Study shows women’s sporting events are big wins for cities

Cities and communities that host major women’s sporting events can reap wide-ranging benefits including tourism and economic growth as well as positive gender-related impacts, according to new research released by the University of South Australia.

Looking into the impact of women’s sporting events in Australia and abroad, UniSA tourism and events researchers have discovered the positive social impacts these competitions can have on host communities.

The UniSA team analysed the perceived impacts on Australian host cities during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 which attracted record audiences and attendances, generating an induced economic impact of $1.32 billion.

Australia’s semi final match against England made history as the largest TV viewing audience in Australia, reaching 11.2 million viewers. Record TV audiences were also achieved in Spain and the UK.

UniSA tourism and events academics Dr Jessica Mei Pung, Associate Professor Sunny Son and Associate Professor Craig Lee looked at how residents of the host cities felt about the hosting the tournament - and found interesting results. Unlike men’s or mixed-gender major sports events like the Olympics, people’s support for the Women’s World Cup wasn’t only driven by the usual economic, sporting or social benefits.

Dr Pung explained “instead, support seemed to come more from specific outcomes such as promoting women’s sports, improving gender equality and boosting Australia’s image.

“Overall, we found that women’s mega sports events can be powerful tools for advancing gender equity and community development, in addition to the commonly recognised tourism, social and economic benefits, which are strong reasons for governments to invest in them.”

However, the social impacts of such large events weren’t the only benefits, with residents still agreeing that women’s sporting events also bring socio-economic benefits such as employment, investment and business opportunities, urban regeneration and community cohesion.

Dr Pung says despite attracting increasing audiences and media attention, women’s sporting events are still fighting perceptions of being less important than men’s competitions. She says most research on the impact of sporting events usually revolves around men’s and co-gendered sporting events such as the FIFA Men’s World Cup and the Olympic Games.

She states “despite the global movement towards gender issues and equality, women’s sport events and their impacts have received less attention from academia compared to men’s or co-gender sport events

“Women’s sporting events are also often defined as second order to men’s competitions, despite growing popularity and achievements in women’s sporting arenas. Our research aims to fill the gap by examining the impacts that women’s mega sport events have on host communities and how these impacts influence the community’s support for future tourism development and events.”

Dr Pung says the research shows the effectiveness of hosting major women’s sporting events, and how governments and organising bodies should be prioritising and investing in them as part of broader strategies to advance social inclusion and equity through sport.

She added “sport in general brings people together and improves their sense of pride and belonging to their community. Investing in major women’s sporting events also contributes to an aspirational view of Australia where stigmas are broken and women are empowered.”