Examples Of Sexism In Foul Play

John Humphreys, the author of “Foul Play” argues that sport provides an opportunity for the creation of barriers between groups. I feel he is perfectly correct in saying this as one of the biggest problems in sport today is sexism. Women face a number of discriminations in sport today; they aren’t paid nearly as much as male athletes, their facilities are always worse than men and not only this but there is a large amount of sexualisation of female sports stars in the media. This as well as the failure of general public to take woman’s sport seriously has resulted in a huge divide between male and female sports.

Sport plays a huge role in today’s society and many say that sport is able to teach people vital values such as sportsmanship, teamwork, how to work together as well as how to create friendships. Not only are there emotional values but physical values too such as keeping us in good physical shape and improving hand eye co-ordination. On the other hand sports has some negative issues too and one that first comes to mind is sexism. Sexism can be described as prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination typically against women on the basis of sex. Woman should be allowed to play any sport they want and the sad reality is that they are still being told they cannot. Although sexism is mainly aimed at women, it can also include men. For example male gymnasts and cheerleaders are looked at differently because such sports are seen as female dominated sports. Male gymnasts and cheerleaders are often classed as feminine or homosexual.

The first real problem for women in sport is the poor portrayal of them in the media. The media chooses to portray female athletes for their physical looks and attractiveness rather than their athletic ...

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...ar earned by men in the US. The worlds highest paid female athlete, Maria Sharapova earned $29 million in 2013, however the highest paid male athlete, Tiger Woods earned $78.1 million in 2013. This clearly shows a massive divide between male and female sports.

Female coaches too are stereotyped. Male coaches are said to be more disciplined and efficient and receive far more recognition than women coaches. Males are able to coach both male and female without a problem , however a female coaching a males team is almost unheard of today and the parentsassociation.com states that parents prefer male coaches. 80% of coaches at high school and university level are male.

These problems are just a few of the many difficulties faced by female athletes today and if we as a society do not do something about it, the gap between male and female sports will continue to widen.