Women’s Sports Deserve Equality in the Media For centuries, women longed to be viewed as equals to men. In 1848, hundreds of women attended the first documented women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, demanding female suffrage and equal rights. The convention led to passage of the Nineteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, giving women the right to vote. Over 100 years later, women were still pursuing the fight for equality and, in 1972, the United States passed Title IX. Designed to assure equal opportunities for women in public educational institutions, the legislation indicated it was a positive step toward gender equality. However, despite progress made by Title IX, society still denies complete equal opportunities to all …show more content…
Perhaps society prefers men’s sports because they are what the media endorses. According to a study conducted by experts from the University of Southern California and Purdue University, statistics show 95% of television coverage is focused on men’s sports (Cooky et al.). Solving the issue of equality in female sports depends on media networks understanding the power they hold to change athletes’ lives. Increasing the airtime of women’s athletic events on major sports networks would greatly expand fans’ support for female athletes, which would help facilitate gender-based equality in the media, and thus provide girls of all ages with powerful role models to encourage them to work hard and go for their dreams. The first step on the road to providing gender equality in sports is understanding why the situation is a major issue. The Women’s Sports Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting female athletes, provides evidence of major discrimination in women’s sports in their report, Chasing Equity. Despite growth in people’s interest in women’s sports in the last decade, a 1989 to 2014 study provides evidence of a decline in coverage for these …show more content…
NBA and WNBA statistics show the average NBA attendance ratings in the 2023-24 season are 18,324, while the average for the WNBA is only 6,615 (NBA Communications). Of course, the comparison is between a highly successful men’s organization worth billions and a thirty-year-old women’s organization, but truthfully, the reason the ratings are so drastically different is because the media fails to recognize female athletes as much as they do males. While all WNBA games are available for fans to watch, many of them are only broadcast on pay-to-watch streaming platforms. Limiting the number of channels women’s sports are aired on makes accessing games difficult for people, ultimately causing viewer ratings to be low. Correspondingly, viewer ratings in the WNBA are low because the organization is not equally advertised to the public as the NBA. Differences in the number of social media followers of each corporation show the discrimination at hand. Between Instagram and Twitter, the NBA has 130.6 million more followers than the
Title IX was passed in 1972 and according to the Women’s Sports Foundation, as of 2011, women make up 38-42 percent of all sport and physical activity participants. Yet, research shows that women receive only 6-8 percent of the total sports coverage. A double standard is defined as a set of principles that allows greater freedom to one person or group than to another. (dictionary.com) In athletics, women are judged more on their appearances and their non-sport related activities, than their male counterparts who are judged primarily on their skills and performances. Female athletes are scrutinized based on their appearances more than their skills and athletic performances in the media.
The discrepancies in media coverage in coverage of female and children athletics have large gaps, but are gaining momentum in sharing equality. Major athletic leagues such as the NBA and FIFA World Cup have wide gaps in marketing and ratings for their male and female athletes. Children are future athletes and superstars, but as funding and coverage in athletics caters to the males, women are breaking the barriers to being in the spotlight of sport. Both genders contribute equally to athletics, and challenge the each other to accept new ideas and change. The sports world that has a single gender dominating the media is unjust.
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. Much has changed for women since the 1970’s. One of the most important events that have happened in the world of female athletics is the establishment of professional athletics for women. Educational Amendments of 1972.
To deepen our understanding of the cultural values embedded in sports and to explore current values and power structures regarding men and women, it is necessary to investigate the effect that the media may possibly have in influencing beliefs about gender-appropriate sport behavior. The media is a powerful factor which influences our beliefs, attitudes, and the values we have of ourselves and others, as well as the world surrounding us. It seems that the televised coverage of athletics continues to reinforce the ongoing division between males and females, and to reproduce traditional expectations regarding femininity and masculinity. One is able to witness the biased attitude directed toward the individual who attempts to participate in a sport that is non-traditional to his/her gender. Figure skating, for example, has been dominated for many years by women.
Promoting Women’s Sports “It doesn’t matter if you are a woman or a man, the important thing is your determination,” race car driver Milka Duno proudly stated when being represented as a CNN woman. As women recognition continues to grow since the past, it still does not appear to be promoted enough. The promotion of women’s sports needs to be focused on due to inspiration passed on, gender equality, and the gratitude of women and their dedication to sports.
“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.
Lopiano and Sommers agree that the amount of media coverage female athletes receive compared to male athletes indicates that female athletes are less valid. Lopiano and Sommers both point out that the media tends to highlight female athletes in action only during major events. Fortunately, for the male athletes, the tendency is different because no matter what time of the year it is, male events are always airing on the television. The media only decides to highlight events such as the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s basketball Final Four, Olympics, and World Cup soccer. Since the Olympic games and World Cup occurs every four years, the Final Four also known as the semi-final round are the rare eve...
Can women's sports establish itself as a topic of on-going media and journalism curiosity? Currently TV stations do minimal coverage of women's sports, while newspapers and magazines do just a little bit better. In a recent interview with Gary Webb, a sports writer for The Spectrum, he says that "the people have demonstrated that there is an audience that loves hearing about women athletes. After all, they are somebody's kids, sisters, and moms". I learned that these sports writers love to cover women's games, especially girls highschool basketball games. Gary said that he would rather watch a Parowan-Beaver girls game over the boys anyday. Karen Winegar, staff writer for the The Star Tribune of Minnesota said., "Portrayal of female athletes is improving, but despite increasing interest and participation, their sports are getting no more coverage than they got five years ago" (1A+). Women's sports participation will surely continue to grow in the future, so the media and journalists better be prepared to increase their coverage accordingly.
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.
Most people watch some form of sports, whether it be the Olympics or the highlights on ESPN. The NBA and NHL playoffs are underway and theyit seems to be the only news on ESPN. There is almost no coverage of the WNBA playoffs or any female athletics. Tennis isone of the only big sports on ESPN for women. While during the Olympics the coverage seems to be non-stop and close to equal. Women’s participation in sport is at an all-time high and has almost become equal with men’s, however,. sSports media does notfails to show this equality and skews the way we look at these athletes. Through the disciplines of sociology and gender studies, it can be seen that despite the many gains of women in sports since the enactment of Title IX, “traditional” notions of masculinity and femininity still dominate media coverage of males and females in sports, which is observed in Olympic programming and sports news broadcasts.
Gender bias in media is a problem with multiple different aspects. Statistics show that 40% of all athletes are women, but they receive just 4% of media coverage (The Statistics). Secondly, a recent analysis found that of 6,503 sports photos taken by national newspapers, only 78 were of females (Media Coverage). What are the reasons toward such uneven coverage? Females participating in athletics get more attention to their physical appearance than their actual ability to perform the sport. Athletes that are not considered appealing or attractive are commonly disregarded and forgotten by the media. In addition, female athlete’s are often compared to male athletes in their same sport, and ignored for their real ability because not as impressive as their male counterparts (Low Female). For years, women have not only been fighting equal treatment and coverage, but also discrimination and sexism. Media’s coverage of female athlete’s is a problem that can be solved by closer to equal coverage in the press, and more attention on actual ability than physical appearance.
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.
Although females make up 40% of all athletes, they only receive about two to four percent of media coverage according to the documentary "Media Coverage and Female Athletes. " The difference in media's coverage between men's and women's sports is significantly large. Despite the fact that women's sports are gaining more popularity over time, media continues to show lack of coverage for the topic. In comparison to men's sports, women's sports are hardly getting any attention. However, when women's sports are being covered, media does not always represent them in a positive way.
Women in Sports Challenges appear to be part of the human experience. In the course of history, very little has come easily. The progress that women have made in sport in the United States over the course of the last 100 years seems remarkable for the amount achieved in so little time. In relation to the other advances made in this century, including men's sport, that achievement dims. While women have made great advances, they haven't, in comparison, come that far.