Why are women backing Sky’s Gray and Keys?

As the Sky sexism row escalates, more and more women are joining the fray – and not all of them in support of their sisters. The outspoken and often funny Sunday Times columnist India Knight yesterday invoked the rather tired 'boys will be boys' argument and, in her hands-on-hips tone, tells us we should grow up – that's the women, not the men.

Clearly toughened by her own experiences, she wrote: "I appreciate that not everyone has spent time in, say, a newspaper newsroom, but really, unless you spend your working day crafting felt animals within the safe confines of your all-woman co-operative, chances are you'll have heard or overheard far worse..."

Personally, if India Knight is representative of working women, I'd feel far safer in a newsroom than in an all-woman felting co-operative. Obviously not the sensitive type, she urges women 'to grow balls', a thought that might make even bully-boys Andy Gray and Richard Keys shrivel in disgust.

And here's the problem – as women grow tougher, meaner, and more powerful, they seem to spit with the same contempt and derisive language when they speak of women they perceive as weaker than themselves, or worse still, who refuse to play 'the game' and laugh along at old men's bad jokes. One sympathetic sports editor at a Fleet Street newspaper I spoke to this weekend witnessed a talented and attractive female sportswriter driven from her job by a powerful woman editor: who says a sexist pig cannot be a sow?

The Sky news row started with a straightforward example of sexism in the workplace - the unfair comment that a woman cannot make a good linesman. The fact that Sian Massey already had a solid reputation, and went on to make a sound close call in the Liverpool v Wolves game where this all blew up, clearly makes the remark prejudiced and unfounded.

It also smacks of arrogance. Countless male football commentators have admitted they cannot grasp the full technicalities of the offside law - such as, can you be offside from a square pass or a goal kick?

But the Massey remark paled in comparison with the more lewd comments made off-mic by the two men, who, I am told, have made so many enemies (of men and women) over the years that one senior journalist, when asked who might have shopped Gray and Keys by leaking the first clip to the Daily Mail, told me: "Think Murder on the Orient Express. They've been queueing up to stick the knife in.''

But this story goes beyond the personal. As more women come forward, not all of them at Sky, it is clear that political change in the workplace is essential; that sexism is thriving in the already stifling atmosphere of the recession, and we need clearer guidelines, so long as they are not so prescriptive as to stifle the spontaneous repartee that makes sports commentary so engaging.

But to be engaging, our best commentators cannot afford to be out of touch, and sexism is very old-fashioned.

There is the occasional kick-ass inspirational story, like the Telegraph woman sportswriter who sued the Australian FA for holding press conferences in the locker-room, thus prohibiting female journalists from the normal post-match coverage, and won.

But more often than not the stories are irrevocably sad; there is nothing more demoralising than spending years not being seen or heard – as one woman who worked her way up the tree with sheer hard work at Sky told the Mail on Sunday this weekend: "They could hear me in their earpieces, but they'd ignore directions from me and only act if my director repeated them."

Bizarrely, Gray and Keys have spoken to their lawyers, and are hoping for a multi-million-pound settlement from Sky for unfair dismissal. The video footage now being examined by lawyers with comical precision is of pin-up Sky sports presenter Charlotte Jackson smiling beatifically in response to Gray's invitation to her to stuff his microphone-wire down his pants, as he holds out his elasticised waist.

Charlotte, who declares her Facebook page as "A place where you can find out what I'm up to and leave (clean) messages!", does not challenge Gray on camera. The lawyers hope to argue that her smile shows Charlotte Jackson was not offended. They might succeed, as she seems unwilling or incapable of expressing her views on the matter. So far, her only public comment since the row has been to tweet about the weather – 'it's sooo cold' - as she twitters on about golf and lunch. Does she believe she'd be disliked and lose her job if she complained?

I'm told that more than 20 years ago when the Sun carried a series of topless photos of women performing traditional male jobs, the one girl who wouldn't play ball was a female referee. And yet, today, Charlotte, when she isn't on camera for Sky, seems to be busy posing with her top off. If Gray is a fan of the blog 'Beer, Footy and Birds, everything a bloke could want' - and why wouldn't he be? - then he will have seen that a topless Charlotte was chosen as babe of the month last November.

The good that might come of this row – more respect for women in the workplace, and a drive to replace out-of-date, sexist jokes with fresher and funnier material - could be undermined by women seeking to appease the lout within.

One of the first women sportswriters on Fleet Street was notorious for giving unsuspecting colleagues blowjobs under their desks in an effort to get ahead. Her male counterparts had only to give good copy.

But sexuality need not be the trump-card. It can be intelligence, wit – and friendship with men. And this is best of all when we are equals, and when we are all laughing, and not one of us crying in the corner.

As a writer, India Knight should know when a joke falls flat. So why the double-standard for a couple of overpaid, boorish men on TV? The bad comedian blames the audience for not laughing at his jokes. The good comedian rewrites his (or her) material. ·