Will+women+ever+get+a+fair+go?

Nicholas Johnston 8306109 Sophie Miller

**__ How Equitable is the Playing Field when it comes to Women in sport? __**
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ARTEFACT

This YouTube artefact focuses on informing the public on the very current and controversial issue of equality in relation to gender in competitive sport. Through the many interviews that were conducted, we as the public are treated to a real life insight into the views of everyday people as well as political experts in relation to the inequity associated with women athletes and the lack of media coverage, as well as the reasons behind this.

A question was posed as a form of social experiment relating to respective 100 m Olympic champions both male and female to determine whether the public had any recollection of both genders, or if the imbalance in media coverage had impacted on the views of the wider community. All of the people interviewed were able to immediately recall Usain Bolt, describing him as being athletic, fast and strong, reflecting the dominant discourse of masculinity. By contrast, those interviewed had no recollection of who the female Olympic 100m champion was. However, when shown a photograph of Olympic pole vaulting champion Yelena Isinbayeva, many typically described her in terms which reflected the common female stereotype as being ‘nice looking and happy’, no mention is made of their athleticism or skill, only their appearance. It is evident that the playing field in relation to media coverage is still a very one sided affair, with men continuing to dominant in all facets of the sporting world. They receive more media coverage, are better known in the wider community and are recognised for their athleticism, whereas women are not.

PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE

 Female sport continues to suffer the consequences of being the ‘second string’ choice in relation to air-play on free to air television as coverage of women’s sport. “ The Federal Government recently funded research into the content and quantity of women’s sports coverage which found coverage of women in sport makes up 9% of all sports coverage in Australian news and current affairs.” (Vicsport, 2010). This inequity in relation to media coverage can ultimately lead to numerous public health issues as women continue to seek media exposure through revealing themselves and exploiting their looks in an attempt to gain media attention. There are numerous public health issues that can develop as a result of the portrayal of women’s sport in the media. These include self-consciousness in regards to their body image which can lead to the development of eating disorders and affect the overall health of the person. Self-consciousness can also influence women’s participation in sport as women can opt out of sport and become more sedentary if they feel their body type or size does not reflect the ‘ideal’. This is reflected in data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, “more males (65%) participated in sport and physical activities than females (59.9%) at least once in the last 12 months.” (ABS, 2006).

This continual gender imbalance in relation to participation in sport can ultimately result in females experiencing a lack of self-confidence, as even elite sportswomen continue to struggle to gain adequate media exposure. Inequities such as this can also lead to women putting themselves under immense pressure in order to conform to the ‘ideal’ image of women in sport. This ultimately contributes to a decrease in participation from females. “Stereotypes influence the types of sports in which women are likely to participate. Not only are sports labelled masculine or feminine, those female athletes who participate in sports are also subject to being labelled and stereotyped as either masculine (possibly lesbian) or feminine conforming to the ideal.” (Australian Sports Commission, 2011). This can ultimately lead to numerous health issues that can arise with these pressures of becoming a competitive female athlete. “Diet and exercise are used by women to alter their body in order to conform to ideal female images. These practices control women and can lead to eating disorders. There is concern regarding the relationship between eating disorders and elite female athletes, especially in sports with an emphasis on aesthetics and body presentation.” (Australian Sports Commission, 2011).

LITERATURE REVIEW

“Women have made a consistent and significant contribution to Australian sport at all levels, yet their achievements on the whole receive limited coverage by the mass media. The quality and quantity of the coverage of women’s sport by the media is not an accurate reflection of the amount of sport played or watched by women. Media coverage is generally inadequate and selective. A high media profile is essential for attracting sponsorship, spectators and other sources of financial support.” (NSW Sport and Recreation). This gender imbalance in relation to media coverage is a seeming trend in today’s society and without adequate intervention from state and federal governments through initiatives such as advertising, the promotion of the importance of women’s sport in Australia will continue to be neglected. In August 2009, the Australian Womensport and Recreation Society released a media statement taking a proactive approach to recognising the issue with the announcement from the “Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women, that the association will be funded for $100,000 (excluding GST) from the 2008-2009 Women’s Leadership and Development Program Grants for “The Catalyst Project – Improving Sports Media Coverage for Women.” (Australian Womensport and Recreation Society, 2009). Government support through funding such as this allows women’s sport to increase its public profile as the women are then able to utilise their profile to educate sports administrators, athletes and coaches alike. Through initiatives such as this, it highlights the dire need for change as AWRA President Janice Crosswhite said: “There is a great need for this project as media coverage of women’s sport has hardly changed since the 1990’s. (Australian Womensport and Recreation Society, 2009). “A report released in May 2010 by Kate Ellis, the Federal Minister for Sport released new research by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) that reveals the achievements of women in sport continue to be under represented in the Australian media.” (Department of Health and Ageing, 2010). The report illustrated numerous findings which included that “Women in sport made up just nine per cent of all sports coverage in Australian television news and current affairs and seven per cent of other sport programming.” (Department of Health and Ageing, 2010).

It is evident that with this significant imbalance in media coverage in women’s sport, the question needs to be posed, why are successful women’s teams such as the Matildas receiving little media attention for their achievements? Kate Ellis, the Federal Minister for Sport spoke in May 2010 revealing her frustration with the inequity associated with the lack of media coverage dedicated to women’s sport, stating that "In a country with such a rich sporting culture as Australia, where women's sport is competitive and very successful on the international stage, it is incredibly disappointing that female sport remains so starkly under-represented in the media.” (Australian Government, 2010). Men continue to dominate in media spotlight due to men’s sport being perceived as being more masculine, attracting media attention as viewers find it more exciting and physical. “There are differences in the way the media portray women’s and men’s sport, mostly reinforcing gender stereotypes, or undermining women’s achievements.” (Australian Sports Commission, 2006).

With the Matildas recently being crowned the champions of Asia, they are now ranked in the top ten women’s football nations in the world. This is one of many major victories for women’s sport of late, in that the Socceroos are ranked below the nation’s women’s side in 22nd position. Prior to this success on the global stage, the Matildas turned to more desperate measures in order to get much needed funding in order to compete at an elite level. This resulted in them producing a nude photo calendar which ultimately led to increased media coverage. This further illustrates the point that women are forced to use what some would see as demeaning strategies to gain attention when no such requirement is made of men. “Women’s sport is more likely to be sexualised, and women are more likely to emphasise sexuality in fundraising for their sport. However, while this kind of portrayal is frequently used to secure media coverage, it can also create problems for the sport.” (Mark O’Keefe, ‘Sexploitation or pride? Female Olympians’ revealing poses stir debate’, Newhouse News Service, 15 September 2000). This sexualisation of sport is leading to a devaluation of the athleticism involved in the sport which reinforces the idea that women’s sport is less important, less difficult or ‘second string’. It reinforces stereotypes of women as sex objects who are admired for their physical attributes not their athletic skill. This type of sexism has not place in 21st century Australia.

In recent times, there has been an increased call for gender equality to be addressed, in particular in relation to the funding that is received. Recently in Sydney, an international conference on women in sport was held to discuss the major issues in the management of women’s sporting organizations. One issue highlighted was the continual struggle for women to gain employment at the top of the women’s sporting hierarchy. The lack of representation of women in the governing bodies of their own sports, is contributing to women’s sport suffering as a whole at all levels, from girls sport through to elite female athletes. With issues such as this needing to be addressed, it has prompted Elizabeth Broderick, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner to speak out in order for the public to be informed of the issues that continue to undermine women’s sport. You can't be what you can't see, Broderick said. ''Young women need to be able to see sportswomen at every level of amateur and elite sports - from the best and fairest and most valuable player, right through to sport management and governance. [Sports] bodies are failing to use the expertise and experience of more than half of the population.'' (Sydney Morning Herald, //Call for funding link to equality, 2010).// Broderick also went on to elaborate on the importance of these equality issues being addressed stating that “the lack of women in the senior levels of sports administration also exacerbates the problems that have been seen in the attitudes some sportsmen have towards women.”(Sydney Morning Herald, //Call for funding link to equality, 2010).//

It is important to recognize the importance for women’s sporting bodies to enhance and promote women into roles as administrators, with Johanna Adriaanse from Sydney's University of Technology further emphasizing the importance for such measures to be introduced across women’s sport, stating that “Increasing the number of women in sport governance is critical for advancing women's sport because it is at this level that important decisions are made for hundreds of thousands of physically active Australians and those that want to be active.” (Sydney Morning Herald, //Call for funding link to equality, 2010).// Adriaanse also stated that “only 21 per cent of the board members of national sporting organizations funded by the Australian Sports Commission are women, and ''little progress has been made over the past decade in advancing gender diversity on sporting boards'.” (Sydney Morning Herald, //Call for funding link to equality, 2010).// This is a continuing trend throughout many sports in Australia and has become a common trend demonstrated by sporting administrators, further highlighting the need for changes to be implemented so that equality in sport can be achieved.

CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ANAYLSIS

"Feminist sociological theory includes a number of different strands. Indeed, there have been important developments in the themes and perspectives of feminist thought. It represents one of the most vital traditions of sociological theory today.The tradition of critical social theory similarly attempts to discern potentials for transformation within the present development of society and to diagnose the sources of injustice and discontent.” (University of Sydney, 2007). It can be seen that the reasons in which we view sport has changed over time, with Baudrillard’s theory behind this being the fact“sport itself, meanwhile, is no longer located in sport as such, but instead in business, in sex, in politics, in the general style of performance" (Kent State University, 1993, p 8).

This statement Satre’s theories however, were based upon Hegel’s philosophy where ‘otherness’ was feared through isolation and social difference, with cultural groups expressing beliefs foreign to our own, providing a threat to our control and creating fear of cultural difference. Marx’s theory however suggested that specific groups pursued to dictate and exploit others for their own satisfaction. This evidence of fear of ‘otherness’ can be seen in the lack of acceptance of women as equals throughout competitive sport in that men continue to dominate the media spotlight. This culture controls the sporting institutions of the western world and must be addressed if genuine equality and fairness is to be achieved for all participants in competitive sport.

ANAYLSIS OF THE ARTEFACT AND LEARNING REFLECTIONS

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In relation to the playing field and the inequity associated with women in sport I chose the YouTube clip ‘Olympians in the media: Gender bias in Olympic media as I found that it best depicted the major issues surrounding gender based discrimination. The video included interviews with members of the community, analysing their views on women in sport as well as interviewing tertiary experts, with questions posed in relation to the inequity associated with women athletes and the lack of media coverage, as well as the reasons behind this. I believe this video represents the equity issues in an interactive and interesting way, as I found that I was engaged with the message that was being portrayed, while also revealing the common stereotypes that are associated with women’s sport which include the idea that sport’s pertain to men as it is seen as being more aggressive and physical, whereas women’s sport was watched purely for pleasure purposes. In relation to my personal opinion, I found this artefact to be both informative and interactive as it identified the key issues in a realist way in relation to women in sport and the degradation of their image in the media. Throughout this assessment I have learnt that society plays a significant role in contributing to people’s opinions and views, with the media often forming the public’s attitudes as to what is the cultural norms as well as media coverage of sports and the gender stereotypes that are associated with this.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">__ References __

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2006). Participation Rates Compared to Men. Retrieved from [] Viewed October 20

Australian Government: Department of Health & Ageing. (2010). New Report Reveals Poor Media Coverage of Women in Sport. Retrieved from [] Viewed October 20

Australian Sports Commission. (2011). Participating in sport. Retrieved from [] Viewed October 20

Australian Womensport & Recreation Association. (2009). Making a difference to improve media coverage of women’s sport. Retrieved from [] Viewed October 20

Commonwealth of Australia. (2006). Women in sport and recreation in Australia. Retrieved from [] Viewed October 20

Lewis, D. (2010, May 20). Call for funding link to equality. //The Sydney Morning Herald.// Retrieved from [] Viewed October 25

Lichty, P and Epstein, J. Kent State University (1993). Mapping the Multimedia Terrain of Postmodern Society. Retrieved from [] Viewed October 25

NSW Sport and Recreation. (2000). Infosheet: Women in sport (Brochure). Sydney, NSW. Retrieved from [] October 28

The University of Sydney. (2007). Sociological Theory. Retrieved from [] Viewed October 30

United Nations. (2007). Women, gender equality and sport. // Women 2000 and Beyond. December. // 1-44 Retrieved from [] Viewed October 30

Vicsport. (2010). Women in Sport Newsletter. Retrieved from [] Viewed October 30

Hi Andrew You have done a good job in selecting an appropriate artefact as I think it depicts the equality issues faced by women in sport very well. You covered the issue of women's sports being viewed purely for arousal very well. You also did a good job with your literature review as all your points were reliterrated by reliable sources. You could have perhaps explored more public health issues that women face such as eating disorders as women seek to conform to 'ideal female athelte image'. Overall a job well done here Andrew ||
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Hey Alex, You have addressed some good issues throughout your wiki, especially the issue of children participating in sport, and the lack there of. I like how you have highlighted the importance of girls to be more proactive in relation to participation in order to reduce the rate of obesity among young girls. You have done a good job on your review of literature with current statistics and views featuring throughout. You have done a good job of addressing equity issues in your cultural and social analysis, indicating that in current times there has beeng stronger support for gender equality and social encouragement of women in sport. This is a step in the right direction if women's sport is to be seen on the same page as men's sport. ||
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