Nana Adom-Aboagye | Small steps, no giant leaps ... Not much has changed for SA's sportswomen

As we celebrate another Women's Month, not much has changed for women in South African sport, writes Nana Adom-Aboagye.

As we celebrate another Women's Month, it pains me to say that nearly 30 years since our first democratic election and over three years since I completed my doctoral study on gender equity in sport-related policies, not much has changed for women in South African sport. 

I may come across as somewhat jaded, but the adage by French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, "the more things change, the more they stay the same ..." comes to mind.

In 2023 alone, events in the South African sporting landscape have touched on society's continued grappling (good and bad) with gendered mindsets, ideology and cultural viewpoints, which have often superceded formal 'policy' when it involves women in sport.

SuperSport declared 2023 as the year of women in sport with #HereForHer. This campaign started off with much fanfare and promise as it set out to galvanise the country to sit up, take notice and support three of our top four national sports (by numbers) - cricket, netball and football - as our women prepared to compete at their respective world cups. 

Viewership records

Our Proteas women's cricket team made the T20 World Cup final that we hosted - a feat that even the men's team have yet to achieve. The tournament also broke global viewership records. This growth and improvement can be attributed to the intentional decision-making by Cricket South Africa in 2013 to initially offer six national team players contracts. This has now been expanded to offer various semi-professional, national and high-performance contracts to some of the women in provincial teams. 

About a year before the hosting of the recently-concluded