The annual Sports Personality of the Year is a brilliant way we
recognise the achievements of our men and women in sport, and this
year will be a cracker, especially after the Olympics making 2012
such a huge year for sport.
However, a movement is growing to tackle the poor coverage of
women's sports, which only receives about 5% of all sports media
coverage and just 0.5% of all commercial sponsorship, leaving some
female sports under-funded and under-promoted and in the process
discouraging women from taking part in sports at all.
At the
All Party Parliamentary Group for Women's Sport and Fitness,
DIVA favourite Clare Balding spoke out passionately about the need
to focus more on women in sport. At the conference Clare made the
case for "Imagery, information and investment - a three pronged
approach to getting women's sport to catapult its way into the
spotlight".
Last year, not a single woman made the list. This year's
shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year is relatively fair
with five women and seven men in the running. The Women's Sport Network, a
voluntary organisation that publishes the TV listings for women's
sport every week, is encouraging us to use our vote to support
women in sport: "Don't forget that our Sports Heroines start from
behind in voting as they just don't get the media coverage that men
get. Use your vote as a vote for women in sport."
The last woman to win the award was Zara Phillips in 2006.
The five women nominated for Sports Personality of the Year 2012
are: Nicola Adams (boxing), Jessica Ennis (heptathlon), Katherine
Grainger (rowing, pictured with rowing partner Anna
Watkins), Ellie Simmonds (swimming) and Sarah Storey
(cycling).
It's hard to choose but we reckon that on the night we'll be
throwing our weight behind out boxing champ, Nicola, who recently
made the
number one spot in the Independent on Sunday's annual Pink
List.
The voting for the main award will take place during the live
show on BBC One and BBC One HD on Sunday 16 December and you will
need to watch to get all the voting details.
Click
here for more about the shortlist and the show.
