Women's Sports Report

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.

Traditionally women were viewed as equipped to participate in sports, and their involvement was viewed as unfeminine and undesirable. This Article Examples the women were viewed as unfeminine to the sports that men play and undesirable. Young girls who are given an early opportunity to participate in sports may be more prepared for the male in classrooms. Even though women have often been relegated to second-hand citizenship in the same socializing, integration, statues, and recognition that benefit male athletes. (By; Sandra L. Hanson)

Peer pressure and self-esteem are two things girls are struggling with in today’s day and age, but female athletes encourage girls to get involved in sports in order to clear up some stresses they might be having. Female athletes promote confidence and strength which helps adolescent girls understand that these things are key to being a successful person in life. Experts state that by the age of 12, girls are 6 times more likely to drop out of playing sports than boys because girls do not receive as many positive reinforcements about their sports participation as boys. Female athletes can improve and change the behavior of the girls so that they will have confidence and feel like they want to

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

Within these recent years, women sports have taking a huge turn around even if the stats and numbers say otherwise. The fast uprising, influence and value of women sports fans has been one of the most distinctive changes in the sports marketing landscape in the last 40 years thanks to the Education Amendments and Title IX. We can see the impact of the second generation of young women growing up with much interest in sports, and female sporting celebrities who are closing the gap with their male counterparts. Many give the credit to this thanks to the US national soccer team. When they won the World Cup in 1991 the nation had no idea it had happened. In 1999 the team got to the final again and that game got millions of fans supporting there

In today’s world, men’s sports seem to always be in the spotlight while women’s sports do not draw much attention, as if women who play sports are not taken seriously. This happens on all levels of sports, and I have personally experienced it myself through basketball in high school. While the gym would be full for any of the boys’ games, our games had very little support with almost empty bleachers. When it comes to the professional level, when women’s sports do get covered by the media, most people judge female athletes more on their looks rather than their athletic skill, which is negative and unfair.

Before I conducted this media analysis about women in sports and sport broadcasting, I hypothesized the obvious - that more male sports would be in the media, and that there would be more male sports broadcasters as well. Through my observations I did find that the sports arena and sports broadcasting sphere are male dominated. However, I also found that although there are not many stories about women, there has been a steady progression and magazines like Sports Illustrated are becoming bold enough to highlight women athletes in a magazine that is targeted towards a male audience. Although women still have a long way to go, they are making some headway into the male-dominated sports arena.

The sports world has been a new area where women are recognized. In previous times women’s sports were almost non-existent. In schools many girl teams did not receive adequate funds for uniforms and equipment. Boys sports were much more popular, such as football or basketball. If a girl wanted to play a guy sport she would be labeled as a

In sports, women can benefit from the locus of physical control because it can create a sense of empowerment and freedom from being sexualized (Bradshaw, 2002). This is a common obstacle for young aspiring female athletes to come in sports. This is all due to the fact that women often feel submissive and less expressive about their actions in redefining body image for women. Women’s Sports Foundation (2011) mentioned the common things that girls face a lot in the coming of age time in their sport lives were the lack of good role models, few quality opportunities, and the poor sport conditions that are available to them. The social causes of their lives such as parents and friends can have a major role in shaping the girls’ decisions to join

Even though many believe that boys are more interested in sports, research shows that boys are not more interested in sports than girls. People used to believe that some sports were just for boys’. “87% of today's moms and dads generally accept the idea that sports are equally important for boys and girls”. What this shows is that parents no longer think that sports like football and baseball aren’t just for boys’. Even though some people believe that boys are more interested in sports than girls no research shows that they are more interested (MythBusting). When girls play sports with boys it can increase the girl's skill level (Ardsley). Since there are more opportunities for boys to play sports when they are younger, more boys who play sports. For some girls who want to play sports, they can have psychological and sociological difficulties. Even though girls might have to play on a boys’ team, they tend to have higher grades

While it is common to see girls playing sports, more and more of them drop out. A statistic of this founded by The Women’s Sports Foundation is “that six girls drop out of sports for every one boy by the end of high school, and twenty-three percent of girls between the ages of eleven and seventeen do not play sports because they do not think that their body looks good doing so.” (Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect.) Again, this all falls back onto the repeated images seen all over the place. Society and media feeds both women and girls a completely narrow image of society approved feminine expectations. For the positive end of the spectrum with sports, girls are just as competitive with them as men. Due to the fact that women do play sports this has been “linked to better body image, lower teen pregnancy rates and higher scholastic performance.” (Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect.) These types of opportunities need to be promoted more and made clearer to younger girls that it is okay to play sports. A general attitude of female athletics is that they are unfeminine and unsexy. This is wrong because plenty of professional female athletes are also models. Some modeling is a bit provocative at times, but the point of being an attractive, independent woman and athlete can be derived from

From the three network affiliates they studied, they found that 96.3 percent of the coverage was for men’s sports and women only received 1.6 percent (Messner and Cooky 4). When analyzing the coverage of Sports Center, which is arguably the most popular sports show on television, they found that women still only received just 1.4 percent of their coverage (4). This study also found that 100 percent of the Sports Center programs had a lead story that was about men’s sports (4). Even the most renowned and credible sports show, which only shows sports all year long, does not even provide women’s sports with equal attention. Even more shocking than this was that the study also revealed that reporters devoted more coverage to men’s sports that were out of season than they did women’s sports that were actually in season (4). This can be extremely disrespectful to female athletes when their sport is pushed aside and ignored so that a men’s sport that is not even being played can be covered by the media. These women put all their effort into performing their sport at the highest level, but their media attention gets replaced by men who are in their off-season.

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.

Similarly women are receiving less attention and media coverage than men. When someone puts on the television and turns on a sports game, it is most likely going to be a men’s sport. Even when females get their coverage, the commentators are usually talking about their body rather than their skill. In an article, “Examination of Gender Equality and Female Participation in Sport” by Joshua A. Senne, he talks about how women are referred by their appearance rather than their skill. During a study about the media, the commentators mostly talked about the women’s hair, make-up, and body figure, rather than their ability. This also occurred after the 1996 summer Olympics, where there was a lack of promotion for female athletes and the marketing of women’s sports. These athletes were also only recognized by their physical appearance instead of their ability. The tone of these broadcasters was proved in a study that men 's events were the standard in the society rather than the women’s. They would list the event as “other” rather than saying it is a women’s sport. In the study that was conducted, it states that the gender marketing showed that the woman sports were marked as “other” on an average of 27.5 times, but it 's never happened in the men’s sporting events (Senne). There is still coverage of women 's sports, but it rarely covered. The title IX project made a pie chart about the comparison of men’s and women’s sports media coverage on the show SportsCenter on