The Olympic Games are in pink!

Pink and grandiose! Paris lived up to its crazy bet of holding the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on the Seine.

A ceremony that honored women, from Lady Gaga to Celine Dion who gave us chills by singing from the Eiffel Tower at the end of the evening. The diva of Charlemagne was able to masterfully embody the Olympic ideal and all the emotion that goes with it, she who has shown such resilience in the face of trials to return to the top of her art.

The ceremony also highlighted a diverse and plural France, since the Paris Games set themselves the ambition of being not only inclusive, but also perfectly gender-balanced. In fact, half of the 10,500 places were allocated to female athletes, for the first time in history.

It is the father of modern Olympism who must be turning in his coffin, he who considered that “a female Olympiad could only be uninteresting, unaesthetic and incorrect”. Pierre de Coubertin declared that the true Olympic hero was “the adult male” and that the role of women should be to “crown the victors”.

Starting from such machismo, the road to parity was long.

First admitted to the Paris Games in 1900, women still only accounted for 21% of the athletes in 1976 in Montreal, even though gymnast Nadia Comaneci was crowned Queen of the Games. Fortunately, the presence of women has accelerated since then.

The parity achieved in Paris must therefore be seen as the culmination of decades of effort. It is a historic milestone that must be hailed loud and clear. And it is a powerful symbol that must be used as a springboard to advance all women’s sport.

See how the Olympic success of Canadian women’s hockey players created a buzz that led to the creation of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, whose first season has just been a fantastic success.

Tickets sold out in minutes, jerseys sold out, world record attendance for a women’s hockey game played in an atmosphere worthy of the Stanley Cup final. A big wow!

This is proof that the Olympic Games can play a role of emulation to change mentalities in sport, which remains far from parity, outside of the Olympic Games.

In Quebec, there are only one third of girls and women (36%) in sports federations, compared to two thirds of boys and men (64%). Women are also a large minority among coaches, referees and members of the boards of directors of federations, according to the Claire Bonenfant Chair.¹.

This is without taking into account that female athletes have fewer financial resources and less visibility than their male counterparts.

But there is hope…

After stagnating for 30 years, media coverage of women’s sport has recently tripled, going from 5% of total sports airtime in 2019 to 16% in 2022, according to the American firm Wasserman.²This boom is attributable to the rise of streaming platforms and social media, because traditional television still shuns women.

This needs to change. And fortunately, the Paris Games will help make that happen. The programming, which will reach three billion people, has been designed to allow equal coverage of the men’s and women’s events during prime time. In addition, the women’s marathon will replace the men’s event that traditionally closes the Games. Bravo!

Giving visibility to female athletes is crucial. It is what allows them to attract sponsors and negotiate salaries that match their talent, which is far from being the case at present.

Guess how many women are on the magazine’s list of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes Forbes in 2024? Not a single one!

But here again there is hope.

Take tennis, which benefited from the exceptional commitment of champion Billie Jean King. As early as the 1970s, she campaigned for women’s equality in sport. Today, all four major Grand Slam tournaments guarantee equal prize money. In Canada, the National Bank Open has committed to achieving parity by 2027. Hats off!

This is the way to go in other sports.

To achieve true parity, we must also tackle abuse, which affects female athletes twice as much, instead of sweeping it under the carpet, as has been seen too often in the past to protect reputations.

They need to be offered facilities and sports platforms that are as interesting as those of male athletes, who often have the best schedules because their leagues have existed for longer.

We also need to combat prejudices and unconscious biases. The standards of femininity do not necessarily fit with certain sports that require a muscular body and a certain aggressiveness, leading to female athletes being labelled as too virile.

In short, there is still a long way to go before the experience offered to women attracts them and encourages them to continue practicing sport. Olympic parity is a beacon that shows the way forward.

1. Read the Claire Bonenfant Chair report

2. Consult the study by the Wasserman firm