ANALYSIS: 'What are we doing wrong?': Inside the fight for equality in women's basketball
While our attention is on the international basketball action in Sydney at the FIBA Women's World Cup, Sidelined offers compelling companion viewing, and a powerful reminder of the realities for women in elite sport.
The documentary charts the Melbourne Boomers 21/22 Season, a season that culminated in a historic WNBL championship for the club. It was only their second title after their first championship in 2010/11 despite the Boomers being both the oldest WNBL club, and the longest-running elite-level women's sports team in Australia since its establishment in 1984.McKay's vision was to focus on some key themes in women's sport and while being able to capture a championship winning season was an added bonus, calling out the disparity and sharing the stories of the athletes was his priority."You're there to give a voice to the people you're filming, but you're also not. You can't have them influence it too much." In finding the balance, McKay set to tell the stories, show the stark reality for women in sport, but also celebrate the women.He shows their fun and quirky personalities and the people they are, determined not to frame the athletes as victims, but explore the complex issues they experience. "No one's a victim here, right? Everyone just does what they want. They're not happy about it. They wish it was better," he said. "But no one's complaining and moaning about it. Everyone just gets on with it. Because they're professionals."There are many themes that come through the documentary series that navigate this position.It's the pushing for more but having to settle if the only option is to take what you can get or give up the game you love. By continuing to play in these conditions, these women aren't accepting them, but they aren't willing to walk away either. It's in portraying this middle-space, this in-between that makes Sidelined such a powerful representation of this ongoing discussion in women's sport. Women athletes are often portrayed as overly political and demanding too much too soon when it comes to pay equity and exposure, while the counter narrative, to be grateful for the little progress that has been made, to be patient and just enjoy being able to play the game you love is also problematic.American import Tiffany Mitchell shares her experiences in the series. It's the love of basketball that sustains them, that pushes them through all the obstacles they face as women athletes, but they need the space to call out when things are unacceptable. New Zealand Forward Penina Davidson recalls in episode two of the series a time where the pay disparity really hit her. A game in Adelaide where a kid won a half-court shot for ten thousand dollars, three grand more than some of her teammates were earning at the time."It's just tough when you live in a world where you were never supposed to thrive anyway," Davidson said in the episode. She adds that when she reads comments on social media about women's basketball, "the only takeaway you can think of is why do people hate women so bad?"McKay, who has been long involved in championing women's basketball and community basketball programs through content creation and storytelling, knows how important media coverage is, but sees the reality in the resources the league and its clubs have."I just see so many WNBL clubs who are just trying to do a lot with a little, and it's easy to look at what they're doing and think, your media could be so much better," he said."But they're just trying to do what they can with what they've got. "We just need to help them. Because the stories are everywhere, there are amazing athletes in every club around the country, who are doing incredible things on the court and away from the court.Basketball Australia has also released a documentary, Relentless Persistence, which will be broadcast on ABC News Channel today from 1pm AEST, adding accessible content to highlight the Opals’ story and history to capitalise on the excitement of the FIBA Women’s World Cup. Sidelined shows us all women athletes navigate to play, to put on an entertaining and exciting product, to balance being an athlete and becoming mothers, working full-time jobs as well as playing in the best league in the country, as well as advocating for social change, raising their voices and bearing the emotional toll of social media trolls. In returning to George's question from episode one, how can we answer her when she asks what she and her fellow athletes are doing wrong?What are we, as audiences, consumers of sport, producers of sports media and funding bodies of sport doing wrong?And perhaps in watching Sidelined and other content that shares the stories of women in sport, maybe we can try to work on a better one than to be grateful for what you've got. Sidelined will run for the next two weeks on Sundays with the release of episodes three and four, the finale on October 9.Kasey Symons is a Research Fellow in the Sport Innovation Research Group at Swinburne University in Melbourne and a co-founder of Siren: A Women in Sport Collective.
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