Argumentative Essay on Inequality Based on Gender in the Professional Sports Industry PDF

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Essay written throughout the entire semester, 10 pages with full citations. The topic of my essay was the inequality based on gender in the professional sporting industry. ...

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Taylor Foster Miranda Findlay EN 211 09 November 2019

Do Men and Women Really Experience Level Playing Fields? The reason women don’t have equal pay and opportunities is obvious, isn’t it? If women’s sports produced as much money and attracted as many viewers as men’s sporting events they would be paid the same. The programs just don’t generate enough money to pay women at the same rate. Females should just understand, right? While I understand that there is a large difference in the audience size when it comes to the gender of sport, I cannot accept that there is nothing we can do, as individuals, to allow men and women equal opportunities, and wages in the sports industry. Subsequently, I refuse to ignore that the problem exists as a whole. Inequality in the sports industry, at all levels, has been an issue since the introduction of sports themselves. In order to continue making strides towards equal treatment, we must represent women’s sports in the media at the same frequency as we do men’s, show more support to women’s athletics on an individual scale, encourage and support young girls with an interest in participating in sports, and eliminate the seemingly harmless, but sexist phrases used in reference to female athletes. When narrowing the issue of inequality down to just the wage differences, there is still some work to be done, and strides to be taken. Much of the general public may assume that because there has been progress made in the right direction with the payment of female athletes that it isn’t still an ongoing issue. By focusing on the progress we have made towards the solution, we overlook the ultimate goal of full equality and the progress we have yet to make.

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According to an article written by BBC News, there are still nine of the forty four sports that award prize money that don’t pay females at the same rate that they pay their male winners. This may not seem like a large number in comparison to how many sports have taken the responsibility and initiative to pay equally, but the difference in the payments of these nine sports is disquieting. For example, according to the Women's Sports Foundation, the WNBA only pays their athletes around twenty two percent of the income they receive in a season, in comparison to the forty nine to fifty percent a player in the NBA makes off of their revenues. This debunks the argument that the only reason female athletes get paid less is because their sports have a lower income. Without just looking at the percentage of the income the programs do make, females still don’t even get an equal percentage let alone an equal dollar amount. A Social affairs correspondent for BBC News, Valeria Perasso, stated “For the US women's football team, their win in the 2015 World Cup got them a $2m (£1.5m) reward. Meanwhile in the male version of the tournament, the winners were handed $35m (£26.5m) just a year earlier.” (Perasso) The only difference in these World Cup games was the gender of the players. However, wage differences aren’t the only reason women are facing issues of inequality. Another contributor to the issue is the lack of opportunity faced by females. For example, take a look at football. Females do not have an equivalent to men’s football to participate. To compensate, they give less aggressive and physical options such as volleyball and field hockey. However, “Options do not always mean equal” (United States Sports Academy). This means, giving girls other alternatives to hopefully subside their interest to play sports they may not be able to partake in is not the same as allowing them that opportunity. Absence of women’s sports in the media also minimizes opportunities for sponsorships and investments for these female athletes and therefore also plays a factor in the wage gap.

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It is safe to assume that, as a generalization, most people would agree that in 2019 women and men should be treated equally. We protest wage gaps in the work industry, gender stereotypes, and traditional gender roles. I don’t understand why there is so much controversy about addressing the same issues but specifically for athletes. The reason this issue is so problematic is because our female athletes are putting in the same hours for training, competition, film, and everything else associated with their respective sports as their male counterparts but they don’t receive the recognition. Whether that recognition comes in a monetary form, through social media and news coverage, or just simply being given equal opportunities, women deserve to receive the same results from their work as their male counterparts. There are steps we can take to continue to minimize this inequality. To begin, with our own families and friends, we can encourage the young girls in our lives who have an interest in athletics to pursue that hobby and provide support throughout their athletic careers. Chief Executive of Women in Sport, Ruth Holdaway, said "If we are closing the gap in the long term, we should really be working with young girls to help them change their behaviour, understand that sport is fun and it's something they are entitled to just as much as the boys” (Perasso). Exactly as Holdaway stated, I believe we must target the destructive thoughts of girls being lessthan and not as qualified to participate in sports from the beginning. As we move through our day to day lives, there are measures we can take as individuals to support women in sports if we think critically about the content and events we focus on and view. Just as individuals buy cruelty free products in order to avoid supporting companies they don’t morally agree with, we can apply the same concept to supporting media outlets and events that contribute to the issue of sexism and discrimination towards women and women’s athletics.

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Being conscious of the outlets we support and the messages they distribute is extremely important. “News stories that focus on the supposed “diva” behavior, outfits, hair and parenting of female athletes trivialize their athletic accomplishments and make them seem less powerful―and ultimately less valuable”. (Frisby, Cynthia M.) Supporting the content and messages Frisby mentioned gives media creators and brands the impression that the types of negative connotations displayed in their content is acceptable and what viewers want to see more of. Media influences billions of people every hour, so inevitably the sports covered will gain much more momentum and popularity than those that are not. Unfortunately for female athletes, a majority of sports that are covered are male events. A Sport’s Digest article focusing on gender bias in American Sports stated, “Messner found during the 1993 basketball tournaments, for example, that 41 stories ran for the men, and only 10 for the women, the men’s stories ran longer than the women’s, were more in depth, and had more video footage” (United States Sports Academy). Additionally, according to Athlete’s Assessments, an online sports profiling website, only approximately six to eight percent of sports coverage in the media is of female athletes. Some may say that athletes such as tennis player, Serena Williams, get plenty of media coverage. There are exceptions to every situation, but this isn’t the case when it comes to most other female athletes. We expect female sporting events to generate the same amount of income, gain the same amount of sponsors and generate the same size fan base as male teams do without support from the media. If outlets covered more women’s sports, they would ultimately gain more fans and thus make more profit, making it easier for the nine sports who find it difficult to pay women the same as men the same wage. Coverage itself isn’t the only problematic factor when it comes to the media and women’s

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sports. The language they use when discussing sports for male and females is opposite. When the media is writing an article on a male athlete they are more likely to present a photo of said athlete partaking in his respective sport, however if the article was on a female athlete it is rare that the photos used are of her in her sport. Usually, photographs used to display female athletes are pictures of them in the home, or with their families. When this doesn’t happen, women athletes are still more likely to be sexualized in the coverage they receive. A quote from a research summary conducted by a professor at the University of Missouri, Cynthia M. Frisby, read “Recall that Fink and Kensicki (2002) found that the majority of the photographs in Sports Illustrated were of female athletes in non-sport settings such as at home with their family (55% compared to 23% of similar photographs of male athletes), about a third depicted female athletes performing a sport (34% compared to 66% of similar photographs of male athletes), and 5% of photographs were considered pornographic or sexually suggestive (compared to 0% of such photographs of male athletes).”(Frisby, Cynthia M.) Women shouldn’t feel like the only way people will recognize their athletic ability is to include their family or sexually suggestive photographs in articles or any other media coverage about them in their sport. Alternatively, the media should emphasize women participating in their sports just as they would a male athlete. When I was in high school, I was a pretty good athlete for my area. I played basketball, ran track and field, and cheered, among other various sports throughout my years. This being said, I was featured in the newspaper on multiple occasions. Not often was there an article that solely focused on me and my sport. There was always a portion referring to my grades, or my younger sister who was also an athlete “taking after me”. On the other hand, a stand out male athlete who was also a scholarly student was having articles written about his basketball accomplishments and the difference was that the reporter didn’t need to include

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additional, unrelated information to make it seem impressive. Although I am flattered to be recognized for things other than my sport, I believe there is a time, a place, and a manner in which you’re able to cover those other accomplishments without meshing the two together. Additionally, the language used to describe women should be parallel to the language used to describe men in sport. For example, instead of using the words “sexy” or “attractive”, we should describe women as strong, and capable. The last thing we are able to do, as individuals, to help combat the inequality towards women in sport is to eliminate the usage of harmful, sexist phrases commonly used. “You throw like a girl”, or “You’re so slow a girl could beat you in a race” are two examples. Why is the normal reaction to being told you’re doing something like a girl disgust and embarrassment? Some may argue that these phrases are harmless and provide a little spark of motivation for boys who receive the mockery to improve. However, surely there are other ways to support young men without demeaning and dismissing the athletic capabilities of females everywhere. These comments reinforce sexist stereotypes suggesting that females are inferior to males and don’t have the same capability to perform and compete, therefore we must be proactive, and not dismissive when it comes to addressing them in our everyday lives. The conversation addressing this specific part of prejudice against women really began in 2014 when a SuperBowl advertisement called “Like A Girl” was produced by the feminine product brand Always. Focusing on redefining the quote “like a girl”, was something that American’s hadn’t considered harmful, let alone thinking twice before saying it themselves. The advertisement began by asking a group of participants to do something like a girl for example, run like a girl. After seeing the reaction and actions of those, they asked the same question to a group of young girls. The response was vastly different. The first group of participants performed the task in a stereotypical

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feminine and highly staged fashion, while the young girls just performed like they would normally. The stereotype that doing things “like a girl” is a bad connotation and humiliating is detrimental to the confidence and self appearance to young girls interested in pursuing sports and thus makes it less likely for them to participate in them as they grow older. Girls should be proud of being girls, and that’s exactly what the creator of this ad believes. "'Like a Girl' should never be used as an insult," Greenfield said. "It means being strong, talented and downright amazing" (Khan). This is the type of encouragement we should focus on directing towards young girls. So, have we made progress in terms of equality for women in sports? Yes. However, there is so much more we can do to help provide equality for these hard working women. We may not be single handedly able to decide how much to compensate these athletes, but we can’t turn a blind eye to what is still an issue and there are some things we can do as individuals. If we start covering women appropriately and more frequently, encourage and empower our younger female generations to continue participating in sports, and redefine the language surrounding women’s sports, we will be so much closer to achieving that goal of equality. If you have any young girls in your life, make sure they know how strong, powerful, and capable they are of doing anything they put their mind to. Make an effort to attend local female sporting events, whether it be little league, high school, college, or professional teams. Lastly, hold the organizations you support accountable for themselves. If they aren’t treating their female athletes in the manner they deserve, don’t be afraid to shoot an email, tell a friend, organize an online petition. The only way to keep making headway on this issue is to speak up, because silence hasn’t worked this far and never will.

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Works Cited Frisby, Cynthia M. “Sacrificing Dignity for Publicity: Content Analysis of Female and Male Athletes on ‘Sports Illustrated’ and ‘ESPN the Magazine’ Covers from 2012-2016.” Advances in Journalism and Communication, vol. 05, no. 2, 2017, pp. 120–135., doi:10.4236/ajc.2017.52007. Kahn, Mattie. “Always Redefines What It Means to Run 'Like a Girl'.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 1 July 2014, abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/redefines-means-run-girl/story? id=24377039. Accessed 6, Dec. 2019. Perasso, Valeria. “100 Women: Is the Gender Pay Gap in Sport Really Closing?” BBC News, BBC, 23 Oct. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-41685042. Accessed 6 Dec. 2019 Schultz, Jaime, et al. Women and Sports in the United States: a Documentary Reader. Dartmouth College Press, 2019. Sensoy, Ozlem, and Robin DiAngelo. Is Everyone Really Equal?:An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education. 2nd ed. Teachers College Press, 2017. “The Fight for Equal Pay in Women's Sports.” Women's Sports Foundation, 10 Oct. 2019,

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www.womenssportsfoundation.org/education/fight-equal-pay-womens-sports/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2019. “The Gender Equality Debate; Women in Sport.” Athlete Assessments, 17 Sept. 2019, Accessed 6 Dec. 2019. “United States Sports Academy America's Sports University.” Gender Bias in American Sports: Lack of Opportunity, Lack of Administrative Positions and Lack of Coverage in Women's Sports | The Sport Digest, thesportdigest.com/archive/article/gender-bias-americansports-lack-opportunity-lack-administrative-positions-and-lack-coverage. Accessed 6, Dec. 2019....