Stereotypes Of Women In Sports Research Paper

The rising amount of women in sports has created a discussion about the differential treatment of women in the sports world as opposed to men. This has led to an argument that women are unequal to men when it comes to sports. This topic has been up for debate since women first started competing in sports. There are many different aspects of gender inequality among athletes, but there are three that seem to be the most prominent today. These topics are lack of media attention for women's sports, stereotypes about women's strength and endurance, and how women are portrayed and perceived in the sports world. Possibly the most popular issue is the lack of media coverage that women's sports receive. This debate claims that women sports are broadcasted

This stereotype has been discussed for a reason why women's sports aren't equally compared to men's sports. Michael Kimmelman, writer for the New York Times and the New York Review of Books, in his article, "Women Who Hit Very Hard and How They've Changed Tennis" states "Women have certainly never hit harder and not just on account of improved equipment. They're stronger, bigger, faster, better trained and pushed above all by the example of the Williams sisters." (513). What Kimmelman is stating is that the Williams sisters are an example of how women are becoming stronger and how they're proving the common stereotype wrong . Similarly, Anya Alvarez, author of "Men are stronger than women. But that does not make them better athletes" and journalist for TheGaurdian.com states " And there is a case that women could be considered superior: Dana Finkelstein on the LPGA is ranked No1 in driving accuracy, hitting 88.2% of fairways this season. Her counterpart on the PGA, Steve Stricker, hits 72.85%" (Alvarez). What Alvarez is stating is that female golfer Dana Finkelstein has outperformed her male counterpart Steve Stricker in driving accuracy. Kimmelman believes that women are becoming just as strong as athletic as men, whereas Alvarez believes that women aren't as strong as men but are still equally athletic. Alvarez discusses how female

These beliefs have resulted in the disrespect of female athletes in relation to their male counterparts. Jennie Yabroff, a freelance who has written for the New York Times, Salon.com, and San Francisco Chronicle, in her article In "Defense Of Cheering" states "What they could really use is a nice, peppy cheerleader to raise their spirits. The only thing is, these are the cheerleaders." (Yabroff 525).Yabroff uses sarcasm in this quote to display how female athletes in cheerleading are not seen as real athletes. in comparison, Emma Sherry, Angela Osborne, and Matthew Nicholson, authors of "Images of Sports Women: A review" state in their article that "U.S. content analysis of Sports Illustrated covers over an 11 year period noted that images of female family members accompanied articles about male athletes. Further, the cover images rarely featured a female athlete as the sole or primary image; female athletes were more commonly featured sharing the spotlight with a male athlete" (Sherry et al 309). What Sherry et al is stating is that female athletes are portrayed as less than athletes when compared to male athletes. Yabroff displays an example that aids Sherry et al's claim that women are portrayed as lesser athletes than men. Sherry et al believes that women are portrayed as less than athletes because they are shown throughout the