Possibly. Maybe it's that most women's sports don't include the physicality of sports such as football or men's lacrosse and hockey. Maybe it's the frequent and often inaccurate stereotype that many female athletes are lesbians, or just not ladylike.
Two weeks ago, the Detroit Shock of the WNBA announced they would move to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Granted, Detroit is in an awful economic situation. But are people going to flock to Tulsa for women's professional basketball at a higher rate than the 8,000 people a night in Detroit? Highly unlikely.
The WNBA has been in existence since 1997, and is still partially funded by the NBA. Columnists and talk show hosts have quipped for 12 years that they don't understand how the league is still in existence. And these same people were all over the Phoenix Mercury for adding advertising to their uniforms this past WNBA season, despite the fact that men's sports teams in nearly every country except the United States have done this for years.
This arrogance and disrespect towards women's sports is highlighted in Nancy Theberge's analysis of "Gender and Sport." In 1995, CBS sports golf analyst Ben Wright made "a number of sexist and homophobic remarks about tour players." (Theberge 325). Wright went as far as to say that female golfers "are handicapped by having boobs."
Many of the talking heads in the media still lead this negative outlook towards women's sports. The WNBA, and women's college sports are slowly starting to gain mainstream exposure in the internet age, but it is still nowhere near the coverage of their male counterparts. What can be done to change this? How can these negative stereotypes be overcome? The Quinnipiac women's hockey team is off to the best part in program history, yet the attendance this weekend for two home games didn't crack 200. How can we as students help the teams here at QU gain the respect and exposure they currently lack?
Gender and sports has always been a growing issue sever since women first began playing sports that were normally dominated by males. I will be the first to admit that i would much rather watch a male basketball game over a female basketball game. I have played sports my entire live and have dealt with the issues that come along with being a female athlete. The only fans I ever would see at my field hockey game were our parents. We had smaller crowds at our basketball games than the boys varsity basketball team did. We were rarely scheduled for a Friday night home game, because the school knew that they would take in greater profit if they scheduled the boys home instead. I understood it was not fair, but it was sadly just something that came along with being a female high school athlete. While the boys were given new uniforms every year, we had to use the ones that were probably a good 7 or 8 years old. It was frustrating, but something that we all knew we had no chance of changing.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though the WNBA is always the butt of the jokes because it has very little respect that is associated with it. Within the article "Women and the NCAA: Not Seperate-Not Equal," we see how even college women basketball players and those who represent them are not given equal say because of the amount of female representatives they are given to sit on the NCAA Council, only 16%, and an average of about 21% on other committees (Lovett and Lowry 245). If they are not given a bigger voice to speak with, how will any change ever occur?
At Quinnipiac, it is clear that the male sports create more of a following than female sports. The Yale Hockey game is probably one of the most popular games during the year, yet only for the male team. Perhaps it is because people do not take female hockey seriously, because it is only portrayed in our country's society as a male sport. Within the Hardin article "Hegemonic Masculinity and Neohomophobia," it even describes how traits considered to be associate with the word "feminine" tend to be weak, passive, and subordinate (Hardin, 5). So it is clear that female sports players are labeled with these beliefs and if they are thought to be weak, why would one enjoy watching them play a sport? It is because of these thoughts that females are portrayed negatively in the sports world, which hopefully can take a turn for the better one day soon.
Female athletes defiantly do not get the same amount of recognition or respect as male athletes. Miles brings up a few interesting points when he discusses the difference in the physicality of the sports played. For the most part men’s athletics tend to be more physical and sometimes more intense. Sure they play different sports in some cases but when the same sport is played between both sexes the rules are often different. In lacrosse for example women do not wear pads and are not allowed to make the game physical in anyway. On the other hand, men’s lacrosse is extremely rough and physical. When people watch sports they often enjoy the physical aspect of the game and like to watch the players be tough with each other.
ReplyDeleteIn many games women are not given the opportunity to be tough or get physical. The Women and The NCAA article made me think of a few ways that women’s athletics could gain some recognition and a larger following. The article states “At present, the female representation is at such a level, averaging approximately 33% on most of the committees, that they have little influence over the direction of the association” (Women and The NCAA Page 245). This shows that women do not have a large stake in the decisions that are made in the NCAA. If there were more women on the committees and more women involved then more changes in favor of women possibly would be made. If there were more women on the committees they would have a better understanding of the wants and needs of the players. This could possibly lead to the changing of some rules to create that intense factor that men’s athletics often brings.
It is unfair that women do not receive the same recognition in sports when they put the same effort and time into their sport as men. Miles addressed the issue at Quinnipiac surround women’s athletics. There are defiantly not as many fans or followers at the women’s games even if the team is better than the men’s. Again, I do not think there is much Quinnipiac can do besides continue to support their female athletes and teams but it is a larger issue that is spread across all high schools, colleges and professional leagues. However Quinnipiac students should get out there and support all of the schools athletes both male and female.
The reason why women don’t receive as much respect sometimes as men to is not because women don’t play aggressively; it’s the view from the man. I feel that a lot of the time its men wanted their girlfriend or a girl who’s a friend to be more lady like, and being more lady like sometimes is still stereotyped as being a stay-at-home mom who cooks, cleans and cares. However, I disagree that women are not feminine when they play sports. I feel that it almost gives them an upper hand in the dating seen. Knowing sports and having personal experiences can help with conversation. If a guy likes sports a lot, he’s going to want a girl who knows a little something about it so that they can have something in common.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the rate of attendance does not have a lot to do with women; Quinnipiac in general, has low school spirit. As for the statement made about the women’s ice hockey at Quinnipiac I completely disagree. Ironically I recently was a part of a Collaborative Leaders program where my group was assigned to find out what could be done with women’s ice hockey at QU and why men received more fans than women. It was found that yes men’s games had higher attendance rates, but solely on the fact that they are better. The director of athletics, as well as the speaker from our SPS 101 class, Jack McDonald answered my question about why the women’s team doesn’t get as much attendance. His response was “Our attendance at WHOK games has been a pleasant surprise. We are getting more at our WHOK games in 2009, than our men got when we first went D-I on 1998. I have been to many D-I/ECAC WHOK games at other campuses and QU attendance is pretty good. We would not have been awarded the USA Olympic Team game if they thought our attendance was bad.”
Women have been fighting for equality in many things, not only in sports. The NCAA was skeptical in adding more women to the council because they believed that, “there is also reason to believe that women are more sensitive to women's issues and more willing to adopt change” (Lovett & Lowry 245). While this could be seen as true, I feel that it could also go the other way. A women may have less sympathy for a woman if she herself had done something similar to the woman, and felt no sympathy because she lived through it fine; therefore, so could the woman. It’s also shown, statistically, by the Ridpath article, how men are still getting more than women as college students. “Even more striking, the GAO Report and NCAA statistics showed that male students still received significantly more opportunities and resources, including 59% of participation opportunities (despite only 47% enrollment), 57% of athletic scholarships, 64% of athletic operating expenses, and 68% of recruiting expenses (GAO, 2001; NCAA, 2000). Thus, while women's participation opportunities have increased substantially under Title IX, they still lag behind both men's current and pre-1972 levels (GAO).”
I feel that when it’s stated how women do not act as physical as men, it’s because men don’t usually see it as physical, but instead as something sexual. For instance, Miles mentioned the in men’s football there is more physicality, however I wonder has he ever been to a women’s powder-puff game? I know I have and I’ve played in many of them, they’re just as tough if not worse. In high school I remember that each class of the football players would coach there respective class in women’s powder-puff for a week and they said that we were worse than they were. We weren’t supposed to hit, push, spit etc. but it happened. Keeping in mind that powder-puff football is where it’s either two hand touch or to pull the flag. I feel that women have just as much physicality but we just show it in a different way.
Women in sports have always been rather looked down upon by the male audience. As Miles’ blog stated, this could be because female sports are deemed less physical and less exciting, or that there isn’t enough coverage of women’s sports on major networks such as ESPN or Fox. According to Susan Birrell in the handbook, there are several theories that attempt to answer why women have had such a poor time on the athletic field. Birrell says “often they are founded on a belief that women and men are different by design…and were thus ordained to live different lives.” Birrell continues, saying “one early and particularly effective form of critique dhas been apathy: the wholesale ignoring of women’s interests in sport or the dismissal of women-centered critiques of dominant forms of sport” (63). No matter what the opinion is, it is apparent that work needs to be done to lift these negative stereotypes. The best way to do this is to give the sports air time and expose them to the public. However, this cycle is hard to break, because in order for a team to gain publicity, they must be good. In the case of QU hockey, the best start in program history isn’t enough, in part because most people don’t realize how good they are.
ReplyDeleteOne way to get the word out would be to show the games on Q30 or local stations, and is the same on large scale platforms with professional women’s sports. This starts by getting women involved in NCAA power positions. According to Dorothy Lovett and Carla Lowry, there is positive work being done, “change has occurred at every level, and the vast majority of the change is toward increased female representation, though small it may be” (245). In order to gain the representation in the media, women must have representation behind the scenes.
In relation to humanity and sport in general, women’s sports are still relatively new. Although most will say it’s a bit absurd to say that we’re still getting used to women participating in sports, it really is true. There are still stereotypes about women regarding their athletic abilities and competitiveness. Of course there is no doubt that women have gained much respect and legal rights in sports over time recently. However, societal issues still remain, many of which stem from notions and ideals that continue to be passed through generations of families.
ReplyDeleteIn the Handbook Nancy Theberge’s chapter Gender and Sport, she discusses the contemporary view of women’s participation in sports. “The progress that has occurred includes increases in the numbers of women participating in sport and in the variety of activities in which they are involved…For many women, this participation provides enjoyment and a sense of personal empowerment” (Theberge, 324). I think that many still see women in the stage of gaining confidence and empowerment from participation in sports, rather than taking them completely seriously as athletes. Women may definitely be past that stage and take themselves seriously, but in general, men and society as a whole may not see it that way.
Lovett and Lowry’s article Women and the NCAA: Not Separate—Not Equal explained the struggles of the creation of Title IX. “After numerous failed lobbying and litigation efforts against Title IX, the NCAA developed the position that it was their responsibility to administer women’s programs” (Lovett and Lowry, 244). The NCAA clearly saw supporting women’s sports as a burden and something that they had a moral responsibility (and then legal responsibility) to support. This idea of a moral responsibility could also be applied to the NBA’s continued support of the WNBA. It would probably be a good financial decision for the NBA to drop their support of their sister league, but I think their PR would plummet, with the media labeling the move as misogynistic and heartless toward women.
It is hard to increase popularity and respect for women’s sports when many people genuinely do not have interest in them, with any prejudices aside. This is true for any level of sport, from the pros, to struggling sports here at QU, to high school and recreational leagues (where lack of public interest can sway athletes toward not wanting to participate). Maybe more creative marketing (although a lot has already been tried) and the creation of something “different” for women’s sports can save them… but results appear to be grim.
Personally, women’s sports have never really been interesting to me. I just feel like watching women play a sport would not be as entertaining as watching my favorite men’s teams play. This may be due to the fact that female athletes do not get nearly as much media coverage as their male counterparts, making it difficult to actually see these women in action on television. As far as media coverage goes, I think that much can be done to give female athletes more exposure. Something as simple as a few more minutes of highlights on ESPN, or a few more pages out of a magazine devoted to women would be major progress. However, as sad as it may be, I do not see this happening anytime in the near future.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that sports, both on a professional and college level, are male-dominated when it comes to media coverage. However, male dominance in athletics goes far beyond coverage in the media. This is illustrated in Lovett and Lowry’s Women and the NCAA: Not Separate-Not Equal. When referring to NCAA athletic committees, Lovett and Lowry state, “At present, the female representation is at such a level, averaging approximately 33% on most of the committees, that they have little influence over the direction of the association without the benefit of consensus building with male members” (245). The fact that even collegiate athletic committees are composed primarily of men makes the battle for female equality in sport that much more difficult.
The stereotype that women are not as strong or as athletically gifted as men is also one of the main setbacks for female equality. This is illustrated in ‘Have you got game?’ Hegemonic Masculinity and Neo-homophobia in U.S. Newspaper Columns, when Hardin states, “The relationship between sexuality and athleticism has always been one fraught with assumptions because of associations between homosexuality and femininity, which has been situated as weak and passive” (7). This may be one of the reasons that the attendance at Quinnipiac men’s games has been higher than that of female games. I do feel that we need to go out and show more support for our female teams.
One possible way to help get female teams more exposure could be to give fans that seem to be uninterested in the actual game some kind of incentive to show up. Perhaps offering prizes or having more giveaways at games would be a good start to putting more fans in the stands. Once fans are at the game, they may then realize how entertaining the women’s games can actually be.
College women's athletics haven't been around that much compared to the men's athletics, and I think that is the biggest reason why the women still have a hard time filling up the bleachers today. But I believe they are still growing and eventually could match the men in attendance.
ReplyDeleteFemale representation in the NCAA is still slow, according to Women and the NCAA by Dorothy J. Lovett. "At present, the female representation is at such a level, averaging approximately 33% on most of the committees, that they have little influence over the direction of the association without the benefit of consensus building with male members" (Lovett 245).
Without a strong presence in the NCAA, women are going to find it tough to advance the women's athletics programs around the country.
Of course, some of the stereotypes mentioned above also hurt the growth of women's athletics. Although, I'd argue that some sports the women play at a high enough competitive level that they should be seeing at least equal or near equal attendance compared to the men.
Also, to answer Miles' last question, I think more promoting of the game needs to happen on campus. Having a Midnight Madness event at the TD Bank showed just how annoying it is to take the shuttle up their. I know it's actually a pretty good situation compared to most schools, but still, people don't like to go very far. That's why women's soccer gets a lot more attendance than women's hockey, because the field is on campus.
“The progress that has occurred includes increases in the numbers of women participating in sport and in the variety of activities in which they are involved…For many women, this participation provides enjoyment and a sense of personal empowerment” (Theberge, 324).
ReplyDeleteWomen’s athletics are continuing to grow. Take the NCAA Basketball tournament for example, ESPN broadcasts every since round of the women’s bracket. Much like CBS runs the men’s tournament, ESPN runs the woman’s the same way, chalk full of highlights and analysis. If woman’s athletics are going to grow then it should start with the biggest event getting the most coverage. If there is enough interest then meaningful conference games and rivalries will soon be highlighted and broadcasted.
With the creation of ESPNU and other regional stations being available anywhere in the country women’s colligate competition are being seen all over the country. On a random Tuesday afternoon, a 65-year-old man in Vermont could watch TCU play Oklahoma State in women’s volleyball.
People have to give it time. In the grand scheme of things women sports are still so relatively young. More women are starting to get over the stereotype that comes along with athletics. Soon the general public will get over the stereotype and embrace women’s athletics, just give it time.
There are a couple of things that factor in as to why women sports are not as popular, do not get promoted, and do not get as much as attendance as the male atheltic games do. For one, you rarely hear much about women sports (either on TV, internet, or elsewhere). On ESPN you may get an occasional highlight of a game that went in to overtime and had a dramatic ending, or maybe they fit a top ten play in from a game, but compared to the coverage of mens game's, there is really no comparison.
ReplyDeleteAnother factor, and this is for me personally but I feel many others would say the same thing, women's sports just do not do it for me. Maybe it is the non- physical aspect of the game, maybe its the overall pace the game is played at but something in me does not show a genuine interest of excitement. Don't get me wrong, I totally support the idea of women's sports and definately think they should be given an equal opportunity and everything, and I like to go out and support the women's soccer team, but if I had the choice to watch a women's or men's game its going to be the men's game 10 out of 10 times.
Finally, as Lenny and others have said, women sports are fairly new to this world. Not going too far back if you were to tell people that for every man's sport there would be an women's sport, people would think you were crazy. I think the development of women's sports have come a long way (just look at the debates and issues over title IX, schools getting rid of high income male sports to have equality between the ratio of male to female sports). And it is good how far women sports have come, but to assume that they should be on the same level as male sports at the moment is not very realistic. Male sports have been around way too long.
I think to get more support for women's sport, there needs to be more people fighting for it. In the Lovett and Lowry article, it states that "the organization originally agreed to a 5 year plan that assured women a maximum of 16% representation on the NCAA council" (Lovett, Lowry, 245). In order for things to externally change for the women sport as a whole, things internally need to change.