Despite the vast achievements made by women in sports, they are continuously overlooked and undermined by both the media and the general public. Deep-rooted gender stereotypes persist in the modern world, resulting in the discouragement of young women from pursuing professional careers in athletics. The belittling of female athletes has become too commonly accepted, serving as a reminder of society’s lack of progress in achieving gender equality.
One of the biggest factors that contributes to inequality in sports is the disparities in media coverage between men and women. In a recent study, researchers concluded that 95 percent of sports coverage on the popular site, SportsCenter, was centered around men’s sports, and only 5 percent of coverage was centered around women’s sports. The lack of media coverage for women is charged by persisting gender stereotypes throughout the world. The majority of current sports media coverage for men works to emphasize the strength and athleticism of male athletes, whereas media coverage of women in sports tends to highlight aspects unrelated to their careers, such as style choices and family life. The clear discrepancy in media coverage for men and women in sports, as well as the gender stereotyping it is fueled by, indicates the lack of forward movement in initiatives to end gender inequality.
A popular topic of discussion regarding gender inequity is the pay gap. While much work has been done to narrow the pay gap between men and women within the past decade, the wage gap remains a large issue within the world of sports, contributing to the undermining of female athletes. Although women in sports have begun to bring in an increasing number of profits from sporting events, they remain severely underpaid in comparison to their male counterparts. At a collegiate level, the Women’s Sports Foundation recently reported that male athletes were rewarded nearly 252 million dollars more in athletic scholarships than female athletes. The disparity in monetary incentives for sports is one of the leading contributors to the discouragement of young women from pursuing professional athletic careers. As foundations throughout the nation continue to work towards eliminating wage gaps in various fields, they must account for the pay disparities among professional athletes in order to ensure equal encouragement and opportunities for all genders within the world of athletics.
The act of overlooking women in sports is not a passive one. The small amount of media coverage for female athletes has become increasingly focused on stereotypical aspects of their careers, or even straying from their walk of life entirely. When this occurs, coverage often tends to drift towards the body image of women in sports. Unnecessary and unappreciated criticism of the physical appearance of these athletes has become a hot topic of conversation in many news outlets. Where men are often praised and glorified for obtaining muscular builds from their time dedicated to their sports career, women face harsh judgment from the public eye. This judgment, combined with sociocultural pressures placed on women to change their appearance, provides further disincentives for young women to avoid pursuing a sports-centered career.
Ultimately, the lack of media coverage for female athletes does not just influence what the audience sees but also how athletes are valued. Limited coverage helps to reinforce outdated gender stereotypes, justify major wage gaps and distort the body image of athletes. Until women are given consistent and fair attention from the media, inequality will persist and the playing field will never truly be even.
