Warringah Rats: Women call for equal facilities after years of changing on the oval
A campaign has been launched on the northern beaches to end inequality in sport, as it’s revealed a top women’s rugby team is forced to change on the sidelines, while their male counterparts have the luxury of a changing room.
Manly
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A campaign has been launched on the northern beaches to end inequality in sport — not on the field, but in the changing rooms.
A motion has been lodged with Northern Beaches Council calling out the inadequate changing facilities for women on the peninsula, with Pittwater Rugby Park — home to the Warringah Rats — used as a prime example.
For years female rugby players have been forced to change on the side of the oval — or in a demountable they have nicknamed the ‘sweat box’ because it has no aircon or lighting — while their male counterparts have the luxury of not only private changing rooms, but showers.
Cr Pat Daley said the situation was “grossly inadequate” and has called for an urgent review.
He said the council needs to provide “women with the same quality facility as that provided to a male player when both are scheduled to play at Pittwater Rugby Park at the same times/days”.
“In the vast majority of cases women’s change room facilities at sporting grounds is grossly inadequate and governments at all levels need to put in place strategies which are going to rectify this totally unsatisfactory situation,” he said.
Cr Daley said it was an issue that had largely gone under the radar — until now.
Sarah Laman, director of women’s rugby at Warringah Rats and Sarah Carrington, club captain, say it is time for change.
“Rugby is a male dominated sport and still is,” Ms Laman, 35, of Wheeler Heights said explaining why the facilities differ for men and women.
“But it’s not just us. There’s a million different sports played at the ground.
“It must be a problem for women in all sports.”
She said it had never really occurred to her that the women were “doing it tough” until now, as she had always just got on with it.
But she said it was time to get the same level of facilities as the men and they had the full support of the club.
Ms Carrington, 35, of Narrabeen, has played eight seasons with the club, agreed that
“with the growth of women’s sport it’s time to get proper facilities”.
“It would be great to have somewhere to change, to be able to store our valuables safely and be able to have a shower afterwards like the men do,” she said.
“We occasionally get to use the changing rooms, but we mainly change on the oval.
“Sometimes we use a demountable, which we call the ‘hot box’ or the ‘sweat box’ because there’s no aircon and it has no electricity, so no lighting.”
She said while the club did their best to accommodate them, by squeezing them into the changing rooms in between male games if possible, the men are never forced to change in the demountables or on the oval.
Cr Pat Daley said an immediate review was needed with a one month deadline.
He also called for a review of all relevant sporting ovals and premises within the Northern Beaches Council boundary regarding women’s change room facilities.
Northern Beaches Council Mayor Michael Regan said council had absolutely “identified a significant shortage of facilities for women across the northern beaches, especially with the growing popularity of women’s sport’.
“Staff have already been working on a program to ascertain the level of need and the required investment to address the issue,” he said.