Women in sports have always been at a disadvantage in every aspect possible. Although we have tried to make improvements, such as Title IX, to try and balance out the ratio, it is and never will be on the same level in this male dominated field. With so much focus on gender, women have been increasingly pushed to become spectators of sports then actual participators. In the NFL women fans have grown from 29% in 1998 to 58% in 2008. In MLB women comprise of 42%; 31.8% in NBA and 24.1% in NASCAR.
Many women in the United States are viewed as strong and independent people. However, women are also shown to be not as powerful and equal to men, women’s voices are still not heard equally today. The blunt truth is that men still run the world. Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduated in the United States; men still hold more leadership positions in the industry and the government. It is a proven fact that “A man is selected for hire over a woman” (Yurkiewicz) while women should automatically be the ones to sit at home and be less help then a man.
People often do not acknowledge women sports as much as men's sports. From the time of early Olympics, the role of women in sports and games was neglected. The end of the 19th century and turn of the 20th century saw the rising interest of women in sports both as participants and spectators. And for many years, women have been looking to be taken seriously in sports the same way men are. Compared to men's sports, most women’s sports are newer and that’s one of the main reasons for them not getting the recognition they deserve.
In 1908, for example, near the beginning of both, two percent of women participated as athletes (Doc 2). This shows that although this number is relatively low, the feminist movement was beginning to take effect as women were indeed allowed to participate. In 1995, twenty nine percent of athletes were female, marking an increase in womens rights (Doc. 8). However, it is clear that discrimination again female athletes largely shaped the event, as woman competitor Boulmerka felt much criticism for her participation.
“Girls see a double standard in covering women’s sports. When male athletes receive media attention, such coverage is primarily focused on their skills and performance. When female athletes receive media attention, the media is much more likely to focus on their physical attractiveness or non-sport-related activities” (Daniels, 2009, Pg 405). Sexualization is defined as occurring when a person's value comes only from her or his sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics, and when a person is sexually objectified, e.g., made into a thing for another's sexual use (APA, 2011). By sexualizing women athletes, the media has given younger generations a false sense of reality.
I find this topic of interest because it is interesting that after so many years of struggling for equality with males, females have still not found a balance in all aspects of life. I think it’s very unfair that even when playing sports of equal difficulty level, there is a heavy bias towards males when it comes to the paycheque. There is no reason why men should be making ten (or more) times the amount women are for doing the same thing. I hope to find some hope upon my research that there is starting to be more equality with of male and female professional athletes.
It all started when she was 16 years old and another teammates coach told her she needed to start thinking about losing weight if she wanted to run faster. Its nearly impossible to believe that an athlete of Avil’s caliber could withstand competing with a eating disorder and still become number one in their sport, but can you imagine how much greater she would have been if she had been at the top of her game. The truth is that we live in a society where female athletes are judge women on a much higher scale than males. Female athletes shouldn’t be torn down and insulted for their appearance instead they should be held up for the extraordinary feats they accomplish. Perhaps if Hollie Avil had received the appropriate praise for being the Junior World and European champion in 2007, she would have had the strength to overcome her anorexia before it resulted in stress fractures in both her shins.
They are held back by traditional gender roles. Many women thus have to work two jobs, at the workplace and at home as The U.S. is one of a few countries that doesn’t provide paid maternity leave, so women often lose the opportunity to advance. There is also a huge disparity of women in government positions, as the U.S. ranks #69 among countries with the highest percentage of women in government. Women make up 50% of the population in the United States, but only 17% of Congress and have never served as president. A large part of this has to do with stereotypes, as women are seen as weak and unlikely to serve better than their male counterparts on issues such as national defense.
Finally, he concludes his viewpoints with disagree vote of women should be in combat like men. The author gives many example about Ms.Faulker case who is the first woman invited to study in a famous American military academy school. It seems the author is really bias to argue the viewpoints that woman is not a person, who had mentally tough enough to survive in combat. Moreover, he also shows some statistics to prove his idea that women do not have enough physical strength. This essay will critically respond to these ideas of the article.
In my second article titled, “Employment Patterns of Female Coaches in Men's Athletics: Tokenism and Marginalization as Reflections of Occupational Sex-Segregation,” Mary Jo Kane and Jane Marie Stangl examine how women have found it increasingly difficult to obtain jobs in coaching. Not only has it become a task for women to coach in women sports, but it has also become extremely difficult for women to coach in male dominated sports. Similar to the Rooney Rule, Title IX was implemented in order to give women more opportunity in the world of sport; however, the numbers of women in coaching has not risen much since. The authors provide typical logic which parallels Kanters view on tokens. Occupational sex segregation is an explanation one could use to clarify the low numbers of women in coaching positions.