Barriers to Female Participation in Cricket

The final project from University of Sheffield student, Jamie Moughton, has caught the attention after it looked at barriers to female participation in cricket.

Jamie’s video project for his MA in Broadcast Journalism was inspired by a tweet from The Times journalist Elizabeth Ammon. Her point about changing kit options away from traditional whites to accommodate women and girls on their period sparked debate – and some predictable ignorance.

Making cricket more inclusive can start with very small adjustments – for example, a lot of girls don’t want to play in whites (and I assuming I don’t need to spell out why not ).
— Elizabeth Ammon (@legsidelizzy) May 10, 2022

These small changes really wouldn’t shatter space and time but might go some way towards encouraging more girls to take up cricket or stick with it.

It prompted Jamie to look specifically into obstacles that men don’t face and might not consider or understand. Everything from the way women and girls are referenced (‘batters’) to changing room facilities.

‘I started thinking that the cause for this initial ignorance was due to the fact that men don’t share the same experiences as women, both in a physiological and sociological sense, and led me to wonder what other factors might stop women and girls playing cricket that may not have occurred to males in the sport due to their lack of lived female experience.’

It ought to be said that progress is being made, in terms of participation, with more women’s soft ball and hard ball cricket here in Yorkshire than ever before. Yet, as Jamie’s research points out, only 1 in 5 clubs in England and Wales run female-only teams.

There are important contributions including from Lois, who plays for Frechville Community Cricket Club, Jess at Alwoodley-Leos CC and Katie, Women and Girls Development Manager for the YCB.

The discussion of why the term ‘batter’ matters is key for blokes involved in the running of club cricket to hear and take on board. Even before anyone steps onto the field, language is important in framing inclusivity.

Have a watch and what changes can you make this winter?