Female sports reporters rail against sexism at Scottish newspapers

Female journalists have accused Scotland’s newspapers of sexist and discriminatory attitudes towards sports reporters after controversy arose over misogynist jokes at an awards dinner.

Women in Journalism Scotland (WiJS) has launched a campaign calling for far greater diversity among sports reporters after it discovered that only three of Scotland’s 95 full-time sports writers were women.

A study by two master’s students from the University of Strathclyde found evidence that male recruits were being paid more than women, despite having less experience, while a sports journalism course at a Scottish college had been attended by just eight women in its 13-year history; in many years its students were all male.

The campaign, which is backed by the sports presenter Gabby Logan, was launched after a number of female journalists walked out of a football awards ceremony on Sunday night due to an after-dinner speaker peppering his speech with sexist, homophobic and racist remarks.

The Scottish Football Writers’ Association (SFWA), which hosted the awards in Glasgow, apologised on Monday after Bill Copeland, a retired lawyer who is well known on the football after-dinner circuit, was accused of repeatedly using discriminatory language in his speech.

Eilidh Barbour, a sports presenter for the BBC, Sky Sports and Amazon Prime, was among those who walked out in protest, tweeting after the event that she had “never felt so unwelcome in the industry I work in”.

Gabriella Bennett, a co-chair of WiJS, said that while she and all those at her table also stood up to leave in protest, most audience members were laughing at Copeland’s remarks.

Logan said: “I can’t believe I am reading all this in 2022. In 2022 there should be no barriers or