Women,+Sport+and+Gender+Equality

Name: Tom Patterson Student Number: n7551673 Subject: PUB209 Health, Culture and Society Tutor: Katie Page Tutorial: Friday 11-12am

VTR cablepress, the largest, most popular cable television company in Chile released this image as part of an advertising campaign. Ultimately, this advertisement was released to attract consumers to jump on board with their cable television offers. In doing so they have portrayed women’s sport in a manner that could be seen as degrading and extremely sexist by captioning the image as ‘the best of female performance’. This form of marketing is commonly used to attract media attention predominantly because it is successful (Rosselli & Stankiewicz, 2008). The very fact that it is so successful is one of the main problems behind our gender inequality on sporting fields.
 * Cultural ** **Artifact**



Women’s involvement and participation rates in sport and physical activity are substantially lesser than that of the male population (Stevenson, 2002). The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011) discovered that in 2009-2010 that there has been a 3 percent decrease in female participation in sport and physical recreation over a period of 4-5 years. It has been recognized that involvement in community sport or exercise has had substantial affect on abuse and sexual violence occurrences. Because women would be connected with the community in some way it keeps them busy, socially involved and well supported. The question is whether it is possible to achieve change in these decreasing participation rates. However, these percentage differences have not gone unnoticed. Various organizations and governments have implemented counter movements in order to reduce this lack of female involvement (VicHealth, 2011)(Women Win, 2010). Organizations such as “Everyone Wins,” introduced by the Victorian Government, adhere to this issue because of the positive affect that they have found physical activity to have on women’s confidence and social involvement. Ultimately, the counter act movements that are put in place are striving to encourage women to be a lot more heavily involved in community sporting clubs. They are doing so because of the findings that relate involvement in sport and physical activity to a decreasing rate of abuse and mistreatment of women.
 * Public Health Issue **

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Gender inequality has been an issue in all areas of life for many years (Webster, 2006). Despite the many counter act attempts by authorities we still see this issue playing a prominent role is society today. When analyzing sport and physical activity alone, it is clear that men are a lot more heavily involved than women. The ABS completed a study in 2006 which found that in the previous 12 month period there was a 6% difference when is came to men participating in sport than women. This raises the ever so evident question of why? Susan Speer (2001, 109-114) published an article referring to the affect that the media has had on sport. Her arguments suggest that the media has warped the view of female athleticism. Through publications such as the swimsuit magazine editions and explicit television advertisements we have been influenced to subconsciously degrade and undermine the performance of female athletes by critiquing them more on body shape and figure than skill level. The article analyses and refers to Sports Illustrated, one of the most widely known sport-based magazines around the world, and there annually edition directed purely at swimsuit models. As a result of this emphasis on being ‘hot’ our female youth are continually being bombarded with role models that are popular not because of sporting ability but rather the shape of their bodies (Stevenson, 2002). Prime examples of this are tennis player Anna Kournikova and golfer Anna Rawson who are extremely popular and well known in sporting circles because of their figures. Speer raises the notion that we need to start displaying more realistic images through the media and advertising movements. This idea was one that has taken off and been used in various different advertising schemes. One of the most affective and well known being the Dove Evolution television advertisements where a spotlight is shone on the process of digitally enhancing models faces. Speer is suggesting that we as a society need to introduce a lot more of this ‘real’ media as apposed to the edited, unrealistic messages.
 * Literature Review **

Another of the more drastic suggestions Speer made was to totally eliminate the gender ideals of masculinity and femininity. An issue that we have been wrestling with for years and have continually failed. Because these views have been the norms for such a long time Speer states that she cannot see this change in mind set happening any time soon. Ultimately, to achieve gender equality in terms of media coverage this is what we would need to change. Society would need to take note of the physiological difference and the advantage than men carry when it comes for physical performance. This raises the question as to whether that is a possible task.

Men have and will always be biologically bigger, stronger and faster than women. Consequently, this causes males to be able to perform at higher levels with a lot more ease (Thibault, et al. 2010). Male sport is seen through the public eye as superior to that of female competition because of this very fact. When considering the biological gender differences one can further appreciate the skills and abilities of our female athletes, however, if this differentiation in not made women’s sport can just be seen as slower and weaker. Stevenson (2002) studied various different sporting events but focused his study predominantly on the female competition at the Australian open tennis championships. From this study it was concluded that spectators are drawn to expeditions of masculinity or femininity. It was found that the women’s division drew slightly more attention and media coverage then the men’s which was outstanding. Subsequently, Stevenson resolves sexuality is undermining female competition. By studying the more popular athletes Anna Kournakova, Martina Hingis and Amelie Mouresmo, she argues that these athletes aren’t drawing all this attention for all the right reasons. As an example, Anna Kournikova, an extremely popular women’s tennis player, had also previously been involved in the modeling scene. When comparisons are made with that to a player such as Amelie Mouressmo, a staunch, muscular homosexual one can see that there are subtle underlying attractions. It could be concluded that the larger majority of media attention is drawn to women’s sporting events for reasons that undermine and insult the athleticism and skill of the players (Stevenson, 2002).

Although there are obvious negatives, participating in sport and physical activity has proven to be extremely beneficial for both physical and mental health. As mentioned above, there are entire organizations built around looking past the stereotypical female athlete and increasing women’s participation rates in local sporting competitions. There is a serious need for change know knowing the severity of the influence that participating in sport has. Hums and Lyras (2009) believe that one of the steps we need to take in order to inhibit change to take place is at the core of the problem, our sporting clubs. The local clubs need to embrace mixed gender sports with a lot more enthusiasm than they currently are. Hums and Lyras make suggestions that we need to take active steps to involve women on the sporting fields a lot more. Ideally, society needs to alter our emphasis on the gender ideals (Speer 2001). More female friendly clubs will encourage and increase women’s willingness to participate. Subsequently this will lead to generating more female professional athletes and therefor increase the amount of female sporting role models, role models that are recognized for the right reasons.

There are many limiting factors preventing sexual equality on the sporting field. Some of these factors have become the norm and have been that way for so long it is hard to see much change happen in the next little while. However, there are small steps we can be taking as a society to encourage female participation, and achieve small yet crucial change. The difference that participating in sport and physical activity has on a female’s life should not be passed up (Hums & Lyras, 2009) (Speer 2001) (Cortis, 2009).

Sport has got the ability to shape and transform lives. The impact it can have on one’s confidence levels, social connections as well as self worth is enormous (Hums & Lyras, 2009). However, there are some noteworthy barriers and restrictions that hinder the accessibility to this transformation. Although there are many, one of the more prominent factors is sexual inequality. Women participating on our sporting fields isn’t just about seeing women breaking records or winning games, but rather improving important social health issues. Lensch (2006) raises The Women’s Sports Foundation as an example of a leading organization seeking change in this area. Its purpose is to inform and help women to find and get involved in local sporting teams. The impact that female participation in sport has is large and well noticed enough for entire organizations to be centered at influencing change in this area.
 * Cultural and Social Analysis **

At the moment breaking into sporting teams and clubs is a difficult thing to do for women, particularly those with a culturally diverse heritage (Cortis, 2009). From the results of a study done in 2009, it was proven that in our local sporting clubs here in Australia have developed certain norms and standards. The women who fall short of these standards experience barriers and hardship when it comes to breaking into these groups (Cortis, 2009). The fact that Australia is known for the amount of culturally diverse citizens establishes why our female participation rates are so low. Our sporting clubs need serious attention and alterations. If anyone, the women that have migrated into Australia from elsewhere need the help and social connections even more so than Australians women.

America in 1972 introduced an amendment known as Title IV. This ruling was enforced to ensure that females have access to the same opportunities that men have when it comes to educational programs. This of course includes athletic and sporting programs (Sherman, 2001). Sherman states that the amendment has had a positive affect on female participation, but they are still falling short of the males rates. A later analysis of this law and its subsequent outcomes concluded that there is still much more work to be done (Shimon, 2007). Students are now offered and given the same opportunities equally, but one of the issues with this, when looking specifically at school age students, is that mixed gender physical education classes are not an even playing field (Shimon, 2007). The biological differences between males and females will and always play it’s part. Shimon (2007) suggests that the students need to be offered more choices. If the girls want single sex classes they should be able to choose it instead of compulsory mixed classes. Title IV is definitely taking a step in the right direction by targeting school and university students. The influence needs to be made in those earlier years when students are willing and open to the idea of participation (Scheerder et al. 2006, pp. 413-430)

Australian women have a wide range when it comes to cultural diversity. This along with age and gene differences alone, taking into consideration what we have just found, it is no wonder that women both find it hard and generally just don’t have the interest to participate in sport.

The advertisement, shown above, released by VTR cablepress depicts perfectly what the media has continuously thrown our way. The image of a female tennis players backside with the caption “Don’t miss the best of female performance”. Although this campaign has been designed to attract people to sign up for their cable television channels, it is portraying a harmful, undermining messages to both men and women. We have developed over centuries this desire for masculinity and femininity and because of this the idea of success in relation to women’s sport has been severely warped.
 * Analysis and Reflections **

From a personal perspective, I was unaware of the power of influence that participating in sport or physical activity has, particularly with women. Having grown up competing regularly in club sporting teams it is ever so easy to now notice the norms and expectations that the clubs subconsciously hold. For women, who are going against the norms playing sport to begin with, to then join the Club-sporting scene would be extremely difficult. These clubs where norms and expectations are unmistakably present. Additionally, from media stints such as VTR’s, women now don’t even value sporting skill or ability, but rather beautiful legs or amazing hairstyles. In concluding, to increase women’s interest and involvement in sport there are a lot of alterations that would need to be made. Considering what needs to be done, it raises the core question of “ Is this goal ever going to be achieved?”

** References ** Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). 4102.0 - Australian Social Trends, Jun 2011. Retreived 2 November, 2011 from []

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2006). National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics Women’s participation in sport and physical activities. Retrieved 2 November, 2011 from []

Cortis, N. (2009). Social inclusion and sport: culturally diverse women’s perspective. //The Australian Journal of Social Issues, 44(1),// 91-105. Retrieved 2 November, 2011 from Lensch, E. (2006). Women’s sport foundation. Choice, 43(11-12), 2033. Retrieved from []

Lensch, E. (2006). Women’s sport foundation. //Choice, 43(11-12),// 2033. Retrieved from []

Rosselli, F. & Stankiewicz, J. (2008). Women as sex objects and victims in print advertisements. //Sex Roles, 58(7-8),// 579-589. doi: 10.1007/s11199-007-9359-1

Scheerder, J., Thomis, M., Vanreusel, B., Lefevre, J., Renson, R., Vanden Eynde, B. & Beunen, G. (2006). Sports participation amoung females from adolescence to adulthood: a longitudinal study. //International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 41(3-4),// 413-430.

Sherman, N. (2001). Title IX and women’s participation in sport. //Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 72(7),// 17. Retrieved 1 November, 2011 from []

Shimon, J. (2007a). Activity choice and title IX. //Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 78(9),// 3-12. Retrieved 30 October, 2011 from []

Speer, S. (2001). Sports media and gendre inequality. //Body & Society, 7(1),// 109-114. Doi: 10.1177/1357034X0100700100

Stevenson, D. (2002). Women, sport and globalization. //Journal of Social Sport and Issues, 26(2),// 209-225. doi: 10.1177/0193723502262006

Thibault, V., Quillaume, M., Berthelot, G., El Helou, N., Schaal, K., Quinquis, L., … Toussaint, J. (2010). Women and men in sport performance: the gender gap has not evolved since 1983. //Journal of Sport Science and Medicine, 9(2),// 214-223.

VicHealth. (2011). Everyone Wins: Welcome, involve and value everyone in sport. Retrieved 1 November, 2011 from []

Webster, F. (2006) Gender mainstreaming: its role in addressing gender inequality in Jamaica. //Caribbean Quarterly, 52(2/3),// 104-228. Retrieved 30 October, 2011 from []

Women Win, (2010). Why? Retrieved 1 November, 2011 from []

__**Comments**__


 * 'Ooh La La, Did you see that'- How equitable is the playing field when it comes to women's sport -** Andrew Shaw

Comment- The artifact you selected was both extremely appropriate and supports your arguments well. You raised a valid argument referring to athletes, in this particular case Venus Williams, and the way they use their femininely and sexuality to draw attention on themselves. Your artifact demonstrates that they are not doing so just in photo shoots or magazine covers but on the sporting field as well. I agree with your view on how this sexual image that is continually portrayed by our top female athletes if affecting young adolescent girls and their view of success. On the other hand, you mention that without the sexual aspect women's sport would struggle, even more than they do now, with gaining access to television coverage time.


 * 'Gen Y gets lost in the realms of cyber space -** Emily Smith

Well done, it is confronting to see the amount of young people that are being affected by cyber bullying. I totally agree with the fact that Gen Y has become too dependant on technology. With technology increasing so fast, without attention, cyber bullying is only going to follow suit. I support you in saying that we need to make people a lot more aware of the facts. Society needs to know and realise that cyber bullying is a key trigger behind mental health crisises. Generation Y has become too tangled and caught up in technology and because of this i think authorities need to ensure that they direct sufficient attention to counteracting this epidemic.