Women’s Sports V. Media
Women’s sports have expanded in the last 25 years or so but looking at the media you can’t tell. Women’s sports are missing from our TV programs today even though they are bigger than they have ever been. More women participate in sports, and women’s sporting events are more popular as well. So why doesn’t the media cover these women’s sporting events? Some topics TV station show instead is Whether NBA player Kendall Marshall will be able to find a decent burrito when he goes to Milwaukee or A stray dog who has become beloved by fans at the Milwaukee Brewers’ stadium. The message that these TV stations are sending is that women’s sports are unimportant. Women’s rights and equality are at an all-time high in our country, but our media doesn’t represent that. The number of women who participate in collegiate athletics is almost even to the amount that men participate. So, it is not the fact that women aren’t participating.
When women’s sports became popular, we show a rise in male coaches in women sports. Because women sports were becoming so popular that means more revenue, so men took over coaching. Again, we see a rise in women’s empowerment but not in the sports world. One sport that stuck out was gymnastics. Women’s gymnastics and Men’s gymnastics is different, men would never be able to walk on the beam, but male coaches are dominating the sport.
Women’s TV coverage started declining in 1999, which is insane because that is also the year that our women’s U.S soccer team won the world cup. Women’s teams around the world deserve coverage of their sports they dedicate their lives to just like men do. However, we do see a rise happening again. In 2010, we see the percentage increase as time goes on. It still isn’t increasing the way it should be, especially on the SportsCenter. How is it that TV network is covering more women’s sports than SportsCenter? As a society, this shows that we don’t respect women in sports today. Think about how much professional women’s basketball players compared to men. WNBA players have to play overseas and in the American League just to make good money that still doesn’t live up to the NBA’s status.
People say that sports watchers tune in to men’s sport because it’s better played and more violent. People typically watch women sports when is it going against a norm like MMA fighting, or when it is sexualized. If you visit a sports network page like ESPN or SportsCenter you will see a lady in bikini before you see a women’s sports story. The media has to start taking women sports seriously and getting them the attention, they deserve. If the media started covering them more maybe, we would see a difference in the norm today. Maybe it would force viewers to watch and realize that women’s sports are well played and competitive. We want our society to watch women’s sports and be involved but how can they when that aren’t even covered. Just how women’s empowerment is happening in our everyday life, let’s make it happen in our sports.
