Screen time key for boosting women's sport, panel told

Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman and former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern are using their star power to champion women's sport.

They joined Black Fern Ruby Tui and FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura on a panel in Auckland on Monday night for the last of the in a series of gender-equity discussions run in conjunction with the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Portman told the sold-out Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre the best way to make change is to make a spectacle, so she became the founding investor of women's football franchise Angel FC.

"It was the influence of the last Women's World Cup and seeing my son watching it. He's 12 now, so I guess he was eight then. Watching him and seeing how he idolised these female athletes the same way.

"He wanted a [Megan] Rapinoe jersey the same way he wanted a [Lionel] Messi jersey. It was exactly the same in his mind. There was no difference. It was my bias that I was surprised by that. Then I was like, this is culture changing. This changes a generation in a heartbeat."

Portman said women's and men's sports need equal screen time to increase visibility.

Black Fern and Olympic gold medallist Tui said the lack of screen time for women's sport prompted her to doubt her own capabilities.

"I have a very distinct memory in the lounge of my grandma's home. All the cousins stood up and did the haka, all the boys. I was at the back. I remember thinking, this is the only time I'm ever going to do the haka because I don't see any women playing rugby. I don't see any women on the sports channels. It's just here in the lounge that I get to be this superhero."

FIFA's first female secretary-general Fatma Samoura said this year's tournament is already prompting change.

She recounted a conversation with the Nigerian ambassador after the team played England.

"At the end of the game, [he] told me, 'My daughter is 20 years old. If next year she comes and tells me she wants to play football, then how can I refuse?'

"So for me, it's already taking all the expectations of football fans beyond greatness."

Samoura said the dream was for football to not be gender-driven ,and this World Cup "is a turning point for the women's game."

"The young boys that attended some of the games will grow up with a different mindset. For them it's not the Men's World Cup or the Women's World Cup. It's just football."

Dame Jacinda said change has to start from the grassroots.

"We've all got a role to play in that. The way we talk about the game, right through to the way we acknowledge high-level competition for our women and girls. Even right through to uniforms.

"How do we make sure that that inclusion goes right down to whether or not our girls feel comfortable in their uniform? We've got to think of it at that level because if you drop out by the time you're 10, you're unlikely to be that elite athlete by the time you're 20."

The last FIFA Women's World Cup game will be played in New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland on Tuesday. The second semi-final and final will be played in Australia.