Breaking the Mould

Sport is integral to Australian life and identity, and we’re rightly proud of our sporting achievements. But less glorious is the fact that, when it comes to the games we play, half of the population doesn’t get a look-in. According to the latest statistics, 81 per cent of sports media covers male-only sport, while just 8.7 per cent focuses on women. That’s right – horses got more attention than female athletes! Pick any sport and it’s easy to find examples of stark gender inequality and double standards so glaring that they’re almost laughable.

But an extraordinary transformation is taking place, and nobody is better placed to call it than veteran sports journalist Angela Pippos. In Breaking the Mould, Pippos charts a powerful awakening across Australian life; from suburban footy fields to stadium cage fights, female athletes are changing the status quo through fierce determination and undeniable performances.

Through candid and often hilarious personal tales from a life spent in and around sport, Pippos calls out the systems that have kept women on the sidelines, and challenges us to keep working towards a level playing field where any young woman can become her sporting best.

Angela Pippos is a journalist, TV presenter, radio personality, author and popular MC. After obtaining an Honours degree in Politics from the University of Adelaide, sports-mad Angela headed to Melbourne and anchored the sports segment on the ABC TV News for almost a decade. She then ventured - where few women go - into the testosterone-charged world of breakfast sports radio. Freelance these days, Angela writes sharp, thought-provoking columns for The New Daily, Women's Agenda, and The Sunday Age among others, and is a regular contributor to 774 ABC Melbourne, ABC Grandstand and 891 ABC Adelaide. Angela's first book, The Goddess Advantage - One Year in the Life of a Football Worshipper (Text Publishing) loosely follows her life during the 2005 AFL season.

'As Australians we like to talk about fairness. A fair go for all, a fairer Australia, the land of the fair go. Sport too is built on a foundation of fair play in which everyone who takes part has an equal opportunity of victory. When we feel that fairness is being taken away from us we cry foul; fair go umpire! Sport is a place where class and race is extinguished and everyone gets a fair go. Well, half the population at least.' Angela Pippos.Sport is integral to Australian life and identity, and we're rightly proud of our sporting achievements. But less glorious is the fact that, when it comes to the games we play, half of the population doesn't get a look-in. According to the latest statistics, 81 per cent of sports media covers male-only sport, while just 8.7 per cent focuses on women. That's right - horses got more attention than female athletes! Pick any sport and it's easy to find examples of stark gender inequality and double standards so glaring that they're almost laughable.But an extraordinary transformation is taking place, and nobody is better placed to call it than veteran sports journalist Angela Pippos. In BREAKING THE MOULD, Pippos charts a powerful awakening across Australian life; from suburban footy fields to stadium cage fights, female athletes are changing the status quo through fierce determination and undeniable performances.

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