Gender In Sports

[clearlycorinna-blog]

Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sports

In my blog, I explore how gender impacts how athletes are handled in our society. Beyond gender, race and ethnicity also influence how our society views and treats athletes. While college athletics and many professional sport leagues in the US have a diverse group of athletes, the managing organizations do not reflect the same gender and racial diversity. White men hold 87.5% of athletic director positions in the Football Bowl Subdivision, a conference of colleges. The remaining positions are occupied by African Americans (7.5%), Latinos (3.3%), and white women (3.3%). Even in women’s NCAA sports, women hold only 38% of head coach positions. Ultimately, women of racial minorities are the most underrepresented group in sports. Not only do they represent a small percentage of coaching staff, but women of racial minorities also have very low participation rates. Many factors, such as social and economic status, contribute to this.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

I was just a kid who wanted to run, and was there as a reward from my coach who didn’t believe that a woman could run the distance... It wasn’t until a race official attacked me during the run did I become determined to finish and speak out on behalf of all women.

-Kathrine Switzer

Switzer was the first woman to officially enter in the Boston Marathon. This was her response when asked why she ran the marathon. Switzer has inspired women around the world to engage in running from when she first ran the Boston Marathon in 1967 up until today. Rather than be demoralized by the oppression, Switzer was fueled and inspired by people telling her women couldn't run fast or over long distances.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

John Tucker Must Die is the ultimate high school movie, but it contributes to gender stereotypes in sports. Even though it seems like the girls are taking charge of their lives and destroying the man they hate, they are really just expendable characters filling stereotypical roles. Their one desire is to be an arm accessories to the most popular boy in school, the star of the basketball team. While John Tucker is a talented athlete, the girls are simply there to elevate his image. They are incapable of playing sports, such as volleyball, without their feelings getting in the way. Movies like this contribute to the subconscious feeling that girls should date athletes but not be athletes, unless they are cheerleaders, who support male athletes. John Tucker Must Die is far from the only movie to portray sports and gender like this.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

In this clip, BBC commentator John Inverdale, makes a comment on-air about how the 2013 women’s Wimbledon champion, Marion Bartoli, had to make up for not looking like Maria Sharapova by playing scrappier and more determined. He suggests that by simply being “a looker” and having “long legs”, women like Sharapova have an advantage in sports. He undermines both womens' accomplishments by saying their looks will always be more important than their athletic achievements. Inverdale is not the only commentator to express these feelings; athletes such as Sharapova can hardly be discussed in media without someone mentioning their looks. It is a shame that women in sports can’t be considered on their achievements alone.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

recognition differences between men's and women's sports

[clearlycorinna-blog]

This cartoon show how boys' athletic achievements in high school receive a disproportionally large amount of attention compared to girls. The lack of praise for female athletes in high school pushes other girls away from sports. This trend both devalues girls' achievement in sports and discourages girls from playing sports.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

Gender in sports through my lens

Growing up, my parents put me into many different sports when I was 6 years old to see which one I liked to most and was best at. Much of my childhood revolved around the sports I played, mainly swimming and soccer. Swimming is a very individual sport and competitions are almost always held for men and women at the same time, so I didn’t notice a lot of differences across genders in sports until I reached high school. In high school, what first made me angry was that the less well-known sports, such as swimming and water polo, received terrible funding, and equipment, even though our teams had great records compared to other teams. I started talking to other athletes at school and found that many girls agreed with this. They said the men’s teams got better practice times, better equipment, and always played on the better fields. In high school the disproportion between men and women’s sports was already very apparent to me, and beyond high school sports this inequality becomes even greater.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

What is your opinion on co-ed sports? Do you think it would be possible to look past someone's gender and just take them as an athlete and their ability?

At higher athletic levels, I think co-ed leagues can be dangerous because of biological differences between men and women. The top male athletes in each sport will generally outperform the top female athletes because men are larger and stronger, but this doesn’t mean that female athletes are weak or bad at their sports. Having played in a co-ed water polo league however, I believe that at lowers levels of athletics, co-ed sports are useful to get more people playing the sport. If this league were not co-ed, there would be many women interested in playing water polo, but unable to play because their school doesn’t support a women’s team. More importantly, I think male and female sports should receive equal recognition and opportunity. 

[clearlycorinna-blog]

Interview

I interviewed a female member of the UMASS women's ice hockey team about her opinions and knowledge of gender in sports.

What sports do you play?

Soccer, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse

Are there any differences in rules between the women's sport and the men's equivalent?

In hockey, girls can’t check, while men can. In lacrosse, girls have different sticks that have no pocket at the top. Men where pads and helmets and are allowed to hit. Women wear only facemask and cannot hit or get close to the head sphere, so many penalties are called in the game. Also, many girls’ lacrosse and field hockey teams wear skirts. 

Do you think the rules are fair?

In single gender leagues checking should be okay for both men and women. The size differences between male and women athletes makes checking between genders dangerous. Women should be allowed to check and have the same rules as males because checking in a female league is no more dangerous than checking in a men's league.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

Generative Writing Remix

In the essay “The Braindead Megaphone”, George Saunders describes the way media functions in our high-tech, modern society. Saunders begins by comparing today’s media to an unintelligent person yelling things through a megaphone at a party. This person, like much of popular media, is ineffective in delivering stories because he blurts out his thoughts before thinking about how to express them best. Because he is the loudest voice in the room, people tend to listen to him. In 2013, women’s sports received 7% of coverage and 0.4% of the total value of commercial sponsorships. The media is showing an unbalanced amount of men’s and women’s sports, and people accept that because of their undying dependence on the media. Because the media mostly shows only men’s sports, viewers become more interested and invested in men’s sports. Then, because the public seems to prefer men’s sports to women’s, the media continues to show men’s sports. And thus, our society stays trapped in a cycle of allowing the media to dictate what the public likes.

[evogel303-blog]

The Gender Pay Gap [Infographic] - NerdWallet Credit Card Blog

April 9, 2013 is Equal Pay Day, and it represents how far into 2013 women must work simply to earn what their male counterparts earned in 2012.  Due to the…

Here’s an infographic showing the pay gap over time. It also shows how the jobs that actually women more than men are the professions where there are way less women than men.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

Women in the work force earn 77 cents where a man earns a dollar. This pay inequality is even more pronounced in the sports industry. The coaches of professional women's teams ear 63 cents for every dollar earned by a men's head coach. Professional sports are not protected by any law such as Title IX for college sports, so it is difficult for women to fight this injustice.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

Funding Inequality in College Sports

Gender Inequity in Collegiate Sports (from women's sports foundation)

Even though female students comprise 57% of college student populations, female athletes received only 43% of participation opportunities which is 56,110 fewer participation opportunities than their male counterparts.

Although the gap has narrowed, male athletes still receive 55% of college athletic scholarship dollars, leaving only 45% to be allocated to women.

Women's teams receive only 38% of college sport operating dollars and 33% of college athletic team recruitment spending.

In NCAA Division I-A, head coaches for women's teams receive an average salary of $850,400 while head coaches for men's teams average $1,783,100. This is a difference of $932,700.

Men's college sports consistently receive more funding than women's sports. This inequality discourages females from pursuing athletics because they do not believe they will have a solid future in their sport. College is a place that should provide equal opportunity to all their students... no one should receive favoritism. 

[clearlycorinna-blog]

The "Throw Like a Girl" Myth | MythBusters

Is there any credence to the insult, "You throw like a girl?" Here's the answer! | For more, visit http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters#mkcpgn=ytdsc...

Have you ever been told you play like a girl or throw like a girl? People usually use that as an insult, but its may not be as insulting as they think. This MythBusters clip shows that women scientifically just as skilled as men in throwing. "Thorwing like a girl" should never be used as an insult. It devalues women's achievements in athletics and discourages young women from participating in sports.

[thebroadcastblog]

University of Connecticut soccer player Noriana Radwan was indefinitely suspended from the team after she flipped off an ESPN camera following UConn’s women’s soccer team conference championship win yesterday.

Countless male college athletes have gone unpunished for far worse infractions.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

Even though women's sports have far less viewers than men's sports, this woman received harsher punishment than males who committed similar or worse infractions. Men and women should receive the same punishment for the same infraction in sports and society.

[sofsocialgood]

 “They didn’t expect to see a Muslim girl box. It’s like, oh my god, a woman’s doing something. She’s not staying at home and just being a housewife,” says Ambreen Sadiq, one of Britain’s first Muslim female boxers.

Throughout her boxing journey, the 20-year-old former UK champion has faced serious prejudice from the British Muslim community, her neighbors, her school friends and even some members of her family. She says she has been bullied in school and even received death threats after her sister made her a Facebook fan page. She believes the controversy has more to do with culture and how people have been brought up rather than religion.

Though she is disappointed at the lack of support from her community, Sadiq remains undeterred and continues to box. “Anything that you do, there are going to be people that are negative and don’t like it. You have to decide: do you want to do what you love, or do you want to please other people? Don’t let anyone get in the way of your dream no matter who it is,” she says in a recent interview with the Telegraph.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

Congratulations to Ambreen Sadiq for debunking gender, religious, and cultural stereotypes. 

[clearlycorinna-blog]

3 more blogs to follow

http://thefeministherald.tumblr.com/

http://yayfeminism.tumblr.com/

http://halftheskymovement.tumblr.com/ 

These blogs focus on feminism as a whole. There are occasional posts about women in sports, but they also discuss other problems women face today. halftheskymovement focuses on women's issues around the world and conveys specific stories.

[lnthefade]

It’s 2014. I thought we were done with this shit. 

Women sports fans are just that, sports fans. No need to differentiate between men and women.  Stop treating us like we’re somehow different than you when it comes to sports, guys. Contrary to what this article states, we see the games the same way as you. We’re sports fans for the same reasons as you. We all love the games, why draw a dividing line between us? Let’s just all enjoy our favorite teams together and stop this nonsense. 

Want to talk to women sports fans about sports? Talk to us like we are people. Talk to us the way you’d talk to your buddy. Assume if we are sports fans we know the game as well as you do. Talk to us. Not at us. Not down to us. As in all walks of life, treat us with a little fucking dignity, ok?

And here’s another aspect: If a woman you’re interested doesn’t like sports, leave it alone. Find other things you are both interested in to talk about. Don’t be condescending to her about it, or try to find a way to insert sports into the conversation when she’s clearly not interested. That’s kind of self centered.

On edit: The article was written by a woman. Ugh.

[clearlycorinna-blog]

Men’s Health Magazine published an article entitled “How to Talk about Sports with Women”. The twitter post was deleted a day later after people informed them that the article was offensive. Men’s Health Magazine is not the only one to have suggested that women are uninformed or uninterested in sports. Why is it so surprising that women can enjoy watching sports as well? Women, like men, are humans and therefore are capable of understanding and appreciating the same things. Of course not all women enjoy watching sports, but not all men enjoy watching sports either. Recently, the NFL has become slightly more inclusive of their female fans. Female fans are sometimes portrayed in NFL TV commercials, and it is possible to find a jersey for women that is not pink, tight, and sparkly. But as a whole the sports community is still not very welcoming to female fans. But women continue to watch because they enjoy the actual sport so much.