebergstuen points out.
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Gets the least money and fewer national team places – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
