FIRST CLASS OLYMPIANS: MEN ONLY
Japan’s hugely-successful women’s soccer team has just arrived in London for the 2012 Olympics, flying in the comfort of Premium Economy.
However, as the SMH reported this morning, the lower-ranked male team travelled in Business Class.
Though the Japanese women’s team are only semi-professional players, Homage Sawa, the 2011 FIFA women’s world player of the year has spoken out against the unfair treatment of the female players, telling reporters they should be treated as equal to the men’s team.
Apparently our Aussie women’s basketball team experienced similar treatment. While the Boomers men’s team flew Business to London, the Opals travelled in Premium Economy.
They declined to comment on record, but according to the SMH report, “they do not like it and say such inequality has been a long-standing source of contention.”
As professional athletes, these women are ‘at work’.
The Hoopla wants to know: Have you ever experienced gender bias of this nature in your workplace? What happened?
13 Responses to this article
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Kylie L July 19, 2012
This is appalling- particularly given how tall those girls are. Thet must have sat all that way with their knees around their ears
To even things up, I vote that the Opals fly home business class, and the Boomers swim.
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Shirley Peters July 19, 2012
The men might be 7 feet tall, so its right that they travel in seats that they fit. But the women would be also tall. I am only 5’4″ and I find economy seats only just big enough.
But, it’s the principle!! EQUALITY please. It’s not too much to ask in 2012, is it? -
sami July 19, 2012
Have they SEEN how tall the Opals are? They need all the leg room they can get! Shits me that these double standards still exist.
I used to work at a damaged vehicle auctions, I never knew of any women in a higher position than admin manager. All the vehicle manager positions etc were held by men. Naturally I left as there was nothing for me to work towards (also the pay was abysmal- why waste my time?). There was also a general assumption (by both customers and staff) that women knew nothing about cars. It took them a while to realise that I was actually quite competent and yes, I can tell the difference between a vt and a vx commodore, thankyouverymuch. I can locate VINs, I know the phonetic albhabet, I can give you a rough value of a vehicle, and yes that is my ute in the carpark.
Now I’m at an engineering company where things are a lot more equal.
Having said that, my whole team are currently at an HSE conference but I was culled due to too high numbers attending. Not sure why they culled me rather than the guy thats been here a week, but there you go. I like to assume it’s because my job does not require me to go on-site whereas theirs do. I will keep telling myself that, at least until my manager comes back from leave and establishes why I got left off when he specifically requested that I attend. Hope the HSE department has some answers for him.
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Matt July 19, 2012
They should all be travelling Premium Economy unless they want to pay for the upgrade themselves. Can you imagine the cost to send 100′s of these athletes to London by business class.
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Julia July 19, 2012
If it is due to insufficient seats in business, then they should randomly mix them up. Otherwise get them all in business. Or put them on different flights. Or shift them all to premium/economy.
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sue elliott July 19, 2012
Oh come on Matt…. they are representing Australia. Surely we can agree that ALL – both men and women, can be given a business ticket. Equity PLEASE and a bit of a reward for waving the Oz flag.
Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi. -
David Thorne July 20, 2012
Nobody cares about women’s basketball. It rates lower on television and sells less tickets at stadiums. I would have flown them in crates in the planes storage area. At least then nobody would hear them whinging.
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cass July 23, 2012
and david nobody cares about your opinion lol
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Rhoda July 24, 2012
So who’s in charge of organizing travel arrangements? Are there no women on the Olympic Committee and if there are did they voice concerns? If they did were they overruled?
What does an upgrade to business class cost? Would it have been possible to upgrade considering the logistics of moving that many members of a team from one side of the world to the other. I assume they’d want to travel together.
Be interesting to know.
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sami July 24, 2012
Is that the “real” David Thorne, the ultimate troll? Who would’ve thought he read The Hoopla?
