Gender Gap In Sports

The three articles selected are entitled “The Gender Gap in Sport Performance: Equity Influences Equality” by Laura Capranica et al., “100 Women: Is The Gender Pay Gap in Sport Really Closing?” by Valeria Perasso and “Gender Bias in American Sports: Lack of Opportunity, Lack of Administrative Positions and Lack of Coverage in Women’s Sports” by Erik F. Person. Generally, these three articles discussed about the gender gap in the field of sports which is often ignored and neglected. The gender gap in sports included a few aspects such as opportunity, media coverage, pay and sponsorship as well as participation and position. It is obvious that the sports world is biased against women in terms of opportunity. According to Laura, Italy only

As athletes participate in a competition or sign a contract with a particular company, there will be sponsors providing them with financial and all kinds of other supports. However, male athletes often receive more financial support than women by their companies or sponsors. They do not need to worry much about their salaries and livings. An example given by Valeria Perasso is golfer Tiger Woods and track star Usain Bolt’s whose sponsorship account is over 90% of their earnings. Women often face problem in securing their livelihood and ensuring a supported life. As Laura mentioned, male athletes are even supported financially by having extended careers as coaches, trainers, referees or managers. Most retired sportswomen do not earn much and do not have guarantee in pension. The pay gap between men and women in sports is obvious and clear ending up that less women join sports because men are treated much better than them. Women will not want to risk their living and involve themselves in a field where they are often neglected. According to Erik, women will continue to face an uphill battle in sports performance. As women advocate for stronger pay, men will automatically come in and take over the coaching position since women are always more particular in certain

This point is simultaneously discussed by the three authors. As shown by Valeria, only up to 4% of sports media coverage went to female sports. It is a general truth where media is a very useful platform in spreading news and information. Media helps in building audience and fans. The media coverage plays a role in influencing the audience which team to support. The way they portray, the way they describe and how they analyse the teams and players affects how the teams are perceived by the public. Not only that the reporter changes the public’s mind, the comments given by the public online will as well affect the audience’s mind set. As the market dictates so, female sports are “not as good to watch” and “not interesting”. Erik added that without national exposure, women’s sports will continue to be a second choice of investment for the companies and sponsors. This is supported by Laura who provides statistics showing that women only receive 34% of television coverage in 2008. Even though women join in those popular events, they seldom become the target of the public. Erik provides evidence from work of Messner et al. saying that the network’s position is “we’re just giving the fans what they want”. What the audience want is actually what the media made them want. They are more exposed and used to male sports and therefore, men’s sports are often their main