Paris (AFP)

Broadcasting more female sport allows little girls to "dream of doing the same" and to apprehend sport through another "magnifying glass" than that of "high level male performance", explains Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu in an interview to AFP while the Superior council of audio-visual (CSA) organizes this week its operation "Female sport always".

Q: Why is it important to broadcast more women's sport?

A: "The media coverage of sport to the general public is important because it gives young girls and boys the opportunity to have female role models and to be able to project themselves into a very high level career. When you see girls succeed, that they appear on TV and that they arouse as many emotions as boys' matches, little girls can dream of doing the same one day "

Q: Who was your role model when you were a young swimmer?

A: "I was in a sport where diversity is highly respected, since swimming is a chain of girls 'events and boys' events. It was during the competitions that I met my idols of the time, a Hungarian who did the same discipline as me, the 200 backstroke, and the 400 medley, several times Olympic champion, Krisztina Egerszegi "

Q: What is the evolution in recent years in the dissemination of women's sport?

A: "There has been a progression even if it is regrettable that the same title does not generate the headlines of sports newspapers in the same way it arouses it for boys. For professional sportsmen, the fact of being exposed, it is also a way of exposing their sponsors and ensuring that there are others who come to support our athletes "

Q: Does this encourage the practice of sport for women in general?

A: "As a spectator, I project myself much more easily when I see girls playing than boys. Showing more female matches also helps to encourage the practice of women in associations, clubs, halls. sport. It is important to be able to show that women's practice can be something other than individual practice, running in the forest, doing yoga at home when you have the time ... "

Q: Should structures adapt to women's practice?

R: "It is important that the structures adapt, perhaps with different schedules, perhaps with a different pedagogy from that which will be used for men. I believe a lot in that, that the associations can propose. something to allow women to find each other, especially at times that are specific to them such as the moment of pregnancy, after childbirth, the period of menopause where we know that it is very important to have a physical and sports activity to better pass this difficult period for the body and head of women "

Q: What do you say to the channels to convince them to cover more of women's sport?

A: "Leaving a place in the grid for a women's championship is already essential, even if there is no money to pay fees at the moment. Providing this visibility also means allowing companies to keep their sponsorship with these teams (….) and keep the girls in business, so that they can be paid at the end of the month and make it their job "

Q: Is it also a vector of gender equality?

A: "Broadcasting women's sport means talking about equality between men and women in general, because it also allows women to be shown in a different way than those who are also most often shown on TV. , women in full effort, muscular women, short women, tall women ... The fact that men can be shown on TV in any situation, at any age of their life, in any posture whereas women still unfortunately correspond to images and clichés. We see sport only through the magnifying glass of high-level male performance. We did not try to see if individual female performance was being built in the same way. Perhaps that is why we are afraid to broadcast it, because we do not know what to say about it. "

Interview by Déborah CLAUDE

© 2021 AFP