Women empowering each other in 'female forward' broadcast

'Female forward' broadcast

Women's sports has long struggled to get the support it deserves, but interest is building.

MILWAUKEE - Women's sports are on the rise.

Marquette basketball head coach Megan Duffy sees the difference in the crowd.

"I love that the popularity has grown," said Duffy. "And, we're going to do everything to keep building off of that as well. I think that's been a change in the last 10 to 15 years where you see families and young boys wearing a Jordan King jersey or a Caitlin Clark jersey. That maybe didn't happen before."

Senior Jordan King not only recognizes the changes in the stands.

She also notices how much backing they are getting from businesses.

"I think that's something that we're really grateful for is just the greater community of Milwaukee, and of Wisconsin," said King. "Supporting us and supporting college basketball."

However, no matter how much women's sports moves forward, inequalities remain.

"It's certainly noticeable when I'm, like, the only female around, like, I've been able to broadcast some Division I men's radio stuff, and I'm literally the only woman on the trips," said Kim Adams. "I'm not saying it needs to be all women all the time. But I think if we can find a way to strike a better balance to where it's not 90% men on in a production truck, we just keep growing towards that."

(FOX6 News Milwaukee)

Adams is a college basketball analyst for Fox Sports.

Alongside play-by-play announcer Lisa Byington, she was a part of the Big East ‘female forward’ broadcast for Marquette vs. Georgetown.

All women, broadcasters, officials, and everyone on the TV crew.

"On the TV side of things, I do think women are still underrepresented, especially behind the scenes," Adams said. "In terms of producers, directors, graphic coordinators, camera operators, that's still very heavily male dominated. So it's just so cool to look into our truck later and see everyone in there is a woman. To see the person holding the camera for our open is going to be a woman. So just a really special and empowering night."

Adams believes there will be another 'female forward' game next season.

However, she hopes the uniqueness of the event will soon wear off as more women get more opportunities.

"It's certainly something that we're not used to seeing right now," said Adams. "We're going to celebrate it. We're going to applaud everyone that's working tonight and just hope that we're seeing more and more women on a daily basis."

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Duffy and King are very happy to be a part of this celebration of women in sports.

They say everyone just needs to ramp up their support.

"I think it's awesome to have the day to recognize it and to make it a big thing," King said. "But like you said, I don't think we're far off from just the recognition that the industry is already a lot of females. And having that respect for them."

"We have to have women continue to support women," Duffy said. "We gotta have men getting out there supporting women. And the more we can build each other up, the better this will be."

Adams was also a part of the first ‘female forward’ broadcast last season.

The 2023 Women's Final Four was the first to feature an all-women officiating crew.