Gender Inequality in Sports

Gender Inequality in Sports

Unequal pay, lack of media coverage, and societal discouragement for females in sports

Background Information

Sports are an entity meant to bring people together, but they have lead to a divide between genders

• Congressional Passing of Title IX
• Progress that has already been made
• Media coverage of females in sports
• Societal image of women in sports

Statistics

• WNBA players in the 2019-2020 season earned about 20% of the minimum salary of an NBA player
• Rookie WNBA players earn a minimum of just $50,000 per year, while the minimum starting salary for NBA players is about $580,000
• Male athletes get $179 million more in athletic scholarships each year than females do. (Only 24% of their athletic operating budgets on female sports).

• In 2016, ESPN ran 778 stories about males, 16 about females and 13 that mentioned both males and females. (48:1)
• In America 40% of sportspeople are women, however only 6-8% of the total sports media coverage is devoted to them.
• In 2004, Fox Sports' Southern California Sports Report devoted only three percent of air time to women's sports

Equal Play, Equal Pay

After the 2019 World Cup win, the USWNT was severely underpaid compared to their male counterparts. As a result of this, there was a class-action suit filed in March against U.S. Soccer, the sport's governing body in the United States by members of the USWNT.

Counter-Argument: Men are stronger, more physical, and have more skill than women. Men's teams bring in more revenue from televized and in-person viewing and advertisement.

Rebuttal: Men and Women are biologically and anatomically different and we have been accustomed to their style of play over many generations.Men have more views due to the societal focus of men in sports, this must be changed as a society over many generations, starts with broadcasting and advertising womens sports more.

Gender Inequality Around the World

Sarah Nu from China: Ted Talk

Girls are not given the same opportunity in China

Sports lead to a healthier lifestyle

athletes are 3x more likely to graduate, have 50% higher self-esteem, and 82% of executives played sports growing up

gender inequality is a significant issue in China due to the negative stigma and lack of opportunity

Solutions are going to be paced different depending on where you are

Nu created her own basketball camp for girls in China because they do not have that opportunity. The female players went from being very shy and reserved to outgoing through gained confidence and important life lessons while playing basketball.

Solutions

Hire More Females

Encouraging women to pursue careers as players, coaches, trainers, executives and journalists can push sports towards gender equity.

Gender Equity Policies

Women doing equal work should have equal participation opportunities, financial aid or funding, wages and benefits as their male counterparts.

Avoid Sexist Language

When writing about women’s sports, avoid using innuendos or belittling athletes by alluding to their outfits or family roles outside the game.

Solution

• Shift our mindset of women in sports as a society
• Males and Females are biologically and atomically different
• No easy, short term solution
• What can YOU do today?

Works Cited