GENDER INEQUALITY - SPORT

LACK OF MEDIA ATTENTION

Women are making great sporting achievements, yet the media attention to back it up unlike male sporting achievements is very minimal.

This lack of media coverage is a major issue for the sports industry and not just the female athletes involved in sport. Not to mention they are usually objectified and sexualized.

Ian Bell has been widely reported as being this year’s “player of the year”, thanks to his valiant contributions with the bat against Australia, and this has been covered extensively in the media (including a lengthy interview in the Guardian with Vic Marks)

“Player of the year”

MULTI-Ashes-winning captain Charlotte Edwards was named “women’s player of the year” – yet despite being the only English cricketer to captain as much as 200 international games alone, she’s either ignored or relegated to a single sentence, as if her achievements are not even worth covering.

“Women’s player of the year”

�  This lack of media attention on Women’s sporting achievements, means that there is significantly fewer sportswomen idols out there who young women can aspire to be like.

�  This issue of minimal media coverage must be addressed especially in sports such as cricket where the potential of significant growth is evident, as female teams have been playing since the 18th century.

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/tennis/video/watch/26069076/end-game-wawrinka-v-copil/

Stan Wawrinka Stan Wawrinka is ranked 7th in the world in Men’s single tennis. This is his interview in the 2015 Australian Open after his second round match.

Interviewee talks about the match and Stan’s great performance.

Eugenie Bouchard Eugenie Bouchard is ranked 7th in the world in Women’s single tennis. This is her interview in the 2015 Australian Open after her second round match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r35Dyk9fze4

Interviewee does not mention anything related to performance or the match.

�  This is a great example of minimal media attention regarding women’s sporting achievements as well as objectification of a great female athlete. Do you see him asking Wawrinka to flex his muscles?

�  You do not need to look far to see this attitude towards women reflected throughout the world of sport.

�  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs

Leisel Jones, three time Australian gold medalist of swimming was photographed during pre-Olympic training of 2012. The Melbourne Herald Sun from ran a full-color, two-page spread, using the photos questioning her fitness level because she looks a bit “chunky” in her swimsuit compared to four years ago. The paper even ran an online poll asking readers if Jones was Olympics-ready.

WRONG TYPE OF ATTENTION

SPORTING SALARIES/PRIZE MONEY

�  The gender gap of salary and wages in sport is improving yet still clearly existent.

�  BBS Sport carried out a study where 51 governing bodies of different sports were contacted and prize money figures and comparisons were given.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29744400

My sporting hero when I was younger was always Christiano Ronaldo, he roughly earned $52 million in salary and winnings last year. The media attention on men’s football leagues in Europe is phenomenal and creates superstars such as Ronaldo; talent is most definitely a major contributing factor in this case however. Who’s to say with more funding in women’s sporting leagues and media coverage, there can’t be a billion dollar female footballer?

Netball is a popular women’s sport in Australia and Caitlin Bassett would be a hero to many girls and women around Australia like Ronaldo is to me. The West Coast fevers (Bassett’s) team has a $240,000 salary cap shared between 12 players ($20,000ea a year), This is quite a dramatic difference to an A-league (Australian) soccer team’s salary cap which is roughly $2.5 million

This makes it hard especially for players like Caitlyn Bassett who has international duties and may need a second job but doesn’t have the time. Where is the incentive for women to even want to become professionals at what they love?

-  This issue needs to be addressed by encouraging girls at an early age to play their favorite sport and stick with it.

-  The Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed in 2007 that Health/fitness as the main motivator to participate in sport for women was (59%); higher than the corresponding figure for males (50%)

-  Whereas a higher percentage of males (27%) reported enjoyment as a motivator for than females (16%)

-  http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/142220/ABS_-_Motivators_and_Constraints_to_particpation_in_Sports_and_Physical_Recreation.pdf

More funding in Women’s sporting leagues would be vital in their growth and create more media coverage which would then lead to more interest in sports and more participants.

This lack of media coverage, unbalanced salaries and poor attitude towards sportswomen and women’s sports are creating a significant in-equality between genders and sport which can be fixed if change is made.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

�  http://whatmencando.net/reflect/inequality/

�  http://www.newstatesman.com/sport/2014/06/why-media-still-erasing-women-s-achievement-sport

�  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2920538/Canadian-tennis-star-Eugenie-Bouchard-embarrassed-old-guy-TV-presenter-asks-outfit-Australian-Open.html

�  http://www.sbnation.com/london-olympics-2012/2012/7/27/3196963/female-olympians-objectified-as-swimming-flap-uniform-rules-show

�  http://www.smh.com.au/sport/living-a-dream-dreaming-of-a-living-20110725-1hwyv.html