The Olympic Games is a world renowned platform for the very best of athletes from all over the world to come together in the spirit of healthy competition and show the world the result of their hours of dedication to training. Athletes who represent their country in the Olympics hold the responsibility of performing to the best of their ability so that no matter what the outcome is at the end of their event, the county as a whole is proud to be associated with that particular athlete. In having a result as such, the nation stands united as one with an elevated sense of national pride.
A BBC World News exert by Jane Mower (2012), serves as proof that Olympic success leads to national pride and that the performance of the athletes is important
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The article states that it was found in a gender equality audit from the University of Toronto, Peter Donnelly (2013) and Michele Donnelly (2013) argued that there was a tendency to favour the male sex when it comes to fulfilling sport leadership roles. Michele and Peter Donnelly (2013) also proved that gender inequality is still evident when it comes to the differentiation of rules and structure between males and female athletes within the Olympic Games. In the report Michele and Peter Donnelly (2013) stated four other aspects that contributed to gender inequality in the Olympic Games in London 2012. The first of these contributors was a difference in sponsorship and funding between male and female athletes which caused tension amongst the athletes, the second being a differentiation in publicity and media coverage between male and female athletes, the third being a very controversial conversational topic: the re-emergence of sex testing on female athletes but not male athletes and the fourth being the afore mentioned difference in structure and ruling between male and female athletes. In the same article, however, it was mentioned by Alvad (2013) that there were women competitors in every sport causing the percentage of female participants to rise from previous major events and there were no longer any countries that prevented women from participating which signified “a major boost for gender equality” – Jacques Rogge, International Olympic Committee president
The ideal images of female athletes presented in the films for this class have had a strong connection to the images of ideal women in society in general. Like the ideal image of women, there are many variations of the ideal image of female athletes. While Dare to Compete tracked the evolution of the role of the real female athletes, the feature films we watched presented varying views of the ideal female athlete, which has been different in different times and places.
In the United States, softball provides a useful platform to observe and reflect on the numerous gender based inequalities seen within sports. The film, Burn the Ships, provides a holistic understanding of these inequalities through showcasing the Akron Racers who are one of five teams that participate in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF). The NPF consists of altruistic women who dedicate their time to a job that lacks compensation and numerous other privileges seen in Major League Baseball (MLB) and men’s baseball in its entirety. Through a socialistic lens, the Akron Racers are a microcosm for gender based inequalities within softball and female sports as a whole, ultimately suggesting why the gap between softball and a full-time job exist;
Women have forever had this label on their back of being too small, too weak, too feminine, and too boring. The traditional gender roles of the female interfere with the extortionate nature of competing in sports. Men are usually the ones to go 100% and give whatever they got, and to show masculinity while doing it. The standard masculinity of being strong, smart, and taking charge over dues the feminine traits of being soft, gentle, and polite. That’s what society has taught us to learn and accept. But the traditional female gender role is diminished when participating in athletics and people may think it’s weird to see females compete at the same level as males do. Men have always had the upper hand in the professional, collegian, and high
Soccer is not seen as a non-traditional sport for women, especially not since the US Women's National Team won the World Cup in 1999, but like most women's sports it was at one time thought of as a male only sport. I grew up in a very athletic family, where both my brother and my father loved to play soccer, so naturally I fell in love with the sport at a very young age, in fact I was about 5 when I started playing. At that time I was one of the few girls playing in the only peewee league; a league that was co-ed. It was really hard for me and I can remember the frustration I went though, because none of the boys believed that I was capable of playing at their level. In their mind I was just a girl and there was no way that I would ever be able to compete with them. This attitude did not just disappear with age, in fact it followed me until I finally found one of the local girls team. I am going to explore the challenges that women have to go through daily in order to compete at the highest-level possible. There are many issues that women must face concerning how they define themselves as a woman and how to relate to the rest of society.
Men and women have been separated since the beginning of life. God put Adam in charge of the Earth. When God created Eve, he took a piece of Adam’s rib from his stomach to create Eve. From this story that came from the bible, men believe that God made them better than women. And this has created a gender inequality between man and woman ever since then. Gender inequality, as stated on The Free Dictionary’s website is, “the difference between women and men in regard to social, political, economic, or other attainments or attitudes, or the problem perceives to exist because of such difference.” I believe that, when it comes to women’s sports, there is a pretty big difference in genders. Some of these differences are caused by men. A good example is that there are an enormous amount of men that take it as a joke. Most men feel that women just do not have the capability to ever have the strength and skills to compete with men. While others look at it as women are too girly to play and that they will cry and complain if they break a nail. Some think women are too fragile and if they try to compete against a man they will get badly injured. I believe these opinions that men have about women in sports, leads to the gender inequalities in it.
Gender discrimination is prominent in every industry, but it is as though the sport industry is one of the worst. Women in the work force currently receive only 80 cents to every man’s dollar (Holmes, 2016). However, female athletes both in America and internationally receive a far lesser compensation for their attributes. The only difference of the sports being played is who plays them. There should be no reason why a male athlete receives better pay simply because he had a 50% chance of being born a man. At birth, no one controls the gender, but as they grow and mature, they control their personality and development. Payment should be on personal skills and not gender. As a female STHM student focusing on sport management and a former athlete,
Gender Inequality is something that happens abundantly more often than we think within our everyday society. These events that take place we might not even be noticing them until someone points them out to us or we’re put into the position where we need to, due to our society has been taught to work and what we look for in these situations when they appear to be happening. This is something that our society really needs to work on to fix as a whole. The problem with gender inequality is that it often affects females more than males from having completely equal rights or fair opportunities within our society to do the things they’re passionate about within our everyday lives and work areas across America. Some of the places where gender inequality might be over looked at, is the sporting aspect of our population.
Seen as one of the many hot button issues in politics today, sexism was prevalent in the 2016 Olympics, which did not go unnoticed in the media. Newscasters were accused of making sexist remarks, magazines featured articles on “the most sexist moments in the Olympics,” and women were categorized by marital status and their appearance. The focus was drawn away from the athletic achievements of these ladies and placed on their physical appearance or the men in their lives. We hypothesize that if a male receives an award, whether it be equal or lesser to a female’s award, then the language congratulating the male will be more enthusiastic and less critical.
For many years there has been inequality between men and women. Basketball, football, soccer, baseball, golf, sumo wrestling, motocross, mixed martial arts, rugby, hockey, auto racing, boxing, and the list goes on and on. By now most are thinking “Oh, it’s just a list of sports.” This is not just a list of sports. These are sports dominated by men. Then again, there are sports listed such as basketball and soccer that have women’s teams, but the men’s teams get the attention and praise that women do not. Forbes list, parenthood, relationships, politics, social events, etcetera. Forbes list’s richest one percent of the world has seventy-three men, but only seven women (Forbes 400, 2015). Society has praised men, who take care of their children, but expect women to take care of the children.
Most people watch some form of sports, whether it be the Olympics or the highlights on ESPN. The NBA and NHL playoffs are underway and theyit seems to be the only news on ESPN. There is almost no coverage of the WNBA playoffs or any female athletics. Tennis isone of the only big sports on ESPN for women. While during the Olympics the coverage seems to be non-stop and close to equal. Women’s participation in sport is at an all-time high and has almost become equal with men’s, however,. sSports media does notfails to show this equality and skews the way we look at these athletes. Through the disciplines of sociology and gender studies, it can be seen that despite the many gains of women in sports since the enactment of Title IX, “traditional” notions of masculinity and femininity still dominate media coverage of males and females in sports, which is observed in Olympic programming and sports news broadcasts.
The first perspective is that women are disadvantaged at any sport. Some people reiterate the difference of men and women in sports. This is influenced by strength and the natural power men hold, comparable to women. Rodriguez questions “Is this because female athletes don’t have what it takes to make it in the world of sports or could it be more of a social issue?” This perspective seems to be a social issue based on the notable skills women acquire vs. the apparent judgments of gender issues. The second perspective is the idea that women deserve and inherently earn their right of equal attention and equal pay. “Sometimes, the secret to equality is not positive discrimination, it 's equal terms. It 's the shrug of the shoulders that says "what 's the difference?" The moment worth aspiring for is not seeing people celebrate the world-class female cricketer who competes at comparatively low-level male professional cricket, but the day when people are aware that she does, and don 't find it notable at all” (Lawson). Lawson makes it a point to confirm the biased notions against women in sports and relay an alternative worth working toward and fighting for. Both outlooks can be biased but only one has factual evidence to back it up. The second perspective reviews an ongoing gender issue. This problem is welcome for change depending on society’s
(Coaxley, pike 2009, p.277) The article also looks at how both men and women faced seemingly insurmountable barriers when attempting to break into a spoit that is not “proper or stereotypical for their gender to participate in. But society seems to be making some headway towards equality in sports their is still a long way to go. Evidence still shows that as a society we are still far more comfortable with women being involved in the traditional sports such as field hockey rather than boxing and men participating in sports such as rugby rather than synchronized swimming this is because they are pre conceived as “ NORMAL” for a specific gender.
Gender in sports has been a controversial issue ever since sports were invented. In the early years, sports were played only by the men, and the women were to sit on the sidelines and watch. This was another area of life exemplifying the sexism of people in which women were not allowed to do something that men could. However, over the last century in particular, things have begun to change.
Whether its baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, or tennis, sports is seen all over the world as a representation of one’s pride for their city, country, and even continent. Sports is something that is valued world-wide which has the ability to bring communities together and create different meanings, beliefs and practices between individuals. Although many people may perceive sports to have a significant meaning within our lives, it can also have the ability to separate people through gender inequalities which can also be represented negatively throughout the media. This essay will attempt to prove how gender is constructed in the sports culture while focusing on female athletes and their acceptance in today’s society.
Ann, 2007, pg. 57), however this is not true. This mentality causes males to resent the female athletes, thus rendering it even more difficult for them to succeed. Without a shift in gender ideology, females will continue to face adversity, regardless of the amount of change that has occurred over the last 30 years. There does not need to be equality between the genders within sports, however equity must be seen, with the perception of the abilities that female athletes possess not being compared to that of males. This would aid males to not feel as threatened by females participating in sports and physical