Annotated Bibliography : Women 's Equality

In today's society women are able to become anything they wish. Generations ago women did not have the privilege to become what they truly desired compared to the women of today. Although women can become anything they desire, they cannot succeed financially. Women are still underpaid in many areas, especially in Pro Sports. The disparity in pay for women compared men's pro sports is absurd. Female athletes have also seen greater success in sports as well and have been belittled and condemned of the rewards they rightfully deserve for the achievements in their sports. It is simple, gender should not define pay in pro sports, especially if they both have equal to or greater success in their respected sports.

So what is the root of the problem when it comes to equality among men and women in collegiate sports? Football. Yes, football is the root of the problem. Football is a money-making giant that happens to demand money be poured into its program. At the University of Southern California men’s teams – largely football – are responsible for over 99% of the near $20 million total revenue of the athletic department (Sacks 2). It is a fact that 70% of Division I-A programs turn a profit. Due to the fact that schools need football’s revenue yet must also meet gender quotas, they are forced to cut non-revenue men’s sports. Colleges cannot spend as much on women’s sports as they can on men’s sports because there is no women’s equivalent for football (Sacks 3). Seems to me that football should be eliminated from the equation. If feminists turned a cheek to football and the money dedicated to its program every year, then maybe there would be more equality across the board.

Women athletes are often exploited by marketers and advertisers who want to increase their revenues and bottom line sales. Advertisers focus more on the women’s “skin” and sex appeal rather than women’s athletes, leaving the impression that woman are not as talented in the sports as male athletes (Roenigk 1). Many spectators and advertisers do not take female professional sports seriously and think that female athletes play more for fun. Therefore, female athletes do not receive as much attention for their talent. Advertisers exploit women athletes by focusing on their looks and appearances. Advertisers focus on the female athlete’s sex appeal rather than talent (Julius 2). Those who are more talented can be drafted to play professionally where they receive a salary. However, marketers still focus more on male sports. Therefore, increased revenue continues as spectators buy tickets to watch professional male athletes. The female athletes continue to generate revenues from sex appeal and looks over talent. This professional salary in no way compares to the pay received by professional male athletes.

It is the year 2016, the United States has had its first African American president, gay marriage is legalized, and women and men are supposedly seen as equals in the workplace and educational institutions. It is important to note that while steps to equality have been made through the Equal Pay Act and Title IX, gender discrimination is still prevalent in society. The NCAA reported since 1988, in the 2007-2008 academic year, institutions yielded a net gain of 2, 342 women’s teams added to varsity rosters (Pickett, Dawkins, Braddock, 2012). There are now more than 174,000 female collegiate athletes thanks to Title IX (Koller, 2010). Though there has been a substantial increase in female athletic participation, this number is still nowhere near the participation of male athletes. Many women still do not participate in sports due to discrimination and the concept of equality in Title IX could potentially affect women’s interest in athletic participation.

As a matter of fact, professional male players have much less to lose when standing up for equal pay for female athletes: They have a huge viewership, lucrative salaries, numerous sponsorships, secure contracts. In the male-dominated sports industry, if men’s teams stood up and said women deserve equal pay, equal attention, equal programming, it would only push the fight forward faster, and the sports-obsessed world would be forced to pay attention. As we saw with the women’s hockey and soccer teams, women can go it alone, but why should

Though there have been some minor improvements of the inequalities of women in sports, there are still many more changes that need to be made. The controversy of the topic allows a wide range of research. From the issues of Title IX to the issues of society and its gender roles, there are still inequalities of women in sports.

Today, sports are one of the biggest parts of our lives. Sunday night football has 64% of American?s sitting on their couch, rooting for their team. If anyone misses that, they have Monday and Tuesday night football to make it up. Besides football, which is the prominent headlight in this culture; sports like soccer, tennis, and basketball, sits close behind. However, most of these sports are linked with men; women are rarely thought of here. Women play these sports too, and do not receive the recognition that they deserve. These women athletes grew up facing oppression for the simple fact that they were women playing sports, yet they

Equality is something that many Americans have been striving for since the country was founded, however, coming by it has not always been easy. The passing of many different laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, has allowed us to come closer to finding a common ground for equal opportunities in all areas including employment and education, but we were still not there. This, however, sparked a revolution most notably in the idea of gender equality and the women’s rights campaign. After the passing of Title IX in 1972, the landscape of gender equality in the United States changed drastically, including its impact on women in sport. Although not directly meant to impact sports, Title IX has made a huge difference

In her report, Veronica Loveday writes about Women’s Rights Movement, during World War two, and many restrictions women faced. Women’s rights movement in the U.S. begun in the 1960s as a reaction to the decades of unfair social and civil inequities faced by women. Over the next thirty years, feminists campaigned for equality, such as equal pay, equal work , and abortion rights. Women finally gained the right to vote with the passage of the 19th amendment to the constitution in 1920.

New York Times journalist Karen Crouse described this lack of coverage seen for female sports. Crouse said the modern day female athlete feels “as if she is the sum total of her physical assets—or invisible” (LaVoi, 2013, p. 40).

It is obvious in the Western culture; gender makes a difference within the sports. Several studies have shown how reality discriminates within female sporting events and athletes when compared to males. The objective of this study is to examine how male athletes and sporting events dominate over female athletes and sporting events since Title IX law was passed in 1972. The law stated that no person on the basis of sex, in the U.S. would be discriminated against in any athletics or educational programs. Since Title IX, women have had an incline in sports participation, equal education experience, pay salaries, respect, and position opportunities. Though Title IX did make a change for females, it is still areas for improvements in

Not only should media outlets cover male and female athletic events based on equality, there should also be equal coverage due to the fact that it is important for female athletes to be represented in the media. Withholding representation of female athletes from the main sports networks reinforces to young girls that sports are only for men and that they should take up a more “traditionally feminine” activity, when we should be encouraging young females play sports. Since male athletic events dominate sport media it is easy for young boys to grow up believing that they can be the next Michael Jordan of basketball, Wayne Gretzky of hockey, or the next Usain Bolt of sprinting. These images of strong, successful male athletes are so renowned in

athletes has affected the coverage they receive within the mass media conglomerate. In an article titled “Gender Stereotyping in Televised Sports” the author states “the way in which television covers, or fails to cover, women engaged in athletics affects the way in which female athletes are perceived and also tells us something about the status of women in our society” and while this holds some truth society has come further than the quote presumes (Duncan et al). Media’s coverage of female athletes is either plentiful or underwhelming depending on which sport is being covered. Team sports like basketball and football are broadcasted heavily but only for the men’s teams. On the other hand individual sports like ice skating and tennis are heavily broadcasted but the majority are female players. The lack of coverage in female team sports is due to

In the last one hundred years women have made tremendous inroads in many facets of life. Of that there can be little doubt. Women may now hold jobs, own property and participate in professional sports. Today women can compete in sports, once a vestige of male domination; there is now room for women in that arena. But even today women in sports are not portrayed in the same light as their male counterparts. To a large degree this is because of today's cultural ideal of women.