How Equitable are Sport Opportunities for Women?

Link to Website: http://www.sports-media.org/newpedimension8.htm

"Women do not receive equitable
treatment in sport but opportunities
are increasing and hopefully in the future,
women will receive equitable treatment
to their male counterpart."

In class on November 17^th we discussed gender and sports and whether woman had equitable opportunities in sport.  In Coakley’s text on pages 232-233, he talks about the increase of opportunities for females.  Since the mid-1970’s opportunities for females have increase but prior to the 1970’s woman didn’t participate in sport.  The reason for that was because they didn’t have the opportunity to participate because they were no programs or teams.  Woman today still don’t receive equitable treatment but opportunities have increased, partly due to organized political action and government legislation.  Title IX has been a big factor in increasing opportunities for women. 

There are five main reasons for the dramatic increase in sport participation:  new opportunities, government legislation mandating equal rights, the global women’s rights movement, and increased media coverage of women in sports. 

In the article he discusses how powerful the media is and that women do not receive equitable treatment with TV time.  The media tends to show the men’s game rather than the female’s game.  The media has an amazing impact on shaping cultural attitudes and values.  By showing way more men’s games compared to women’s games, its makes the people believe that the women’s game in inferior to the men’s game.  The media also tends to focus on the looks of the female athletes rather than the amazing achievements of the female athletes.  Women do not receive equitable treatment in sport but opportunities are increasing and hopefully in the future, women will receive equitable treatment to their male counterpart.