Do the names Elaine Thompson, Katie Ledecky, Carli Lloyd, or Breanna Stewart ring a bell? Those are the names of some of the most athletic and decorated female athletes of all time. Elaine Thompson is the 2016 Rio Olympics 100m & 200m Gold Medalist. Katie won gold medals in Rio in the 200, 400, and 800 meter freestyle while setting world records in the 400 and 800. Carli Lloyd is one of the most decorated soccer players of all time. Breanna is one of the many players that helped to create the dynasty that is UCONN Women's Basketball with their multiple consecutive national championships. On the other hand, their male counterparts such as Usain Bolt, Nathan Adrian, Jozy Altidore, and Joakim Noah typically do not need an introduction. I believe there is an inequality between men and women in sports at every level from high school through professional. I think socially, financially, and physically women are viewed and treated different than males. Even though the genetic ceiling for males is higher than females, there are circumstances that arise that are just unacceptable in 2017 for females to still be dealing with.
In today's society male athletes always seem to be set upon a pedestal with the amount of exposure and praise they receive in comparison to females. This holds truest on our sports networks as USC and Purdue held a 20 year study through 2009 in which they looked at the gender of every news topic and concluded that 96% of news was about a male athlete. Even more staggering was the research that showed women's sport only make up 2% of the network such as ESPN SportsCenter. The athletes are putting in all of the work but yet the media decides to not show them competing, unless it is a conference championship or a national title match. One prime example of that is the WNBA. Whenever I am flipping through TV I very rarely see any of those regular season games, except when it comes to championship. And that is even with the sport of women's professional basketball on the rise ever since 2005.
A few critiques I have of the way female athletes are treated in comparison with males is another reason I believe there is in fact an inequality in sport. Physically as I stated earlier, there is scientifically a ceiling that females reach that restricts them from competing at the same level as males. But why should that ceiling completely alter the sports that they compete in? An example is in NCAA cross country. During championship season the men compete with a 10k races meanwhile the women race a 8k. Women are perfectly capable of running a 10k, so why don't they? In track and field men and women race the same distances and have the exact same parameters in every event (besides the tall hurdles 110m for men and 100m for women, simply because males are taller and have a longer stride which amounts to 10 extra meters). Another jprime example is the decathlon. Are women physically not capable of competing in 10 events and are only strong enough to compete in the 7 event heptathlon? In the sport of baseball and softball, these grueling seasons span approximately 4.5 months. When it comes to post season in the college world series softball players who play from the 1st round through the championship play roughly 6 games in 6 days if they go all the way to win the championship. In baseball however for a team to go from the 1st round of the college world series to the championship game, they are given double the amount of days to play a similar amount of games at around 7. Why are the men fortunate enough for the opportunity to have extra rest days so that they may rest and play at their potential while the girls have 1 day off max before their next game? It's almost as if the softball college world series is rushed just to finish the season and not drag it out.
Financially, I do not know if females of the same sport will ever come close to making the type of money that males do who participate in the same sport. One of the hottest topics in discussion recently with this issue is how much the United States men and women national soccer team's make. It is no secret that the men's soccer games are frequently more viewed than the women's. But with having less viewers, the women's national team has been more "successful" in recent years. The following website lists the story in its entirety for those who are interested to get more of a grasp of the situation: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-women-soccer-team-usa-gender-discrimination-equal-pay/. Its crazy to see how in recent years the men's soccer team has not finished higher than 12th in the world cup. Meanwhile the women have finished top 3 with multiple titles to their names EVERY YEAR SINCE 1991! The following graph depicts the exact amounts that the men and women are paid, which includes any wins, loses, and bonuses. Now incase you didn't look at the graph clearly, if the women won every international cap and the men lost every match, they would still bring home more money than the women's club just because they are males. In the United States where we are supposed to be the land of opportunity I cannot say this holds true for female professional soccer players.
Even worse than that, for those female collegiate basketball players who decide to go pro, the pay is so little that many times even the top prospects must play oversees in the offseason just to make enough money to sustain themselves. In 2014 the average amount a WNBA player received as salary was 72,000, with a maximum salary of approximately 107,000. Meanwhile in the NBA the average salary was 4.9 million with the highest paid player being Kobe Bryant at $30.45 million.
I think it is good for women in sports to see them taking steps and being more active in the men's professional setting, such as reffing games and being assistant coaches. I do not believe that is where women will cease their participation in the men's game. Next there will be more females taking administration roles at power five schools in athletic departments. I believe it is only a building block for future success of females in a male dominated athletic world.
I would like you all to reflect on any personal experience where you witnessed or were a victim in which you felt you were not treated fairly strictly due to your gender and active participation in sport.
Are there any areas you feel that inequality occurs that I did not touch on?
Do you feel there are circumstances where Title IX is unfair?
Internationally, how if possible, can female collegiate and professional sports be treated as an equal to male sports?
This is a topic of conversation that I do not feel like I have much insight. Your blog was very revealing to me about the degree of inequality there is in women's sports. The graph alone about how much money women's soccer teams make versus the men's teams was very bothersome to me. I have never watched sports much, but I do not understand why women's sports would be so much less popular. I played a little soccer in high school and our coach was a woman, but I did feel like she paid special attention to the stronger players on the team and essentially ignored the weaker players. I suppose the main objective for our coach was to have a winning team, so her strategy was to strengthen the best players. I had barely any experience when I joined the team, so I was expecting the new people to get more help on the basics. I just remember feeling confused about the rules and the game, and after that year was over I didn't join the team again. Although, I don't think my story had much to do with gender inequality, I think there could have been more equal positive attention on all of the players on the team. It is unfortunate that there is so much inequality for women in sports. Hopefully continuing to bring awareness to this issue will help bring about some change, especially with more women taking administrative roles in athletic departments.
ReplyDeleteLike Grace, my insight into female athletics and sports is limited; Unlike Grace, I've never played on a sports team and recall really disliking gym class while I grew up when we did play sports, largely because I was overweight and was often picked last or had trouble with breathing during physical activities. As regards gender inequality, I can only say that my junior and high schools were pretty strict about separating girls and boys when it came time for sports that relied on teams (basketball, touch football, etc.). It never occurred to me that there was anything gender-related about it until years later, when I saw the same thing going on at the college level-in an intramural game, no less. Some of the male players seemed reluctant to join in until they saw that there was actually going to be two games, one for the females and one for the males. This speaks to the mentality that says that not only are female players meant to be excluded, but that playing alongside male plays in team sports is too risky or taboo for the females. My question is why, especially in light of the fact you point--women are as capable physically as men.
ReplyDeleteDonavon, I am so glad you brought this up. We watched a video/interview last semester in Dr. Csaszar's class with the USA women's soccer team that was so eye-opening and frustrating with regards to the wage inequality that female athletes experience. The problem is disheartening, but I think you did a great job illuminating it in your blog. While I do not have a great deal of experience or insight into the world of sports and athletics; I do wonder about other sports, such as gymnastics. I know that, personally, I pay much more attention to female gymnasts (locally and nationally); so I am curious whether this is one of the few instances where men are less favorable than women in a sport. Just a thought! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Donovan. I have to admit that I have very little knowledge about sports, but when it comes to the gender pay gap, I find those numbers staggering. $107,000 vs $4.5 million for the top players in professional basketball!? I'm not sure what the solution is when it comes to this problem. I know this pay gap exists not just in sports. Female actresses make much less than male actors as well (but the numbers aren't nearly as bad as sports). People seem to be more interested in male sports teams for some reason. I don't understand it. Perhaps people see sports as masculine and they don't want to watch women engaging in "masculine" activities. Females are shamed for their bodies if they are too muscular which was the topic of one of our blogs last week. Maybe a lot of society wants to objectify women and view them as sexual objects and female athletes are using their bodies in a different way. I learned a lot from your blog about just how unequal things are in the world of sports.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic! The only experience I have had with this issue was in high school. When students went to watch games, the only ones attended were male sports. Soccer was really big at our school, but rarely did anyone go to the girls' soccer games. Like some of our classmates that already commented, I do not have much knowledge about gender inequality in sports. I think you did a great job covering the different areas and issues involved. The pay differences in soccer are shocking to me. I knew men were paid more, but I did not realize how much more. I think we have a long way to go before female sports will be treated as equal to male sports, but it begins with changing individual attitudes about females in general.
ReplyDeleteDonovan, you made a great point. They make it seem like women have equality because they are able to play the same sports. However, when it comes down to coverage, support, and exposure, women athletes are lacking that. I feel they should get equal exposure and amount of events. When they make things shorter for women, it sends a message that they "aren't capable" of doing as much. They try to act like the viewers rather see men play sports rather than women and that's why they play more men games. And don't let the team get a female head coach of a male team in a "male dominanted" sport. They will try to justify every reason as to why she wouldn't qualify. I don't think title ix was completely unfair. I believe it made women able to do many things.
ReplyDeleteI think exposure is a huge part in the salary gap. A lot of organizations bring in money via advertisements, sales, tickets, etc. Programs like the Yankees or Warriors make so much money not only do to marketing their players but selling their brand. However when female athletics are pushed to the background they are not privileged enough to have a platform to be able to market and sale. The teams will always be left in the dust unless media and viewers start giving them more rankings and reviews. Programs need to find a way to make themselves known, get involved and become a display on national TV. I get that is easier said than done because ultimately the media companies decide what gets national airing time and what doesn't. I agree with title IX but I also see it as just a stipulation schools must go through to have their football team. Its almost as if well we want a football team so we better open up a cheerleading team and only women's soccer, and only women's gymnastics to get the appropriate number of females compared to males. I think internationally the largest platform is through the Olympics and hopefully this will continue to show great support for females.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, I have always been cognizant to the fact that women are rarely represented in media (ads/ commercials, magazines) when it comes to athletics and while I do not have a personal story to share about the issue, it is definitely something I am aware of. Like Kimhdy previously mentioned, coaching positions are dominated by males and we can even go as far as saying that most jobs in athletics (statisticians, anchors) are male dominated. Think about the message that might send to hopeful girls who want to be in the industry. In order for collegiate and professional women sports to be treated equal to their male counterparts, I think it would be helpful if they received the same support. It is no secret that, male dominated sports receive more support than female sports so in my opinion, showing more concern towards our women in athletics will go towards them being treated equal.
ReplyDeleteAs Tesa stated above, I believe the pay gap between male and female sports exists due to the volume of money available to teams. Male professional sports leagues have a higher salary cap because the league generates more money through television and sponsorship deals. Women's athletics aren't nearly as popular among sports fans. I think this is partially due to the fact that the women's sports do not get the same type of media coverage as the men. That being said, women's sports are beginning to gain more traction. ESPN has launched a media outlet called ESPN-W which centers around female athletics. There is a special tab on the ESPN website that allows you to search this special section of ESPN. It is also cases such as the USWNT soccer players and hockey players threatening to sit out major competitions due to the wage gap that generates interest in women's athletics. It is unfortunate that they had to go to those lengths in order to get what they deserved, but it showed that they are willing to stand up for what they believe.
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ReplyDeleteGreat topic! Something I find interesting is the fact that men’s sports are heavily endorsed by the media during the regular seasons of the year… But, when it comes to the Olympics I feel like the women get just as much, if not more coverage than the men because it’s what the people want. So sure, the men are paid more because they bring in the most money during the year because of viewers and fans. There is hardly any women’s sports coverage and endorsements during the year, so they don’t really have the opportunity!
Personally I find it appalling that there isn't a female football league outside of sexualized versions of the sport such as the Lingerie Football League which doesn't do much for women empowerment and may actually work against it in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what, if any reasoning there is for this but I think it kind of goes with what is discussed here. There is this idea that women "aren't capable" of performing in the same way men do. And even in European rugby teams that are based solely towards women they are then considered "all lesbians" because they enjoy a full contact sport.
I have no idea how the wage gaps work for this, as I honestly don't know how pro athletes make so much in the first place. But maybe it could be about an established sport. Time of the length of engagement could be a good factor such as the case with the Olympics which has its roots in ancient Greece, yet all the other more modern sports are just focused on males as they haven't been around for near as long.
I hate to say this being a female and an athlete but watching men's sports is just more fun. They run faster, hit harder, and do not have nearly as many rules as female sports do for "protection reasons" (a perfect example is women's versus men's lacrosse). I would say that maybe outside of gymnastics, there is not one female sport that generates more attention than a male sport. Take soccer, the women's national team is clearly much better than the men's national team (if you are looking at awards won) yet the men's team still gets far more attention. I think that it is like many have previously stated, there is just more attention to men's sports which means that there is more money which means that they have more to give to the players. Everything comes down to money in the end and while I am not a fan of unequal pay especially when the talent is the same, I do understand that sometimes others make more money simply due to the fact they have a more popular fan base.
ReplyDeleteThere are many good points in your discussion and several statistics that I think are eye opening as to how wide the gap is between men's and women's sports. I think the real issue lies within the general sports viewing public. Ultimately the sports television networks are driven by making money, and making money is based on viewership of advertisements. What this means is that because society would rather watch mens sports, as compared to women's, the networks are going to televise those events. And because those events are being televised at such a greater proportion, that is where the money is going. I don't think it is an issue of women's leagues keeping more money, but rather, women's leagues having less revenue so there is less money to be paid to the top female athletes. Further, because they are lower profile athletes, there is less sponsorship money available, and less opportunity for promotion of female athletes.
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ReplyDeleteI have been a collegiate coach for over 20 years, former professional track and field athlete, NCAA committee board member, and Executive Board member for US Track and Field/Cross country Coaches Association. These honors do not make me accredited but they drive my passion for Title IX and gender equity.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to NCAA distances to cross country, I can say that Personally, I think it would make more sense to move the men down to 6k. Or put men and women both at 8k. By running a shorter distance you open it up to more middle distance runners, which creates more opportunities for athletes. It's a good deal for the women to run 6k now and they should shorten the distance for men so that you give more 800 or 1500 men who could run CC.
Anyway, at some point, the idea that men's and women's events should be the same breaks down. The 100H/110H are different, hurdle and barrier heights are different in the hurdles and SC, and the field implements don't weigh the same for men and women. These are mostly practical accommodations to the fact that the average women is smaller than the average man. It doesn't make the events "unequal."
I am currently working on my PhD in Administration Higher Education with emphasis in Sport Adm. I will keep fighting the fight!
Thank you for writing this blog. I enjoyed how you presented a variety of sports and provided the stats to contrast the stark inequalities between male and female sports. My experience as a collegiate softball player was interesting as it began as a result of Title IX, so I believe the ruling is fair. I also can see how Title IX could limit the scope of college athletics in order to maintain this equality. Many collegiate programs cannot afford to continue adding non-revenue generating sports. Why does LSU only have women’s soccer and volleyball/beach volleyball? During my time as a softball player there were times where I felt discriminated against because I was a woman. For example, we wore shorts while men’s baseball was wore pants....a heavy materials. I can only assume this move was to sexualize or make athletic girls look more feminine and separate women from the men. Our facilities, while modern for the time, was nothing compared to the men’s baseball stadium. You also mentioned the pay difference between professional softball and professional baseball. I had many friends who went into professional softball and they pretty much ended up breaking even.
ReplyDeleteI believe equality will begin with exposure. If you look back on the history of the WMBA, the most successful women’s pro league, was able to partner with the NBA which opened many doors for the sport...marketing, fan base, MONEY...and the pay. The WMBA continues to lose player to the European leagues, which shows that if the most successful women’s pro team can’t retain player, what does this mean for other sports such as professional softball. Professional men’s teams will needs to support their female counterparts. Without the exposure provided by men’s teams, women’s teams will not be able to capture a share of the market. Through marketing, I believe there could be a narrowing of the pay inequities over a long period of time. But I am not sure that men’s teams are willing to invest in a process which could potentially see negative gains until the fan base increases.
I currently play roller derby and was a goalie in soccer for most of my life. I also played softball and the conflict with the baseball boys was just another example. I have been teased for being the tomboy 3rd grader who would rather play with boys and I have been seen as an aggressive person because I played hard. I am very used to this conflict and it does not feel great, especially being in derby now. It is a full contact sport on skates that is super fun to watch but most people do not even know about the community. I do think discrimination aside, there is nothing wrong with tailoring a sport for a group of people based on average limits, it is okay to work with what you have and for safety reasons it is important to know your limits in sports. The conflict arises because men and society feel threatened by the confident, aggressive woman, it hurts the ego that has been created by all the messages men grow up hearing. Then the women feel the need to prove a point, that we can. I honestly feel sports will be a very challenging place to truly find equality because it is split based on sex too often so there is a long running rivalry that cannot ever eased, the ongoing battle of the sexes. I do think huge strides have been made in regards to getting women's sports out there with role models like Venus and Serena and Rhonda Rousey.
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ReplyDeleteI play soccer almost every weekend, with grown adults and it is a co-ed composition but not always evenly distributed in terms of male and female players. However, when the opposite or even my own team is losing, the men will blame it on the fact that this or that particular team got more women. I feel personally offended as how I have the highest number of attempts at goal, I am also the 3nd top scorer (third to another woman) and I last all 90 minutes of play time with no substitutes. I have also overheard other female players say things to their siblings who play on the team, “you weren’t going to let yourself be beat by a girl were you? Or when they are hurt, “you can’t cry, take a knee and go to the sidelines.” I have been personally ostracized and I have had some men on the team feel intimidated by my “radical feminism” when I defend myself over comments like these. This is a league created for fun on the weekends, I cannot imagine the type of talk from sports officials and federations over millions of dollars to be spent on equal pay. Simply cannot wrap my head around why female athletes are STILL underpaid when they play with the same passion, intensity, and sacrifice just as much of their bodies and family lives as their male counterparts. I cannot think of any ways to increase the budget in professional sports, that is more red tape than I understand currently. All we can do is support sports in which women participate at the collegiate and professional levels and advocate for one another.
This is a very interesting topic that you bring up. It is something that I think we all realize is true when light is shed on it but we often are not consciously thinking about this issue. Although I did play softball for two years when I was in junior high, I do not remember a time that I was treated differently in that sport or playing neighborhood sports because of my gender. I always liked being active, and my neighborhood friends and I would often bike together, play soccer, or play softball. Thankfully, my parents were encouraging in this and never told me that they didn't want me to play sports. I remember watching sports on TV when I was in high school - mainly baseball and softball. I thought it was interesting that you pointed out how short the women's tournament is compared to the men's. I do not think this is fair for the same reason that you mentioned - they are not given as many rest days as the men. I agree with you that this is probably because they are trying to get the softball over with so everyone can focus on the baseball series. I remember always being able to find baseball playing but could not find softball as often. It is obviously true that we all hear more about male athletes than females. I think one way to help this to keep male and female sports in the same amount of spotlight. This may take a long time to change but I believe that no matter what sport it is, both men and women should receive the same amount of air time on TV. Also, I think it is fair that men and women should be separated in competitive sports because biologically there are ways that women cannot meet the same prowess as men; however, I agree with you that women should still be challenged to complete the same amount of miles in a cross country meet as men for example.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about this topic. This is definitely a real issue that most women in an athletic field experience throughout their lives. I also do believe that this issue that can be encountered in an international basis as well. it is very upsetting and frustrating to realize that no matter how good a woman is in a athletic sport, because they are not even close to earn as much as men do in the same position. Moreover, I do agree with you in the sense that women should not be seen as less capable in terms of performing an athletic task, therefore they should be as challenged as men are.Internationally, women should get together and speak up and demand equal pay and recognition.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing Donavon! Wow….those numbers really are shocking! I did not grow up in the sports realm as my sister and I danced growing up. I personally never felt that I was limited in my sport of dance but it is of course a female dominated area. It is definitely interesting to read how there are many inequalities between men and women in sport….pay, television time, popularity, sport availability. I agree with some who previously stated that I think it will be a difficult and slow change to decrease the gap between the 2. Especially because I think sports networks are geared more toward male viewers and they want to watch their male counterparts. As so many other topics, I think change begins to happen when more light is brought to these issues and more and more people become aware. This definitely open my eyes to it!
ReplyDeleteFemale collegiate and professional sports can definitely be as equally represented as male sports. The real question is will they ever be treated equally or represented equally? The answer is probably not until there is more of a demand for it. Sports played by women bring in almost no money. There are so few people at some games that entire sections of stadiums or bare. Perhaps more exposure and coverage by the media would lead to an increase in fans, but there is little evidence to support that idea because the coverage for women's sports has never increased. Society itself seems to be the real issue beneath this disparity between men and women's sports. As a girl I was never allowed to play sports so I do not have any personal experience with the subject. I can say that the lack of coverage for women's sports is painfully obvious to anyone that has access to cable. I think the way to fix this begins with a push for girls to enter sports at an early age and to stay in longer, increasing the number of athletes and girls that are interested in sports. As girls hit puberty there is a huge increase in the amount of girls that drop out of sports. I think increasing the pay for players and money provided for advertisements would definitely help with this disparity.
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