AFLW and the gender gap: an analysis of public attitudes towards the Women’s Australian Football League

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of the final sample.

Variable	Mean	SD	% of N	N
Age (range 18–70)	38.57	14.81		171
Gender
Men			27.7	48
Women			71.1	123
Sexual Orientation
Heterosexual			89.6	155
Sexual Minorities^a			10.4	18
AFL Experience
Current/Previous Player			40.5	70
Non-player			59.5	103
AFL Fandom
AFLM Followers			79.2	137
AFLW Followers			43.4	75

^aSexual Minorities include bisexual, homosexual, and pansexual.

Table 2. Correlation matrix of significant predictors of attitudes towards consumerism of the Women’s Australian football league (ATWSS), and attitudes towards gender equality within Australian rules football.

Predictor	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Mean (SD)
Age	.242**	.084	.344**	−.071	−.143	−.017	−.050	.021	−.181*	−.011	−.081	−.156*	−.088	38.57 (14.81)
Gender	–	.022	−.627**	−.116	−.051	−.120	.338**	.150	.444**	.346**	.210**	−.231**	−.101
Sexual Orientation		–	−.011	−.338**	.046	.065	.175*	−.033	.100	.231**	.049	−.373**	−.258**
Football Experience			–	.161*	.253**	.348**	−.283**	−.240**	−.336**	−.232**	−.147	.156*	−.093
AFLM Follower				–	.391**	.360**	−.561**	−.396**	−.055	−.121	−.150	.327**	.004
AFLW Follower					–	.729**	−.311**	−.431**	.105	.132	−.017	−.154*	−.465**
AFLW Exposure						–	−.393**	−.560**	.086	.021	−.017	−.027	−.432**	4.57 (1.00)
AFLM Knowledge							–	.532**	.012	.017	.027	−.231**	.035	3.59 (1.61)
AFLW Knowledge								–	−.029	−.074	.000	−.093	.155*	2.20 (1.52)
WSO^a									–	.627**	.339**	−.440**	−.269**	16.17 (5.6)
SRQ^b										–	.439**	−617**	−428**	23.97 (8.25)
HS^c											–	−.203**	−.106	11.07 (4.81)
Equality Scale												–	.601**	42.86 (8.51)
ATWSS													–	154.15 (26.16)

^a“Women are Sexual Objects” subscale (Ward, 2002), ^bSocial Roles Questionnaire (Baber & Tucker, 2006), ^cHomophobia Scale (Roese et al., 1992).

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Table 3. Hierarchical regression predicting attitudes towards the endorsement of gender equality within the AFL.

	Model 1			Model 2			Model 3
Variables	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β
Age	−.011	.004	−.187*	−.016	.004	−.272**	−.013	.004	−.229**
Gender	−.411	.139	−.220**	−.176	.168	−.094	.127	.148	.068
Sexual Orientation	−.943	.208	−.322**	−.541	.209	−.184*	−.305	.178	−.104
HS^a	−.187	.089	−.152*	−.149	.084	−.121	.097	.076	.079
Footy Experience				.338	.164	.195*	.227	.138	.131
AFLM Follower				.592	.187	.277**	.504	.158	.236**
AFLW Follower				−.643	.131	−.376**	−.448	.113	−.263**
AFLM Knowledge				−.038	.045	−.072	−.052	.038	−.099
WSO^b							−.026	.011	−.171*
SRQ^c							−.045	.008	−.434**
R^2	.195			.345			.544
F Change	10.81			7.65			33.16

*p < .05. **p < .01; β = standardised, B = unstandardised.

^aHomophobia Scale (Roese et al., 1992), ^b“Women are Sexual Objects” subscale (Ward, 2002), ^cSocial Roles Questionnaire (Baber & Tucker, 2006).

Table 4. Hierarchical regression predicting attitudes towards AFLW consumerism.

	Model 1			Model 2			Model 3
Variables	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β	B	SE B	β
Sexual Orientation	−.555	.173	−.244**	−.509	.152	−.224**	−.317	.143	−.139*
AFLW Follower				−.455	.137	−.336**	−.344	.127	−.246**
AFLW Exposure				−.170	.074	−.244*	−.212	.069	−.306**
AFLW Knowledge				−.059	.037	−.129	−.070	.034	−.154*
WSO^a							.007	.010	.053
SRQ^b							−.034	.007	−.400**
R^2	.060			.287			.412
F Change	10.33			16.97			16.86

*p < .05. **p < .01; β = standardised, B = unstandardised.

^a“Women are Sexual Objects” subscale (Ward, 2002), ^bSocial Roles Questionnaire (Baber & Tucker, 2006).

Ward, L. (2002). Does television exposure affect emerging adults’ attitudes and assumptions about sexual relationships? Correlational and experimental confirmation. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 31(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1014068031532

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Baber, K. M., & Tucker, C. J. (2006). The social roles questionnaire: A new approach to measuring attitudes toward gender. Sex Roles, 54(7–8), 459–467. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9018-y

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Roese, N., Olson, J., Borenstein, M., Martin, A., & Shores, A. (1992). Same-sex touching behavior: The moderating role of homophobic attitudes. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 16, 249–259. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01462005

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Data availability statement

The de-identified dataset and materials associated with this article are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.