Disparity between Women and Men in Sports

To inform my audience about disparity between women and men in sports in terms of salary gap, media converge and opportunities. Gender inequality in sports which explores disparity in resources, rewards and reassurance provided to men but are not prevalent to women in the sports context. In both subtle and explicit ways, women face numerous boundaries in taking part in sports, which keep women and young girls from receiving the various rewards that can be gained from playing sports and taking part in physical activity.

Societal norms are a big factor within a youth’s life. Guardians are influenced by the societal and gender norms. As result of this, the youth placed into sports according to their gender. There is much more to sex segregation and biasing in sports.

My informative speech tells the disparity in resources, rewards and reassurance provided to men but are not prevalent to women in the sports context. When I say gender inequality in sports, I mean the gender stereotypes which persist in the present world. How women athletes get less media coverage and are exposed to misogynist and deprecatory language in the media and from individuals in their communities. (Huggins & Randell, 2015). I have witnessed gender inequality in sports in my own house. My sister and me both use to play badminton, she was a better player than me but just because she is a girl. She had less opportunities, chances and tournaments to prove herself. This eventually led to her quitting the game. We all are aware from the fact that women have limited profesional opportunties in sports, there are only some sports in which women can Excel and be a profesional athelete but the number of positions is small and the pay is barely enough to make a living. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, male athletes get $179 million more in athletic scholarships each year than females do. (Kosofsky, 1993). It is obviously injustice in today’s society that women in sports are not given as much as attention that men in sports get. They are not equally treated and are not given the same number of opportunities as men. This is the harsh truth of society and awareness should be spread about this current scenario.

Because if women in sports are competing at the highest-level competition as men, they deserve same respect, opportunities and pay. The topic that I will speak on today is Gender inequality in sports and how many problems and biasing women athletes go through in their career. So, let’s start with, some facts that prove women in sports face a lot of disparity in resources, rewards and reassurance provided to men but are not prevalent to women. Like I said women in sports face disparity in opportunities, rewards, media coverage etc. Disparity in Rewards- It is the harsh truth that women athletes professional earning is considerably lower than that received by their male counterparts, even if the sport is same. For example, in the year 1979 women’s professional basketball league (WNBA) were paid between $5000-$15,000 while on the same hand men’s professional team (NBA) on an average were paid $143,000. (Kosofsky, 1993).

Another example of the current scenario for the U.S women’s football team, their win in 2015 World Cup got them $2m reward. Meanwhile in the male version of the tournament, the winners were handed $35m just a year earlier. This tells us the huge gap between the pay and the gap is not less it is worth $33m. Disparity in opportunities- As compared to men’s women have very less opportunities to prove themselves in the sports field. Gender bias is not only faced by female athletes it can also be very prominently observed in area of corporate and management sections where women fail to land a high-level position. It is shocking to know that only one major league basketball team is owned by a woman. There are fewer female reporters in sports field as they are not allowed to enter men’s locker room and thus, they are automatically discouraged from taking journalism in sports area.

Disparity in media coverage- Lack of media coverage can be clearly seen in the women sports. In 2014 a survey was held in which Ninety-Nine Videos in total were analysed. On analysing they came to know that 88% were males 11% were females and there were only 1% of the videos in which both men and women were interviewed. Each video was about biomechanical analyses of specific skill skit set for different sports by elite level athletes. According to the ratings, Male athlete’s videos were very much higher focused on than female athlete’s videos. From all these facts it is clearly proven that there is gendered dominance to a great extent in the media part of sports. II.Second Main Point- Talking about Title IX (Costa, 2004). Title IX continues to be a double-edged sword. On the upside the participation of women rose, around 205 teams were added and more than half of them in Division II and Division II of NCAA.

A)Due to Title IX Women’s basketball signed a deal worth $160 million dollars with ESPN for 11 years that to not just for sponsorship but also on agreement of broadcast of all games (Women’s Sports Foundation, 2002). Just because of Title IX act in the year 2012 U.S sent more female athletes to Olympics than male athletes. As a result, more gold medals were brought home by females than men. Before Title IX only 30,000 women participated in athletes but today the number is more than 500,000.

B)On the other hand, the percentage of women handling/leading coaching jobs, women’s NCAA teams and other athletic program came down by staggering amount from 90 to 17.1 percent and this happened after the implementation of Title IX. After Title IX, women's training occupations became fewer because of the new interest and regard for games, the pay for instructing went up, and more men ended up intrigued.

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