Where+too+from+now?+The+Future+of+Women's+Sport

Name: Stephen Coombe Student number: n8311781 Tutor: Emily Mann


 * Artefact **



This photo was captured while the Australian Netball side were about to begin their 2010 Commonwealth Game campaign against Samoa. During this game the Diamonds scored more points then there were spectators in the crowd. With a final score line of 76-39 going Australia’s way only 58 legitimate supporters were there to witness the victory. In this photo it is shown that there is one supporter in the shot who is watching the Australian team warm up. The Australian team travelled to Delhi to participate in these games and received this embarrassing support at their first game (South. J, 2010).

This artefact has been selected because it represents the plight of female sport. It demonstrates that even at the most professional of levels, female sport is still not appreciated by the general public. The Commonwealth games are one of the most prestigious events on the sport calendar, and if the Australian Netball team can’t get a crowd to this game then what sort of future will the National Netball team have when it returns back to Australia? In addition to this, with such a low amount of spectators at the game, it must be questioned what is keeping the supporters away. Is it a lack of information, negative view’s of women or just a lack of general interest in the sport?
 * Cultural Issue **

** LITERATURE REVIEW ** This inequality that exists between male and female sport has existed since women first entered the sporting world towards the turn of the eighteenth century, such as when the first nineteen women were allowed into the Olympic Games in 1900 (Ederle, 2011). This inequality has arisen through a number of different barriers that affect the way in which women’s sport is viewed by the general public. One of the major barriers that women’s sport face is the way in which media portrays female athletes. Media is dominated by sport. However it is stereotypically always dominated by male sport through visual, print and audio mediums. While female sport receives very little to no media coverage at all. //Towards a Level Playing Field,// 2008, by the Australian Sports Commission found that 81.1% of all free to air media coverage was made up of male sport, while only 8.7% of the remanding air time was specifically for female sport.

This lack of media coverage has lead to a number of different barriers that also effect women’s sport. The main effect that a lack of media coverage can cause is a lack of a large supporter network. The general public are constantly bombarded with male sport, in the paper, on the news and on the radio. This leads to a support group which follows each particular male sport on a daily and weekly basis. Female sport on the other hand is very rarely included with the male sport on these different mediums. Dianne, 2010, said that the “Under-reporting of female athletes and their sports gives readers, listeners and viewer the impression that few women participate in sports” (Dianne, J, 2010). Therefore without the media, people don’t have access to the majority of female sports. This lack of support can also affect the potential sponsorship deals which are seen in male sport. Kemp, 2008, said that there are major sponsorship deals being dealt out to female sports and athletes which receive a lot of publicity in Europe, such as female tennis star Maria Sharapova for example. If the profile of Australian female athletes were raised then they would be in contention for these same sponsorship deals.

Another barrier that exists in women’s sport and the Australian community is the sexualisation of female athletes and their sports. Kane, 2011, supported this notion of the “sex sells” strategy used by journalists and the media in her article //Sex sells Sex, Not Women’s Sport//. This can be seen in the sporting community of Australia, where female athletes are often perceived as mere sexual objects and not as the professional athletes that they are. After the Beijing Olympics, TV New Zealand reduced Stephanie Rice, one of Australia’s best swimmers; to a mere sexual object after her success at the games. This can be attributed to a number of different reasons, however Pushkar, 1998, said this was due to men viewing women’s sport as a threat towards their masculinity. Therefore to counter this they perceive women’s sport as “Less serious, less macho and less competitive” (Pushkar, 1998).

This perception of female athletes as a mere sexual object to fantasize about can also be reversed. Not only will some men view female athletes as sexual objects, but they will also view them as overly masculine, or lesbian. This is due to the fact that some people can’t comprehend female as athletes. Therefore they categorise them as overly masculine and butch, as their way of explaining that the only reason they play sport is because they wish they were men. Parker, 2009, supported this notion when female rugby players were analysed to find how their typically masculine sport reflected upon them. It was found that ‘Some women felt ashamed for participation in sports that have been produced as ‘masculine’ or ‘lesbian’ (M. Parker, 2009).

However even with these barriers still in place, the Australian Government has implemented a number of polices and strategies that are there to help women’s sport to reach a level where female athletes are appreciated for the elite athletes that they are. These policies and programs included the Australian Sports Commission, Australian Institute of Sport and the Women’s institute of sport. These programs not only take an active role in encouraging female athletes to perform at the elite level, but also encourage women to participate in sport on a community basis, as female sports are not as common as male sport at a recreational level. These programs that the government have implemented are designed to reach out and encourage young female athletes to pursue a carrier in sport. This is achieved through offering scholarships to the Australian institute of sport, and other institutions, so that younger athletes can develop into future Australian representatives. This is also accompanied by the Australian Sports Commission which is taking it upon themselves to improve the image of female sports in the media and in the community, and ensure that female athletes are shown in a positive light. These different strategies aim to encourage the young female athletes to have an interest in sport. (Australian Sports Commission, 2011) This idea of developing at the grass roots level is to get the younger females of today heavily interested in female sports so that they can provide the large fan base in the future. As all sports require a support network, which in turn will encourage more media coverage. Research support has shown that // “Girls who have played will turn into women who watch, encouraging media producers to provide more women's sports programming” ( //Whiteside. E, Hardin. M, 2011 // ) //

The issue of inequality within the sporting world affects the whole of the cultural and social makeup of Australia. In modern society there is great pressure upon communities and organizations to regard and treat women as equal to men. The way in which society perceives women in society has changed drastically in the last hundred years. From women being allowed to vote, join the armed services and hold respectable and prestigious places within society. However women are still not held in the same esteem as men when it comes to sport. Therefore it should be a priority of society as a whole to want to close the gap between men and women’s sport. That is the reason behind the policies and programs the Australian Government has implemented as a way of improving the way in which female sport is perceived and accepted by the Australian community. This in turn will hopefully significantly improve and develop the Australian culture to become accepting of both sexes in the sporting world.
 * CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ANALYSIS **

This difference within the sporting community affects a number of different people. Those who are most effected would be the female athletes themselves who are constantly overshadowed by their male counterpart (Whiteside. E, Hardin. M, 2011). These athletes put in just as much effort, time and money into their sports, but receive very little fame or fortune compared to male athletes. Male athletes receive a large enough salary for sport to be their full time occupation. However some female athletes still have to work as well just to make the ends meet. //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Gender Bias in Sports: Separate and Not Equal, //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 2005, by Professor Daniel Frankl, Ph.D, supported this inequality of wages of top athletes. His work found that “Top women tennis players earned 59 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts” (Fankl. D, 2005). Which just shows the inequality that exists between the sexes.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The organisers of professional and domestic female teams would also appreciate the rise of female sport out of the shadow of male sport. These senior members of the public take it upon themselves to coach and organise sports that aren’t appreciated by the public to the same extent as male sport, but do it out of their own love for the sports they are associated with. These people are most affected by the lack of publicity and support that female sport has received in the past. However they would also profit the most if female sports were to raise its profile.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Therefore the artefact was chosen because it best represents the issues facing women’s sport in the Australian society. It represents the lack of support and interest that is shown to some female sports. This lack of interest can then be related back to the lack of media coverage and the lack of a following by spectators. It is an image that can be interpreted in different ways by different people, but this is the way that it is perceived by me. The difference between male and female sport has allowed me to realize how much the sporting community has to improve in the future. However at the same time it has made me realize that female sport will never be held completely equal to male sport. Sport has become a billion dollar industry around the world, with sponsorship and media deals always been given out to the top teams and athletes which can reach the largest amount of fans as possible, and this will always be male sports. This is due to the fact that sport was designed for men since ancient times, and even as women’s sports increases in popularity and demand in the future, so too will men’s sport. Therefore women’s sport, in my view, should not try to outcompete male sport, but should look to exist out of the shadow of men’s sport and seek support and respect for what it is and what it represents.
 * Artefact Analysis **

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">South. J, 2010. //More goals than fans - Australia 76, spectators 58.// Sydney Morning Herald. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">References **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Australian Sports Commission, 2011, //Participating in Sport Factsheets,// [online] [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Frankl. D, 2005, //Gender Bias in Sports: Separate and Not Equal.// The new P.E and Sports Dimension


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ederle. G, (2011). **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">History of Women in Sports Timeline. St. Lawrence County Branch, [online] []

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Towards a Level Playing Field:sport and gender in Australian media, 2008, Australian Sports Commission. //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kane. M, 2011, //Sex Sells Sex, Not Women’s Sports.// The <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">, Vol. 293 Issue 7/8, p28

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sport's Hottie of the Week: Stephanie Rice, //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">TV New Zealand, July 2009

==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Pushkar, K. (1998). Emotional miscue, //<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The village voice. //<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">43, 10, 181 ==

==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Parker. M, 2009, //<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Femininities in women's rugb //<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">. University of Alberta. p24-25 ==

==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Whiteside. E, Hardin. M, 2011, //<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Women (Not) Watching Women: Leisure Time, Television, and Implications for Televised Coverage of Women's Sports, //<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Communication, Culture & Critique, 4, 2, 122-143 ==

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dianne. J, 2010, //Women’s sports coverage: online images of the 2008 Olympic Games.// Australian Journalism Review, 32,2, 89-102 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kemp. E, 2008, //Will brands back women’s sport?//, Marketing News Analysis. p16