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Research essay on influence of gender on sports
Problem of gender equity in sports
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In today’s society, gender roles continue to be shaped by social and biological factors. One of the largest controversies that has consumed our world today states that males have more athletic ability than females. In the past, many structural factors have made it difficult for gender equality within sports to exist, for stereotypes have taken over the world of competition. These perceptions are slowly ending, but men continue to perform at higher levels. Although males are not necessarily superior than females in sports, they do have many advantages over them. Sports have become an important cultural aspect of the American society. Women in sports have much more pressure than men do; as they must compete not only against their opponent, …show more content…
In some places, women are shamed for portraying athletic, “manly traits,” which influences female’s participation in sports. Today, an outbreak of feminism has pushed woman to go beyond their stereotypes of the traditional female excel in sports that emphasize muscle strength, skill, and ability that in the past seemed out of their capabilities. For example, the National Women’s Soccer Team recently won the World Cup and are currently dominating women’s soccer. On the other hand, The United States men’s soccer team has not won as many tournaments(or cups for that matter) as their female counterparts have. Female athletes continue to break new records proving they deserve an equal opportunity next to men. Throughout the years, gender roles between men and women have evolved immensely. The women who were once seen as incapable of competing alongside men, are beginning to transform a stereotype and increase the gender equality amongst sports. In the past, men have had advantages over women such as, increased media exposure and a larger following, but female athletes are beginning to transform that. In a world led by mostly male figures, women have gained momentum in proving the feminine stereotypes wrong by calling for an even playing field alongside
Women have faced an uphill battle throughout the history of sports whether it is to be able to compete in sports, to attain equal funding for programs, to have access to facilities, or a number of other obstacles that have been thrown in their ways. Women have had to organize and administer their own sports structure rather than compete within the men's structure that existed. The sheer strength and determination of many women sports heroes is what propels women's sport to keep going. One theme that has predominantly surfaced in this fight though is the merging of women's programs with men's, oftentimes only when they are successful enough to stand alone on their own.
Woolum, Janet. Chapter 1 Women in American Sports. The Oryx Press, 1992. eLibrary. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
In 1970 only 1 in 27 girls participated in high school sports, today that ratio is 1 in 3. Sports are a very important part of the American society. Within sports heroes are made, goals are set and dreams are lived. The media makes all these things possible by creating publicity for the rising stars of today. Within society today, the media has downplayed the role of the woman within sports. When the American people think of women in sports, they think of ice skating, field hockey and diving. People don’t recognize that women have the potential to play any sport that a Man can play, with equal skill, if not better.
Intro - Prue Gilbert who is a human rights lawyer from Melbourne once stated in an article; “Last year I was driving my then five year old son to a birthday party, and we inevitably started talking about his own upcoming birthday party. A football party, Dad can be umpire, Ned can be captain and we can all eat hotdogs” Then is next comment stopped me. “and all the girls can be the crowd”
Sports, in general, are a male dominated activity; every “real” male is suppose to be interested and/or involved in sports in the American society. However, it is not expected of a female to be interested in sports and there is less pressure on them to participate in physically enduring activities. These roles reflect the traditional gender roles imposed on our society that men are supposed to be stronger and dominant and females are expected to be submissive. As Michael Kimmel further analyzes these gender roles by relating that, “feminism also observes that men, as a group, are in power. Thus with the same symmetry, feminism has tended to assume that individually men must feel powerful” (106).
It goes without saying that a person's gender, racial and social origins influence their participation in sports. Particular races and genders often dominate certain sports. African Americans, for example, tend to dominate football and basketball, while Caucasians tend to dominate ice hockey. The same holds true for gender as well. Football is an entirely male dominated sport, while horseback riding, gymnastics and figure skating are much more female oriented. How and why did these divisions come about? Determining the origin of gender goes beyond the scope of this paper, however one can speculate about how gender classifications and stereotypes affect one's role in the sports arena.
“The past three decades have witnessed a steady growth in women's sports programs in America along with a remarkable increase in the number of women athletes (Daniel Frankl 2)” From an early age women were thought to be “Lady Like”; they are told not to get all sweaty and dirty. Over 200 years since Maud Watson stepped on the tennis courts of Wimbledon (Sports Media Digest 3); women now compete in all types and levels of sports from softball to National racing. Soccer fans saw Mia Hamm become the face of women’s soccer around the world, Venus and Serena Williams are two of the most popular figures in tennis, and Indy car racing had their first woman racer, Danika Patrick. With all the fame generated by these women in their respective sports, they still don’t receive the same compensation as the men in their respective sports fields.
Today more than any other time period, equality has become a hot topic for discussion. One of the major topic is, should women be allowed to compete with men in sports on the same or opposing teams. Due to a lot of differences in physical characteristics, sporting interest, and economic considerations; it’s not a good idea to bring teams consisting of both genders together. To begin with, we have to question whether there’s even a want from the general public for girls being allowed to play on boys’ sports teams. Very few athletes in sports are barely even bothered about the fact women can’t play on male sport teams. If there’s no true desire to combine the teams, it only makes sense to not try a force unneeded change.
Throughout history, women have had to struggle for equality in all elements of our society, but no where have they had a more difficult time than in the area of athletics. Sports is a right of passage that has always been grafted to boys and men. The time has come for our society to accept women athletes and give them the attention they deserve.
Gender in sports has been a controversial issue ever since sports were invented. In the early years, sports were played only by the men, and the women were to sit on the sidelines and watch. This was another area of life exemplifying the sexism of people in which women were not allowed to do something that men could. However, over the last century in particular, things have begun to change.
The first perspective is that women are disadvantaged at any sport. Some people reiterate the difference of men and women in sports. This is influenced by strength and the natural power men hold, comparable to women. Rodriguez questions “Is this because female athletes don’t have what it takes to make it in the world of sports or could it be more of a social issue?” This perspective seems to be a social issue based on the notable skills women acquire vs. the apparent judgments of gender issues. The second perspective is the idea that women deserve and inherently earn their right of equal attention and equal pay. “Sometimes, the secret to equality is not positive discrimination, it 's equal terms. It 's the shrug of the shoulders that says "what 's the difference?" The moment worth aspiring for is not seeing people celebrate the world-class female cricketer who competes at comparatively low-level male professional cricket, but the day when people are aware that she does, and don 't find it notable at all” (Lawson). Lawson makes it a point to confirm the biased notions against women in sports and relay an alternative worth working toward and fighting for. Both outlooks can be biased but only one has factual evidence to back it up. The second perspective reviews an ongoing gender issue. This problem is welcome for change depending on society’s
Gender inequality in the United States is a serious problem, and it is often overlooked. It is a big issue, especially within sports. We live in a society where our culture prefers men 's sports over women 's. Labeling activities as feminine and masculine is a social construction based on stereotyped expectations regarding gender and perceived gender differences (McCullick, 2012). In 1972 Title IX was passed stating that, no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. This opened up athletics to women and girls (Education Amendment Act of 1972, 1972). Although
Whether its baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, or tennis, sports is seen all over the world as a representation of one’s pride for their city, country, and even continent. Sports is something that is valued world-wide which has the ability to bring communities together and create different meanings, beliefs and practices between individuals. Although many people may perceive sports to have a significant meaning within our lives, it can also have the ability to separate people through gender inequalities which can also be represented negatively throughout the media. This essay will attempt to prove how gender is constructed in the sports culture while focusing on female athletes and their acceptance in today’s society.
From the classic argument of whether cheerleading is actually a sport to allowing girls to play on boys football teams, there have always been misconceptions when it comes to women in sports. Although the barriers of strict gender role have started to come down, there is still immense pressure for women to stay confined to certain sports. Cheerleading, gymnastics, and soccer are often seen as “female” sports while football and ice hockey are seen as “male” sports.
Within todays sporting community, certain aspects of sport and its practices promote and construct ideas that sport in general is a male dominated. Women athletes are regularly perceived as mediocre in comparison to their male equivalents (Lenskyj, 1998). Achievement in sport is generally established through displays of strength, speed and endurance, men usually set the standards in these areas, consequently woman rarely reach the level set by top male athletes. Due to this, the media significantly shows bias towards male sports while we are ill-informed about the achievements in the female sporting community. On the rare occasion that a female athlete does make some form of an appearance in the media, there is a great possibility that images and videos used will portray the female in sexually objectified ways (Daniels & Wartena, 2011). This depiction of female athletes can cause males to take focus solely on the sexual assets of the athlete supposed to their sporting abilities (Daniels & Wartena, 2011). Sexualisation of sportswoman in the media is a prevalent issue in today’s societ...