Mass Media vs. Women in Sports
Written by Naza Yammine
Thumbnail Photo by Jeffrey F Lin on Unsplash
The impact that mass media has on society is undeniable. Its presence is apparent in various mediums, whether it be the news we watch on television and read on our phones or the various forms of content we consume on a daily basis such as movies, TV, and social media. In the world of sports, media is of great value, ensuring fans from around the globe can consistently stay updated on match results, highlights and athlete profiles on their own time. With all of these factors taken into consideration, as well as the influence and accessibility of mass media in our day and age, it is easy to assume that there is a place for everyone in the world of sports broadcasting. However, certain groups of people, specifically minorities, still tend to be left out. Whether these minorities are those of different ethnicities, age groups, disabilities or sexualities, many are underrepresented or misrepresented when certain topics are addressed in the sports world. Considering the broad nature of representation within sports in the media, my focus will be on addressing the issue of gender equality in sports broadcasting, specifically with regard to varsity teams.
Photo by Franck Castel / MPP / SIPA. Naomi Osaka at the French Open.
The media has the power to both promote and challenge social norms and stereotypes regarding gender. In athletic broadcasting, there is an explicit focus placed on female athletes’ family life, appearance, and age, whereas male athletes are often only discussed in relation to their sport. Women also appear to be held to a higher standard when it comes to their behaviour in the sports world; Broadcasters are quick to call female athletes “too emotional” when they have any simple reaction. A great example of how the media scrutinizes female athletes is what Serena Williams has had to go through during interviews. Williams has been portrayed as angry and aggressive countless times by different news outlets after she rightly defends herself against unethical and unprofessional questions. Most notably, Ben Rothenberg, a freelance sports journalist, is known for his claims about Serena Williams being “aggressive” during an interview. However, through watching the interview, it becomes clear that she was simply calmly replying to a false accusation. This example reinforces the stereotype that women must always be polite, calm and collected in order to get their point across. More recently, Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open tournament due to her anxiety around talking to the press shows how media scrutiny impacts female athletes' mental health and willingness to compete, especially since she was at risk of being fined or even barred for missing media events.
In addition to the social norms that the media tends to push on female athletes, there is a lack of sports coverage for female athletes and teams overall. According to UNESCO, despite the fact that 40% of all professional athletes are women, they receive only 4% of all sports media coverage. If we think about how we approach sports on a day-to-day basis, we can see how this is true in a general sense. When it comes to the world of soccer, for example, conversations about events such as the Champions League, the FIFA World Cup, and the Euro Cup are all surrounding the male teams; we rarely hear discussions about the female teams participating in soccer leagues, or about the female athletes. Minimal airtime for female sports prevents younger female athletes from finding their own role models and considering how female athletes are presented in the media, it also affects how young women value sports and even their own contributions to society. In fact, by the time young female athletes are 14, they are twice as likely to drop out of their sport than boys due to the social stigma associated with women in sports.
Photo by Jeffrey F Lin on Unsplash
As most of the focus of this article thus far has been on larger-scale sporting leagues and events, where does varsity broadcasting fall into the topic of gender equality in sports media? With college sports constituting such a large part of campus life, the teams that represent universities, and as such, the coverage of varsity sports, are valuable to students and professors. A study was conducted by Charlie Tuggle at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dana Rosengard at Quinnipiac University in which they analyzed university sports coverage among college and university newspapers. They found that almost 73% of sports articles in print and over 81% of television sports programming covered men’s varsity athletics. In contrast, women’s varsity sports received around 11% of the coverage. The authors of the study did notice that when varsity female sports teams or athletes were covered, the quality of the coverage was equivalent to that pertaining to men, however, there still remains an issue. The problem here is more so related to the lack of stories being covered featuring female athletes.
Another article by Ph.D. candidate, Steph Macay and Dr. Christine Dallaire at the University of Ottawa posits that while gender inequality in sports still exists in university media, it is to a lesser extent than what we find in mainstream media. Finally, USPORTS, the national governing body of university sport in Canada, has made important strides towards diversity in sports on a national level, which is reflected in their broadcasting sources. In their Strategic Plan for 2019-2024, they have implemented Priority 2.3 entitled “Diversity” in which the focus is to increase awareness of the diversity within Canadian university sports, with their goal being to have more inclusive representation. When looking at the USPORTS website, whether it be the news they upload or the “Athlete of the Week” column, it is clear that there is an attempt to include all participants as equally and fairly as possible.
Although there appears to be hope in this upcoming generation for fairer coverage in sports, seeing as though there is increasingly more equal representation in university media, there are still many obstacles to be faced. It is important to note that even though there have been great strides and improvements made for gender equality within sports media, there are still many minorities that are excluded and should not be left out of the conversation. In addition, there is still a need for mass media to start celebrating and highlighting female athletes for their dedication and skill, as it is these women who have the power to dismantle the stereotypes that have become social norms in our society.