FEED: Currently, you are the founder and CEO of Fearless Women. What is the purpose and what are your achievements so far?
SUE ANSTISS: The main premise at the beginning was to bring together all the different things I was doing in the space. From the last two or three years, the main aspect that has come out of it is the founding of the Women’s Sport Collective – a not-for-profit network for all women working in sport. We have got nearly 6000 members from across the world, partly in thanks to the support from Sky Sports. It is a place for women to flourish, learn more and connect – and it has been really successful.
“INTERMS OF DIRECTION, I STILL FEELTHATWE ARE ON A HUGE GROWTH TRAJECTORY”
FEED: What does the future hold for women’s sport?
SUE ANSTISS: The future of women’s sport looks really positive. Especially considering the Covid-19 years, which were terrible, highlighting the disparities when women’s sport was cancelled faster – and also didn’t return as quickly as men’s. But the change since has been incredible. I was lucky enough to be at Twickenham earlier this year for the Six Nations England vs France game, with nearly 60,000 people in the crowd. If you compare it to pre- Covid, we would have been happy with 10,000 in the crowd – if that. In terms of direction, I still feel we are on a huge growth trajectory. It will be important to be wary of imitating men’s sport; continuing to aspire for equality, but not just copying everything men’s sport has done. There’s a lot of negative elements of men’s sport, especially football which is the most lucrative. Therefore, it’s about aiming for
a sustainable future for women’s sport and aspiring for better professionalism. Someone was asking me when we should celebrate the first woman to be a million-pound player. On one hand I agree, we should be aiming for higher pay and celebrating that. But actually, I want all players in the pathway – like the younger players in the Championship – to have health insurance, equal pay, coaching facilities, kit and all the other things that go with it. I’m excited about the future, but I’m conscious that it’s quite fragile and we need to make sure we don’t replicate what has already been done before.
SPREADING THE WORD Anstiss with Clare Balding (left), a major proponent of women’s sport in broadcasting
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