I Won I M Sorry By Nelson Summary

As the article reveals the immense pay gap women are receiving compared to men when they achieve similar accomplishments. “Women players at Wimbledon, women's tennis has problems winning big sponsors. Golfer Juli Inkster won her sport's career grand slam last month, winning the Ladies Professional Golf Association Championship. She got $210,000. The same weekend, the Buick Classic paid its male winner $450,000” (Christian Science Monitor, 1999). As one can clearly infer women have been stripped of their equality in the realm of sports. Women work just as hard as men to achieve this success in their respected sport and should be rewarded for doing

While participation of women in sports has increased, the media representation of women in sports remains problematic. Even the most talented elite female athletes like Michelle Kwan and Monica Seles are portrayed in a sexual fashion, as a way of deemphasizing their athleticism and neutralizing any possible threat they might seem to pose to male viewers. Very few male athletes are portrayed in such an objectified manner; they are portrayed as competitors first and foremost, not as personalities. Also, the media coverage of athletes is disproportionately focused on male athletes. The coverage of female athletes tends to stress individualized female sports where women can be sexualized like tennis and figure skating, versus competitive team sports like basketball and soccer.

Women in professional sports fits into the Sex and Power: Global Gender Inequality class because many female athletes have experienced the inequalities in a professional sports setting. Female athletes are being put down by gender inequalities, causing less females participating in athletic programs. Women athletes are being paid less than their male counterparts. Along with being paid less, female and males are receiving unequal benefits in the form of scholarship, media coverage, transportation, and stadium conditions. The professional sport’s world is filled with the obsession of body image and sexuality. Through this obsession, female athletes have been abused from the people they trust the most. There is an increasing inequality in women’s professional sports in the form of pay, sexuality, and abuse.

Women have struggled for more than two centuries to be taken serious as professionals. There should not be a double standard in sports especially if it is loved and played by both genders. Over the years, females have competed against the stereotype of being too fragile both mentally and physically to play strenuous sports. The passion and work ethic of the female professional athletes is just as strong as the males and everyone should be treated equal and be able to have a chance at making a better living for themselves as well as their family. One area that still faces a continual struggle in sports is gender equality. Female

The creation of Title IX in 1972 banned gender discrimination in schools nationwide, particularly in sports (Huffman 4). Without it, superstar female athletes such as Lisa Leslie, Mia Hamm, or the Williams sisters would not be internationally famous. They also would not have the media exposure they get in sports without Title IX. In addition to the few that were just named, media is focusing more and more on female athletes such as Michelle Wie and this year's winter Olympic silver medalist in figure skating, Sasha Cowen. In conjunction with the popularity of female athletes, Title IX has pushed for equality over the past three decades. In Suzanna Huffman's article from "Mass Communication and Society," it states that "Title IX has encouraged school administrators to work toward gender equity in athletic spending, and now many more women participate in college sports and earn college athletic scholarships than in years past" (4). Although this statement is generalized, it is close to the truth in today's culture among men and women. The impact that Title IX has bestowed on women has created a positive outcome. It is astonishing to see what one document in 1972 can do to increase equality for women, yet create so many controversies with it.

This article talked about the daunting unequal media coverage in sports of male sports teams in comparison to females.They researched the true differentiations of coverage between men and women sports. The actual percentage difference of coverage of male vs female sports discovered in their research truly is unfathomable. Men’s sports receive 96.3% of the airtime, women’s sports 1.6% and gender neutral topics were 2.1%. When you think back about twenty years ago and the coverage of media people tend to think that America is generally trending positively forward, however that is not the case for the coverage of women's athletics. It has actually gone down since then. Although on the scarce occasion that they are feature in the news, more often than not they are conveyed in the stereotypical way: as wives, girlfriends, or mothers. When media is highlighting these aspects instead of their talent, hard work or success it takes away from their image as an athlete and it demonstrating that it is acceptable to do so in society. However if male athlete achieved equal success and he was a father, that

“If young boys began to see women in a leadership position in sports, which are so revered in this culture, they would begin to treat them with more respect”

American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias earned more medals, broke more records, and swept more tournaments in more sports than any other athlete, male or female, in the twentieth century. Within recent years, women have made huge strides in the world of sports and athletics but are still not getting proper recognition for the time, effort, and talent these women have put into their sport. Gender equality is a major problem in athletics, Title XI, sports media, and the sexualisation of females involved in athletics shows the clear divide in gender equality amongst men’s and women’s sports.

Women’s equality is an issue that has been around for awhile. While women have been given many rights to increase equality, including the right to vote and go to college, the problem hasn’t completely vanished. One area that still sees this is in sports. Women’s sports do not draw nearly as many fans and are not covered in the media as much as men’s sports, pay differences between male and female athletes are large, and female athletes have to wait longer to start their professional career than men, which risks their professional career before it even starts.

The only empowering story I found was a feature about the Notre Dame vs. UCLA women?s soccer match?and this only contained a picture and a brief summary of the game. Most print media sports stories are written by men?even the articles that are about women. This shows that males dominate the journalism field in general. It is funny that men can be experts on women and women in sport. This might also show that men are interested in women?s sport, realizing that the women?s sport movement is an important movement and should be given some credit.

After carefully analyzing the articles and ads in the magazine , I came to the conclusion that this magazine presents sports as an avenue for female empowerment . The articles empower women in sports throughout all parts of the world and share the success professional women athletes have acquired in their professional careers. It emphasized women athletes in a variety of different sports, which implied that women are in fact capable of participating and succeeding in every sport as equally as a man could . After reading " I won I'm sorry" I specifically looked for any references that Mariah Burton Nelson mentioned in her reading. I found that the athletes featured in the magazine didn't look as if they had any concerns in appearing

In postwar America, according to Vignola, “These women were re-entering a society that had never truly seen a viable, successful female athletes. Few people understood their accomplishments.” Now in 2012 many people realize that these women paved the way for many female athletes of today. It wasn’t until 1971 that women were allowed in the pits, garage area, or the press box at the Indianapolis 500 for any reason at all. Finally in 1983 that marathon runner Kathrine Switer was allowed to have women’s marathon declared a sport in the Olympic games, Women’s Professional Football League wasn’t established until 1999. Women have come a long way in sports, and society, to get where they are today and still women are sexualized rather than praised for their achievements.

Sexism limits our country. In a world where sexism still exists, women face challenges every day as they choose to embark in athletic activities. Even with the efforts of Title IX, which was established in 1972, there is not equality in sports for men and women. Sexism is real with stereotypes and discrimination on the basis of sex. Even with the high level of success reached by numerous female athletes of many different sports, male athletes always seem to have the upper hand. Whether it is pay, media, support, gear, or playing grounds, one sex always has the better of the two. Male athletes dominate a field that truly is shared by both sexes. What if we treated male athletes the way we treat female athletes? That is a world hard to imagine, and honestly, it shouldn't be. Through female athletes sharing their stories of unfair treatment and pay, sexism and generations of inequality in sports can be overcome.

The adverse topic of women in sports stems from society's disregard to viewing women as persons. Women were, and in other parts of the world continue to be viewed as property of men and have no significant role in society. Being allowed into the Olympics was a step in the right direction for women across the world, but it was meager attempt equality. Women were still restricted by what events they were allowed to compete in, how they were trained and coached and even limited as to what they could wear. A woman’s femininity played a large role in the way they were perceived by society; weak. Women were seen as incommensurate to men and it was something that has taken us centuries to reverse. Today, women are given the rights we should have

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.