Why Are Women's Sports Still Less Important?

Gender Bias In Sports: Why Are Women’s Sports Still Less Important?

Clare Healey

Course: Writing Class

Ms. Ciobanu

January 24, 2022

Gender Bias in Sports: Why Are Women’s Sports Still Less Important?

By: Clare Healey

Did you know that 1 in 3 female athletes quit before they turn 16? This is largely because there are no steady careers for women's sports or representation, so most girls don't often find them not worthwhile. Given that discrimination has discouraged many women from pursuing sports professions, women's sports should be considered equally essential to men's sports and given the same funding, support, and representation. Firstly, there is far less representation of female sports on TV and in news articles,

This can lead to a lack of female role models who are huge inspirations to young athletes. For example, according to an article written by Purdue university, girls' sports still receive the same amount of broadcasting as they did in 1980 with only 3.5% sports broadcasting time (Purdue,2021). This is an issue because 1980 was 43 years ago and the amount of girls playing sports has grown immensely since then which means the representation needs to grow too. So why are they still barely being broadcasted receiving only 3.5% of sports broadcasting time? Also, did you know that 60% of girls watch sports (advanced television,2021)? That means that roughly 3.1 billion girls rarely ever get to see female representation in sports, which can lead to self-doubt and a decline in enthusiasm. Furthermore, accordingin accordance towith an article written by The AACAP role models can affect children's behavior and appearance. This is something I can personally relate to because when I was little I would always copy actions and sentences that I saw in tv shows or movies because the actors and animated characters became role models to me. Overall, role models and representation are very important for young girl athletes to see and should be shown on tv and in the news more

For example, in 2019, girls received 1.1 million fewer opportunities to participate in sports than boys did in 2012 (Azzi, Alex). This is an issue because it means that girls were even further encouraged to not be on a sports team because it was possibly not even offered to them. This poses the question, "How are you supposed to do something if there is no opportunity to do it?" In addition, on average, girls receive $252 million less in college sports scholarships than boys (Azzi, Alex) in 2022. This is an issue because it gives girls an unequal opportunity to pursue a college-level sports career, which makes it seem like they girls are not as important as boys when it comes to professional athletics and therefore they should not have the same opportunity. In addition,Next, did you know that the arenas, courts, fields, etc., that girls play on for sports teams are often farther away and at less reasonable times than the facilities that boys get to play at? To add to this, I play hockey, and we often get put in the older or less nice facilities for games, while the boys are put in the newer facilities with their logos printed everywhere. This makes playing at these facilities undesirable and unfair to female athletes. Thus, girls are given an unequal and unfair opportunity to play