The women's sport debate hits the airwaves

The question of media coverage of women's sport has hit the press this week. Its taken until today'' for me to notice, partly because I don't read the Independent, but also because I'm not a close listener to Radio 4's Woman's Hour. However, I did catch the tail end of a repeat of the broadcast today - and if you are interested in this subject (and you should be) then both it and the two newspaper articles that prompted it are well worth listening to or reading.

The debate stems not from rugby but from coverage of the women's cricket success last week - but the arguments apply to all sports, including rugby. It began on Monday when Andy Burnham - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport - wrote an article called "Why is women's sport treated as a sideshow?". This was followed the following by an article from Dominic Lawson arguing the other way, and then on Wednesday by the Woman's Hour broadcast (which you can listen to here - its about 10 minutes long).

All three items invite responses and feedback - if you have anything to say please use them. The newspaper articles have comments links at the bottom, and the radio programme can be contacted via this feedback form. Obviously I'm with Andy Burnham here, but I'd have to say that when it comes to rugby he probably underestimate the problem!

Incidentally, if you want to write to Andy Burnham directly, and not via his newspaper, I suggest you do so via your MP. That's Oliver Heald if you live in Letchworth, or Peter Lilley if you live in Hitchin - if you live elsewhere go here. The reason to go through your MP is that ministers, like Andy Burnham, normally have to sign letters they receive via an MP - so at least they will see your letter. Anything going straight to his department will just go to the ministerial correspondence section and you'll probably just get a standard reply.