An Investigation Into the Media Representation of Gender in Sport
An investigation into the media representation of gender in sport.
There have been many studies and investigations into the different types and intensity
of the media coverage in sport involving both sexes. This investigation will look at
previous studies and reports carried out by researchers to discover why different
genders receive different media attention in sport, and to see whether this has an
adverse effect on other issues such as participation.
It is a clear fact that men receive much more media attention and coverage than
women in most sporting events. To support this statement Boutiller and San-Giovanni
(1983) report shows that there is very little newspaper coverage (text or photos) of
women sports. The report mentioned that of the 1,200 covers in the first 25 years of
publication, sports illustrated featured only 115 women on their covers. Similarly in
Australian newspapers, only 1.3% of their space was contributed to women's sport
(Mackay and Rowe, 1987).
In fact when media coverage was devoted to women it tended to drift away from their
performance and focus either on their beauty or image (Hargreaves, 1994) or to
highlight female athletes becoming more masculine. For example Willis (1994)
concludes that in order for women athletes to succeed in sport they must fail as
women i.e. women losing their femininity, replacing it with bulging muscles and no
breasts, in order to become the complete athlete.
However, what is mentioned above may not give a clear indication as to why women
are not represented in the media as much as men. One possible reason as to why
women are under-represented in sport is because of money. Media organisations, such
as sports illustrated, are run to generate a profit and will therefore need to focus on
the needs and wants of their customers (Sagas et al., 2000). For that reason, it is
possible that other institutional force will have an influence
There have been many studies and investigations into the different types and intensity
of the media coverage in sport involving both sexes. This investigation will look at
previous studies and reports carried out by researchers to discover why different
genders receive different media attention in sport, and to see whether this has an
adverse effect on other issues such as participation.
It is a clear fact that men receive much more media attention and coverage than
women in most sporting events. To support this statement Boutiller and San-Giovanni
(1983) report shows that there is very little newspaper coverage (text or photos) of
women sports. The report mentioned that of the 1,200 covers in the first 25 years of
publication, sports illustrated featured only 115 women on their covers. Similarly in
Australian newspapers, only 1.3% of their space was contributed to women's sport
(Mackay and Rowe, 1987).
In fact when media coverage was devoted to women it tended to drift away from their
performance and focus either on their beauty or image (Hargreaves, 1994) or to
highlight female athletes becoming more masculine. For example Willis (1994)
concludes that in order for women athletes to succeed in sport they must fail as
women i.e. women losing their femininity, replacing it with bulging muscles and no
breasts, in order to become the complete athlete.
However, what is mentioned above may not give a clear indication as to why women
are not represented in the media as much as men. One possible reason as to why
women are under-represented in sport is because of money. Media organisations, such
as sports illustrated, are run to generate a profit and will therefore need to focus on
the needs and wants of their customers (Sagas et al., 2000). For that reason, it is
possible that other institutional force will have an influence
References: Asch, A., and Fine, M. (1997). Nurturance, sexuality and women with disabilities: the example of women and literature. In L.J. Davids (Ed.), the disabilities studies reader (pp.241-259). New York: Routledge. Hargreaves, J Longman, J. (1999, July 12). Women 's world cup: day in the sun for the girls of summer after a riveting championship run. New York Times, P.D1. Low, J., and Sherrard, P Markovits, A.S., and Hellerman, S.C. (2001). Offside: soccer and American exceptionalism. Princeton: Princeton university press. Matteo, S. (1986). The effects of sex and gender- schematic processing on sport participation. Sex roles, 15, 471-432. Penner, M. (1999, June 19). With soccer, women sip of superstar cup, Los Angles Times, P. A1. Pirinen, R.M. (1997). The construction of women 's position in sport: a textual analysis of articles on female athletes in Finnish women 's magazines. Sociology of sport journals, 14, (3), 240-301. Powers, J., and Springer, S Sagas, M., Cunningham, C.B., Wigley, B.J., and Ashley, F.B. (2000). Internet coverage of university softball and baseball websites: the inequity continues, Sociology of sport journal, 17 (2), 198-205. Shifflet, B., and Revelle, R. (1994). Equity revisited. Journal of sport and social issues, 18, (4), 379-383. Willis, P. (1994). Women in sport in ideology. In S.Birrell and C.Cole (Eds). Women 's sport and culture. (pp.31-45). Champaign, IL: Human kinetics. 56