The+Naked+Truth+About+Womens+Sport+Equality

Name: Stephen Whelan Student Number: n8315272 Tutor: Katie Paige

** Running like a Girl **
 * How Equitable is the Playing Field when it comes to Women in Sport? **

‘The Naked Truth about Women’s Sport Equality’ //"Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to unite in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination."- Nelson Mandela //



The picture above features the Australian Women’s Matilda’s soccer team posing for their team calendar in the year 2000. Controversially, the twelve team members posed for the calendar nude, which many found outrageous and embarrassing for the team. Player Amy Taylor when asked about the calendar stated, "We have a low-profile sport and I wanted to lift that” (Halloran, 2006), an accurate representation of current trends.

The artefact being analysed represents the current gender inequalities which feature all over the world in many aspects, particularly in relation to sport. Women across the globe experience a disparity when it comes to sport, receiving less media coverage, less sponsorship, highly reduced pay, and overall less support from the general public. The current trend for achieving more equity when it comes to these topic’s for women has resorted to them wearing tight, revealing clothing, and in the case of the artefact in question, completely baring it all just to be noticed.
 * PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE CENTRAL TO YOUR ANALYSIS **


 * LITERATURE REVIEW **

Defined by the Australian Sports Commission (2009), for an activity to be classed as a sport it must be a, “human activity capable of achieving a result requiring physical exertion and/or physical skill, which, by its nature and organisation, is competitive”. Gender boundaries are not considered an issue relating to defining what is, and what is not considered a sport. Sport has always been traditionally associated with masculinity. In many societies, it is considered inappropriate for women to engage in sports, and women who do may be perceived as masculine (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, 2005), a belief that to a degree, is visible in current mainstream ideologies.

Studies completed by the Australian Government in 2007 achieved results stating, 33% of girls aged 9-13 meet the national physical activity guidelines, compared to a greatly reduced 13% of 14 to 16 year olds (CSIRO, 2007). Research has found that aspects such as, lack of time, involvement in technology-related activities, influence of peers, concern about safety, inaccessibility of facilities and cost of using them, and body-centred issues are all problems which affect women of this age (Dwyer, Allison, Goldenberg, Fein, Yoshida, Boutilier., 2006). These barriers do certainly exist, though possibly other aspects such as general support from society and stereotyping may be the largest contributing factor relating to this rapid decrease in participation levels as females reach adolescence.

The New South Wales Department of Sport and Recreation highlighted the fact that women were making a consistent and significant contribution to Australian sport, yet their achievements as a whole were receiving little to no coverage by the mass media. The quality and quantity of the coverage of women’s sport by the media was not an accurate reflection of the amount of sport played or watched by women (New South Wales Department of Sport, 1993). Australian females must find it very discouraging knowing that even if they commit their career to professional sport and become the best of their chosen sport, they will still receive less support from society than their male counter parts, often reducing to self objectification just to get noticed.

Media all around the world is having an adverse effect on adolescent behaviours, often leading to many males and females developing low self esteem due to high expectations for the ‘ideal’ body image. Consistent evidence is being discovered, that exposure to thin-ideal television programs and magazines is associated with problematic body perceptions in adolescent and adult females, including body dissatisfaction, distortions in body image, internalization of the thin ideal, and the drive for thinness (International Communication Association, 2003). Body dissatisfaction due to the media is an ever growing cause reacting negatively to the involvement of females in sport. As increasing levels of females are being forced to objectify themselves to get noticed in sport, female sporting outfits are gradually becoming tighter and far more revealing in order to attract spectators to the sport.

Self objectification is the tendency to perceive and describe one’s body according to externally perceivable traits, rather than internal traits. One study found that women perform better in situations wearing a sweater, rather than a swimsuit, as they feel less objectified and therefore more comfortable. Self objectification predicts heightened negative emotions and mental health risks such as body shame, depression and disordered eating to result. (Journal of communication, 2003). Adopting this theory to sports such as beach volleyball, where females are forced to wear tight revealing swimsuit clothing, possibly they would perform at a higher level if they felt more confident and less self conscious whilst playing. Males wear loose fitting comfortable shorts, a far superior uniform to those of the females. Currently in Australia around half the participants in organised sport are women, however this is not reflected in media coverage of sport. Of the 3247 media reports about sport during the period of October 2008 until July 2009 only 316 of these were women’s sport orientated. That is less than 10% of all the media reports published during this period (Premier’s Women’s Summit, 2010). The Australian community, including feminists do not expect the equality between men’s and women’s sport to be perfect. Studies show that in 2007 netball was the most popular women's sport in Australia however it was the 10th most popular spectator sport for women, with the AFL being ranked number 1 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007), showing that women prefer to watch male sports as well. Though this may be slightly skewed as a result of more free to air television time for AFL over netball.

Salaries for professional sport are another attribute where the difference between male and female is phenomenal. Australians number one female basketball player Lauren Jackson when playing in the WNBL was paid approximately $40,000. In the States playing WNBA Jackson’s earns a maximum $US 91,000, an increase from WNBL, though compared to the equivalent male player in the NBA earning around $5.215 million is on average, the equality is non-existent (Steel, 2008).

Throughout comparison, it becomes highly evident the ideologies of western culture when it comes to female and male equality on and off the sporting field. In all aspects from media, wages, community support and what sports specific genders should play, females are achieving a raw deal. It is outrageous that in this current society women, such as the Matilda’s soccer team featured in the artefact must resort to using body image in order to be noticed as a professional athlete, something they train for everyday the same as males who receive all the glory.


 * CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ANALYSIS**

Sport is an important feature which presents itself in many different ways throughout society, benefiting us from social aspects through to physical fitness and health. Historically, girls and women in our culture have been underrepresented in sports, and actively discouraged from participating in athletic games that are stereotypically perceived as masculine (Harrison and Secarea, 2010). Gender inequality though does not only affect sport, still in our present society females do not acquire the same equals in which their male counter parts do. Today in many western societies, women are still fighting for their everyday rights, let alone equality on the sporting field. Countries such as Saudi Arabia for example do not even obtain a female sporting team for the Olympics, a place where women’s rights are still in question.

Although, girls and boys are equally likely to be interested in sports, this changes during adolescence. Whereas boys learn that sports are a way that they can display their masculinity, young girls often learned that participation in athletics is associated with being unfeminine (Harrison & Secarea, 2010). Sports that girls and boys are encouraged to participate in, depend if the sport is considered feminine or masculine. Sports considered ‘feminine’ are usually aesthetically pleasing and lacked face-to-face competition or overt aggression (Schmalz and Kerstetter, 2006). Females are instilled from a young age to act lady like, and are deterred from participating in sport as much as males, consequently causing them to already find themselves behind once it becomes socially acceptable for a young girl to begin playing sport.

The media shapes very different ideas of athletes depending on their gender. It seems to be an unfair playing field when it comes to displaying athletes in a sporting environment; males are represented for their sporting achievements but female athletes are represented by their aesthetics - looks. This current behaviour adopts the Sociocultural theory, which holds that societal factors strongly influence the development and maintenance of body image through the construction of an appearance-oriented culture that values, emphasizes, and displays cultural ideals of beauty and body shape (Daniels, 2009). A perfect example of this is ‘Sports Illustrated’ magazine; a prestigious sporting magazine, however also known for promoting the sexuality of women in the famous ‘swimsuit edition’, once again the media portrays narrow and stereotypical representations of women and femininity that transmit unrealistic standards for physical appearance (Harrison & Secarea, 2010).

In order to address the current gender inequalities in sport, society must first look at the areas in which they feature in our culture in everyday situations. Children are forced into beliefs at a young age that males will always be more masculine, and for a female to be interested in anything classed as male dominated causes them to be a social outcast. Equality needs to be shown through all aspects of society, which will eventually lead to a greater gender balance in sport.

My artefact I feel strongly portrays the current gender inequalities present throughout current society. The picture may be appealing to more so a male audience, giving the players more publicity and recognition, though that is what I conclude to be the problem with the social order. Why must women reduce to objectifying their bodies to the public in order to be recognised as a famous sporting star, this obscene occurrence makes no sense. Male sports stars are recognised for what they do, what sport they play, and whether or not they succeed. The rare occasion when a female sports star is recognised for their sport is usually determined by whether or not they have the sex appeal to support their sporting abilities. Women in sport are rarely recognised for their capabilities alone, more often than not it is if they look good in a bikini or not. Critical analysis of this topic has led me examine possible implements to help improve these current inequalities. It will be a long process of improvement to improve the present imbalance, though I feel the target group is children, they are the future, and they hold the key to creating gender equality not only in sport, but in everyday life. This topic has caused me to reflect on how I personally perceive women in sport. Studying in the exercise and movement field, myself individually should be more aware of these inequalities, and ensure I do not reinforce them in the future. The matter has been very beneficial to study for me personally.
 * ANALYSIS OF THE ARTEFACT **

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2007). Australian Social Trends. Retrieved from: []
 * REFERENCE LIST **

Australian Sports Commission. (2009). Definition of Sport. Retrieved from http://www.asf.org.au/who/definition_of_sport Daniels, E. (2009). Sex Objects, Athletes, and Sexy Athletes. //Journal of Adolescence//, 24(4), 399-422.

Halloran, J. (2006). Notorious Nude Athletes. Retrieved from [] = = Harrison, K. Fredrickson, B. (2006). Women's Sports Media, Self-Objectification, and Mental Health in Black and White Adolescent Females. //Journal of Communication,// 53(2), 216-232. John, J., Dwyer K., Allison, E., Goldenberg, A., Fein, K., Yoshida, K., Boutilier, M. (2006). Adolescent girls’ perceived barriers to participation in physical activity. //Adolescence//, 75(15) = = NSW Department of Sport & Recreation (1993). Info sheet, Media coverage of women in sport. Retrieved from: [] Schmalz, L., Kerstetter, D. (2006) Girlie Girls and Manly Men: Children’s Stigma Consciousness of Gender in Sports and Physical Activites. //Journal of Leisure Research. 38 (4), 536-557. //

Steel, T. (2008). Is Australian really a sporting nation?. Retrieved from []

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. (2005). Gender and Sport. []

2010 Premier’s Women’s Summit: Women in the Media (2010). Reporting of Women in Sport. Retrieved from: []

__**Assessment Part 2 Wiki Reflections**__ An Ocean Between Us This wiki is very well written. You have managed to combine a large amount of supporting references with your own personal beliefs. In conjunction with this, the way you have used your literature and grammar consequently led to the wiki being easy and enjoyable to read, which I found refreshing and beneficial to me learning the topic. Well done also with relating your topic to Max Weber's theory.

'Are you living your life, or are you living someone else's life?' Gen Y and Body Dissatisfaction

Chris,

This wiki is by far the most thorough researched that I have read so far. Your argument is very convincing and features an amazing amount of supporting references to back up your argument. I like the song choice, Beautiful is a very powerful song and strongly reflects current societal behaviours, and you have written this wiki in the same manor giving the song its justice. Some of the statistics in which you used I found unbelieveable, such as 26% of Australians suffered from a mental disorder. That statistic is ridiculously high, and with more powerful wiki's such as these advertised to the public, I think society would be much more aware of the world around them.

Top notch effort mate.