For ZDF reporter Claudia Neumann, the stronger media presence of women’s football is also an expression of the general changes in society.
“We are in a rapid phase of change, which of course also spreads to sport: gender equality, more women’s sports, more presence in all media – not just on television,” said the 58-year-old journalist of the German Press Agency. In all areas of society, “this development can no longer be reversed,” she is certain.
Neumann is one of the group of nine women who made eight demands for more influence and more positions in governing bodies by and for women in football in their position paper “Football can do more” in May 2021.
“Even more airtime, with even more trappings”
The reporter would like to see an “even stronger signal” in the TV coverage of the women’s European Championship, which begins on July 6 in England. “Even more airtime, with even more trappings, even more activities, because then women’s football could also be a benchmark, a blueprint for a lot more other women’s sports,” said Neumann.
“That would also be a task that women’s football could take on because the sport is more popular,” she added. Women in other popular team sports such as handball, ice hockey or basketball would have a much harder time. But she also emphasizes “that you also have to respect the arguments of the program makers”.
