Woman+that+play+sport

Name: Chow Yau Shing Student no. n7340192 Tutor: Emily Mann Topic: Running like a Girl: How Equitable is the Playing Field when it comes to Women in Sport?



__Cultural Artefact:__ Tennis princess Maria Yuryevna Sharapova is a former world number one women tennis player. She was born in 1987 in Russia and moved to United States at the age of seven. She won her first Grand Slam single title by defending the top seed Serena Williams in 2004 when she was 17. After that she has won 23 WTA singles titles and 4 ITF titles. Due to her success in the court, she earned $24.5 million and was named the world highest- paid female athletes by Forbes in 2010. Outside the court, she had appeared in several modelling assignment such as Nike, Prince and Canon. In February 2007, she has been selected the United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador. Sharapova is probably one of the most successful women sport players in the world. For a woman to become a professional sports player, she has to overcome many obstacles. For example, there are few choices of sport that they can become professional players, also the payment for women sports are usually far lower than the men one. Other than that, women have to surmount the biological differences and many social factors that steer them out of sports. Sharapova is a perfect role model for many women who participate in sport who has overcome many barriers and finally become a household name for women tennis. __Literature Review:__ Although women participation in sports has a long history, they still have to face a huge discrimination and stereotyping for their gender. Social norms and values usually considered sports as masculinity which is for men and women is considering as femininity and should focus their energy on household and family. Women are limited in both physical and social factors to become athletes. Firstly, women usually have fewer opportunities to become professional athletes than men (Kosofsky, 1993). When women come to some contests or tournaments, they often get fewer positions than man. For example, the Ocean Pacific’s surfing contests offer prizes to first 12 male winners but just to the first 4 female winners. Also, women sports usually cannot get much support and less likely to attract sponsorship from the local companies (W.S.F) because of the stereotyping idea about women not suitable to play sports. Hence, the facilities and equipment for women athletes are imperfect and there are just a few women sports leagues operating, most of them are short lived. Even though it can survive, it can hardly attain the popularity like men sports. According to Women 2000 and beyond (2007), in Canada, there are more than 95% of the coaches work at community level but only 5 per cent are women. In the athletic programmes, male administrators take a total advantage; there are only 3 per cent of sports journalists are women. The lack of opportunity in the sport career of women and sport related employment highly discourage them to participate in professional sports. Secondly, the sport industry believes that women have a lower skill level and people are less interested in women sports. Recent researches have illustrated that women sports contribute only 9% of any sports editorial in spite of the result and athletes (Australia Institute of Sport). As a result, the payment is unequal between men players and women players even in the same sport. In 1992, the prize of the United States Women’s Open golf tournament was $130,000; however the prize for the United Stated (men’s tournament) was $275,000. The annual salaries of the women professional basketball player was $15,000, however the men player in NBA had an average annual salaries about $143,000. According to the Sportessex, full time women athletes earn on average 559 pounds per month less than men. The salaries of women player was far less than the men and was not enough for them to make a living. They usually had to find a second job to support their daily lives. Woman coaches often pay less than a man coach even though they have the same experience or ability. In 1993, the salaries of the women basketball coaches are just 59 percent of the basic salaries of the male coaches. Women may feel they are not involved in sport and loss the confidence, commitment and perseverance when they take part in sport. Thirdly, women bodies are physically less adept to sport. The heart and lung of male are ten per cent larger than female, male also has stronger and broader shoulders. On the other hand, female has a less body weight and more body fat which are not suitable for the popular sports that require unique biological features of men. The popular sports such as football, baseball and basketball, they all rely heavily on the advantages of the body. A football player needs a large body mass and a strong shoulder to tackle other players to the ground. A baseball player requires a powerful arm to throw the ball at a high speed. Women bodies are better fit to play endurance sports such as distance swimming and distance running. However, this kind of sport cannot attract spectators and are not popular within audiences. Therefore, the professional competitions for women players are rare and their opportunities are diminished. Lastly, the media always present sports as masculinity which is male- dominated. It reflects the gender stereotyping in women performing sports. The sports suits wear by the women are tight, skinny which emphasize their aesthetic body. Even though when they are participating in sports, they will remain their femininity.Therefore, the media tend to focus on the femininity and appearance of women athletes rather than their skills, strengths or leadership. There are 5% of the national sport media committed in women sports, yet they usually focus on their personal life and appearances but not their performance and accomplishment. The media also marginalized women sport or present it in a different style (Women 2000 and beyond, 2000). The men’s events are uniformly dominating the attention. In 2004, the ratio of media reporting in male and female sport in the United States were 95 to 1 in television and 20 to 1 in print media (Ms Magazine, 2004). The women sports are greatly play down and devalued by the media which discourage the popularity and the female who want to join sports. __Cultural and social analysis:__ The unequal treatment to women in sport has whittled down many occasions for women which they can develop their bodies, skills and experiences. Participating in sports can prevent many health problems for women such as numerous non-communicable diseases which contribute to over 60 per cent of the global mortality (World Health Organization, 2007). Also, it can have a positive impact on health in the adolescent and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease which account for one third of women death rate (World Health Organization, 2007). Moreover, involve in sport can reduce the rate of osteoporosis which is more common in women than in man (United Nations Inter- Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace, 2003). Sports can also help to maintain body weight and the formation of bones, muscle and joints. Other than physical benefits, joining sports can facilitate good mental health. It can bring opportunities to develop self- confidence, discipline, and leadership skills which are demanded in the future (Brenda Clinton, 1974). They can gain experience about teamwork, negotiating, planning by organizing activities. It can broaden women’s perspective and know more about the outside world. Sport is also an alternative path for women to participate in social and culture community. They can increase their interpersonal network and self- esteem. When women are more involved in sports and develop in more diverse positions, they can challenge the social norms and value. They can stand up for themselves and be the medium to break the gender stereotypes and discriminations and promote gender equality in sports. There are three main areas in improving the involvement of women in sport which include social aspects, educational aspects and culture aspects. In social aspect, the media should use the image of different women in publicity which shows women of all ages and body shapes. A positive role modelling is an effective way to reach the youth in the community. A long term mentorship is also important to support and encourage the participation. Moreover, they should advertise sports as fun, sociable and great experience rather than emphasizing competitiveness. For the government, it should allocate equal funds, sponsorship and facilities to both male and female athletes. Moreover, it should ensure that women athletes have the same opportunity to undertake leadership in different position. For the educational aspect, the parents should act as role models for their children and involve in the sports with children so that it can help the children to create a positive and realistic belief in sports. The government and some organisations can also help to form some parent children session which help to build a familial culture of sport. For the culture aspects, women should challenge the sexist assumption and behaviour of the dominant of male in sport. The media should help to organize more open discussion in this area and help to promote female role to inspire and motive other girls and women. __Analysis the artefact__ Sharapova has a very positive image to the public. She has a successful career in tennis and also outside the court. She is a good role model to many active women athletes. She is famous for her aggressive and powerful forehand and backhand serves, which has broken the social stereotypes that women are femininity and not muscular enough to perform sport. She has gained many media attention to both her tournament and her personal life. She has overcome many difficulties and finally become an idol of many girls.

__Reference List__ Australian Sports Commission, Australian Institute of Sport. (n.d.) Retrieved from Australian Sports Commission website http://www.ausport.gov.au/?a=433288

Australian Womensport & Recreation Association. (2008). The Current Situation for Women in Sport, 1-10

Barrier to Women & Girls’ participation in Sport & physical Activity (n.d.) Retrievev from http://www.ytouring.org.uk/productions/fulltime/education/Articles/pdf/Barriers.pdf

Carole A. Oglesby (2005). Women 2000 and Beyond.

IWG Helsinki Finland (2010). Promoting Women in International Sport for All. Retrieved from http://www.iwg-gti.org/catalyst/april-2011/promoting-women-in-international/

Kerry Flanagan (2008). Gender Barrier in Sport. Retrieved from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/2050

Lyns, Alexis, Mary A. (2009). Sport and Social Change: The Case for Gender Equality, 7

Sportessex (n.d.) Barrier to Participation- Women and Girls. Retrieved from http://www.sportessex.com/docs/csn/barriers_to_participation__women_and_girls_brentwood.pdf

Syda Kosofsky. (1993). Hastings Women’s Law Journal. Toward Gender Equality in Professional Sports. Vol. 4:2, 209- 247