John Vincent’s article, Equitable Media Coverage of Female and Male Athletes: Is there a Solution?”, analyzes the many challenges female athletes face when it comes to representation in the media compared to male athletes.
Vincent’s argument is that society has stereotyped women with a certain gender role of being sexual. One example is that of Anna Kournikova. She plays tennis but is not a considerable talent such as Serena or Venus Williams. Kournikova plays into the stereotype of being sexual. Her appearances in Sports Illustrated and other publications show how her role is not of an athlete, but rather a sexual entity.
There are many social constructed ideas about female athletes that Vincent touches upon. One of the ideas is “gender appropriate sports.” Vincent notices female athletes who compete in tennis, swimming, gymnastics and so forth receive more media coverage. The idea is women who compete in more physical sports, such as field hockey, are categorized as being more masculine and thus receive far less attention.
A key aspect for women not receiving as much media coverage is because of revenue. Female athletics doesn’t draw the money men’s athletics do. For that reason, newspapers do not lead with a female story as often as a male story.
Women also don’t receive the same respect when it comes to sports journalism as a career. Sports journalism is a male dominated work place and this is still evident today, most notably on ESPN. There are female anchors on the network but generally, women work as side-line reporters. Not many women have been able to work their way from the side-line to a higher position. A reason for this is could be attributed to the stereotypes of women in society. In some ways this is true. Pam Ward, and ESPN announcer, is criticized for her play calling abilities. She often gets things wrong, and to a big sports fan, this can be seen as unacceptable. It also doesn’t help female analysts when there are blogs about how poorly Ward does.
One of the main problems I see with women breaking the barrier into mainstream sports is history. Men’s sports have saturated history, and women have been competing for a much shorter time then men. The gap between the two almost seems insurmountable. Even though history has changed, and women have gone from the household to the workplace, history has yet to change the dominant role of sports.
Even when there is a terrific female sports story in society, it generally gets overshadowed by a lesser male event. There have been times when female athletes have been able to snag the headlines such as the US Women’s World Cup team, the UCONN basketball program, and Shawn Johnson.
The conclusion Vincent gives is interesting to note. We do live in a society saturated by media and the Internet, but ultimately it is the parent’s responsibility to nudge their daughters into a direction of athletics. The idea of sitting on a couch and gaining weight is not something any parent wants. Vincent says, “it is important that parents perceive that their daughters' athleticism will be valued,” is a good measure of how a child relies on their parents to teach good lessons to them even if they don’t see them on TV or the Internet.
I believe female athletes are just as talented as male athletes. A good example is Danica Patrick. She has won an Indy Car race and continues to beat men every weekend on the track. I believe most people know she is a race car driver, but many would recognize her as the Go Daddy sponsor. She wears tight clothes and is seen with other gorgeous women in the ads. There are many other great athletes out there but still have little recognition with endorsements or by the media.
At the end of his article, Vincent lists ways in which the media can change their approach in order to equally give the same amount of coverage to both sexes. However, like most things, it all comes down to money. The media is a business, and they need followers in order to survive. It is clear to see where the media stands on male vs. female athletics. It would be hard to change something that has worked for the media for such a long time.
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