Sports Equality

An on going issue facing education today is the growing controversial topic of gender equality in sports participation and it’s so call quota for achieving equality. The most notable action that has taken place as women continue to strive towards equality in the athletic realm is what is known as, Title IX. The basic ideas underlying Title IX are that “if an institution sponsors an athletics program, it must provide equal athletic opportunities for members of both sexes.” (Yoshida p.3) Simply put, Title IX attempts to achieve “equality” of funding for male and female athletes. The problem with this idea of complete “equality” is that no one agrees as to what

Speech Preparation Specific Purpose: After listening to my speech the audience will know the two main reasons for gender inequality in sports. Thesis: When it comes to athletics media coverage and unfair funding are the two largest contributors to gender inequality in sports today. Why I care: I care because I feel that any achievement in athletics regardless of gender or race should be remembered and celebrated as an accomplishment of human beings as a whole. I find it silly that women feel they have to outperform men in order to gain recognition in the mainstream of sports media.

All women athletes worked extremely hard to get where they are now, but with gender inequality in sports their hard work will go to waste. Gender inequality is unlawful because of Title IX, a law that was passed in 1972, that banned gender discrimination in sports (Buzuvis and Newhall). Even though it is against the law, many colleges and sports associations still give unfair benefits to men’s sports, such as more opportunities, better fields, higher salaries, etc, and are not getting punished for it. There were many cases when the women’s team made many times more money than the men’s team, and received millions of dollars less (Walters). Though it is against the law, the main reason that women are being discriminated against is the

It’s really the behind the scenes acts of the players and owners that dictate what we watch on television. This behind the scenes activity is the act of collective bargaining, which has existed since the begging. Collective bargaining in sports is the process by which owners in the professional sports leagues negotiate with the players in their league on every issue that affects the sport. In this paper we are going to focus on the NBA (NATIONAL Basketball Association)

Title IX changed the philosophy of sports establishing that a person’s sex cannot deny their participation in sports. This allowed women one step closer to equality throughout the workplace, at school, and even at home. Back in the day, women were only destined to be a housewife or a secretary. Not a lawyer, or involved in math and sciences, or even become a business owner. Girls in classrooms would raise their hand less because they didn’t have a reason to retain knowledge and they knew acknowledging the question would be useless in the field they choose to study. With Title IX, young girls are given the chance to play sports. Sports allow athletes to know how to retain information, make new friends, discipline, and how to work

The inequalities do not stop with aspects that directly affect the team but continue into the media with respect to air coverage time of women’s athletics. A twenty five year long study of gender in sports news determined a decrease in women’s coverage despite the indisputable gain in participation. For example, research showed that just 2% of ESPN’s SportsCenter airtime was utilized for women’s coverage in 2014. A Los Angeles news program was also studied and its airtime dedicated to women’s athletics has actually decreased since 1999 and remains at just 3.2% (4). Furthermore, the documentary Media Coverage and Female Athletes claims that, “forty percent of all athletes are women, but only 4% are represented in the media — and too often how

“In 2015, female full-time workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of twenty percent” (iwpr.org). Women are getting paid less to do the exact same job as men. Females of certain ethnicity make even less. Black and Hispanic women made thirteen dollars an hour while Asian and white women made eighteen dollars an hour. Not only is there a national pay gap statistic, but the pay gap can also range according to state. For example, in Wyoming, women were paid only 64 percent of what men were paid. (Miller) This means that no matter where a woman lives and works in the United States, she will have to face this gap every day.

“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 educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” (Anderson). These thirty seven words, known as Title IX, have transformed the athletic community for both males and females over the past forty two years. Many wonder why there is still so much talk about the inequalities of female and male sports even after forty two years of the enactment of Title IX. Violations of this law still occur and some may be closer to home than one thinks. In 2009, the Office of Civil Rights received a complaint for New Hanover County being out of compliance with Title IX which initiated a full investigation of all facilities and programs within the county (George). Soon, a list of issues found in the county was released with proper solutions that needed to be fulfilled within a short amount of time for risk of losing federal funding (George). Title IX is responsible for the constant maintenance and changes being done to equalize female and male sport’s programs because of the major impact sports have on female’s lives. After analyzing the current quality of athletics under Title IX, it becomes evident that the situation needs to be improved because of the positive influences equal opportunity athletics have on female empowerment and other aspects.

The 21st century is supposed to be a time of equality, where people of all races, religion, size, etc., are accepted. However, that is not the reality. The reality is this: women are overlooked. Women look and strive for the empowerment that men automatically have. They look for that sense of acceptance in all aspects of life. Gender inequality in sports is the problem at hand. Men are often seen as the dominant figure in athletics, while women are seen as being there for participation. This study is to show how women have evolved into competitors over time, yet are treated unequally.

One of the parts of the debate that I found the most effective would be the part that talk about the gender equality benefits such as decrease the high drop out rate, empower loves, health, quality of services, and positive guidance and role models for opposite sex. I also like the part of the debate where the presentations states the reasons for the gap in gender equality in college sports, which it talks about how many men are getting the coaching jobs and women are getting away from high level of authority positions to assistant positions.

Professional sports organizations are experiencing a lot of different social issues and have to decide if they want to let athletes speak out about them or not. They also need to decide if they are going to make any changes as a league to support the issues. The NFL and NBA are under a lot of pressure to make these decisions. They generally support the athletes speaking out on these issues and they have already made some changes themselves.

Gender Inequality should be resolved in sports, the salary and conditions need to be taken care of. Gender inequality in sports needs to be focused on. Many athletes have to find other ways for their achievements to be notices; they go to the extent on women athletes having to pose on the cover of swim suit covers just to get attention. Hannah Teter a very skilled Snow border has won two Olympic Metals and many other awards. These achievements meant nothing until she appeared in the Sports Illustrated 2010 Swimsuit collection. I’ve heard and read many stories like Hannah’s before, and have had to write many inequality essays on women and it all needs to be resolved. Gender inequality goes along way and has been seen in many stages, payment

elegant (e.g., grappling and submission). In this sense, it can be estimated that gender difference would affect the sport media consumption.

Social inequality is a part of many issues other than sports, but it is a part of sports to do several issues such as gender roles, salary and stereotypes.

Inequality and discrimination in sports is one of the most controversial topics of the modern political era, and as the most valuable sports brand in the world, Nike felt compelled to publicly address the issue. The message of equality is not only targeted at American sports fans, but encourages children who see their skin color as a barrier to success to achieve equality on the playing field: