The graph above shows how much air time on television is used for men's sports and women's sports.
Women in sports have always been at a disadvantage in every aspect possible. Although we have tried to make improvements, such as Title IX, to try and balance out the ratio, it is and never will be on the same level in this male dominated field.
With so much focus on gender, women have been increasingly pushed to become spectators of sports then actual participators. In the NFL women fans have grown from 29% in 1998 to 58% in 2008. In MLB women comprise of 42%; 31.8% in NBA and 24.1% in NASCAR. The WNBA estimated in 2009 that 40% of its TV audience was women and 53.9% of those actually who attended the games were also women. The increase in women spectators could be a direct correlation to the lack of coverage and support of women sports.
In fact a study by Duncan and Messner (1994) who looked at 126 local news channels in Los Angeles concluded that 70% contain no coverage in women sports. In the same study women sports only comprise 6.3% airtime compared to 91.4% of men overall. Women are generally not accepted in sports because sports are seen as a male “only club” because people do not look at women in the same light as being strong and skilled. Women are stereotyped to be feminine and in fact a study by Kane (1989) proved that women who participated in more “socially accepted” sports such tennis or golf received more coverage then women who played in more male dominated fields such as basketball. Another perspective to look at is women coaches. 90% of coaches in either gender sports are still men coaches. Surprisingly the numbers of women coaches in women sports have declined from 90% to 42.4%.
Women again are at a disadvantage when we breakdown the numbers of contracts and sponsorships. While men are judged on purely skill in their respective sports, women are judged less on their actually skills but how they can be marketed which always comes down to sexualizing themselves. You can see this by looking at the top paid women athletes such as Maria Sharapova or Danica Patrick who all clearly play that role. When we look at sport contracts, and only contracts not sponsorships, the largest contract signed by a male was $275,000,000(Alex Rodriguez) compared to the largest contract by a female was only $25,000,000. The same holds true when we look at sponsorships.
In conclusion while women have raised the glass ceiling in sports, they will never be equal to men. If you look at sports as a work place (which it is in its own right) then the Equal Pay Act passed by congress which states “men and women must be paid equal wages if they perform substantially the same work” or the 1964 Civil Rights Act which prohibited discrimination of employment base on race and sex never really passed. There is clearly still discrimination and inequality in sports. Just something to think about.
-Brian Tran
With so much focus on gender, women have been increasingly pushed to become spectators of sports then actual participators. In the NFL women fans have grown from 29% in 1998 to 58% in 2008. In MLB women comprise of 42%; 31.8% in NBA and 24.1% in NASCAR. The WNBA estimated in 2009 that 40% of its TV audience was women and 53.9% of those actually who attended the games were also women. The increase in women spectators could be a direct correlation to the lack of coverage and support of women sports.
In fact a study by Duncan and Messner (1994) who looked at 126 local news channels in Los Angeles concluded that 70% contain no coverage in women sports. In the same study women sports only comprise 6.3% airtime compared to 91.4% of men overall. Women are generally not accepted in sports because sports are seen as a male “only club” because people do not look at women in the same light as being strong and skilled. Women are stereotyped to be feminine and in fact a study by Kane (1989) proved that women who participated in more “socially accepted” sports such tennis or golf received more coverage then women who played in more male dominated fields such as basketball. Another perspective to look at is women coaches. 90% of coaches in either gender sports are still men coaches. Surprisingly the numbers of women coaches in women sports have declined from 90% to 42.4%.
Women again are at a disadvantage when we breakdown the numbers of contracts and sponsorships. While men are judged on purely skill in their respective sports, women are judged less on their actually skills but how they can be marketed which always comes down to sexualizing themselves. You can see this by looking at the top paid women athletes such as Maria Sharapova or Danica Patrick who all clearly play that role. When we look at sport contracts, and only contracts not sponsorships, the largest contract signed by a male was $275,000,000(Alex Rodriguez) compared to the largest contract by a female was only $25,000,000. The same holds true when we look at sponsorships.
In conclusion while women have raised the glass ceiling in sports, they will never be equal to men. If you look at sports as a work place (which it is in its own right) then the Equal Pay Act passed by congress which states “men and women must be paid equal wages if they perform substantially the same work” or the 1964 Civil Rights Act which prohibited discrimination of employment base on race and sex never really passed. There is clearly still discrimination and inequality in sports. Just something to think about.
-Brian Tran