Blog post 4
Ciera Rowland
Professor Jenkins
PS 101
27 April 2022
Blog Post 4
Previously, I have discussed a few of the discrimination's women in sports face today. The three topics that I have hit on are the wage gap, Title IX, and media coverage. In addition to these topics, the next issue I will hit on revolves around stereotypes. Female athletes as a community are faced with a lot of discrimination compared to men. Stereotypes are one of the biggest issues faced. A stereotype, defined by Women in Sport article “Gender Stereotypes”, is a widely held but fixed image of a particular type of person or thing (Women in Sport). In society the stereotype women face is that they are compassionate caretakers of others or their families. When you bring sports into the equation it creates a whole other level of stereotypes that women are bombarded with. These gender stereotypes can negatively impact women who compete in sports. The article states, “75% of girls have heard disparaging statements about girls in sports,” (Women in Sport). Hearing such negative statements at a young age discourages young girls to participate in sports, which is very sad and results in fewer women in sports. This is an issue women in sports has dealt with for years and it continues to be problem.
Furthermore, stereotypes floating around women’s sports have a negative impact on the community. As I mentioned briefly in the above paragraph, young girls who want to participate in sports are steered away from playing because they hear these discouraging comments made about women who play sports. This results in fewer girls growing up to play sports. The article mentions that most of the disparaging comments came from male and female peers, teachers, coaches, and parents (Women in Sports). It is disheartening to hear these stereotypes come from people you consider friends and mentors. As a current female athlete who play lacrosse in college, I grew up playing all different sports and am from a family of athletes and coaches. I know that if I had heard comments that were negative, I would have been very discouraged to continue playing. This does not mean that I didn’t have friends who made negative comments such as “girls are slow” or “girls can’t throw a ball”. These are just two of the negative stereotypes that females of all ages hear throughout their sports career. The community is faced with more negative comments than encouragement and that directly affects female athletes by discouraging them to continue competing.
In addition, there are ways to help reduce the negative stereotypes around female sports. As a society we should encourage women’s sports and reduce the number of stereotypes and generalizations that we form about the community. The issue has gotten better over the years, but it is still something that women in sports face daily. We should challenge stereotypes and coaches, peers, teachers, parents should be more supportive and encouraging than discouraging. As mentors you should promote and encourage young girls to participate in sports and support women athletes. Also, if young girls and women in sports can get past the stereotypes, they are more likely to become more active in a range of sports (Women in Sports). There are several actions that could be taken to help reduce and minimize stereotypes. My last blog post talked about media coverage of women's sports. If we provided more media coverage this could play a role in reducing the stereotypes by showing women compete and excel in sports. The best action that can be taken is to encourage and promote women’s sports.
Essentially, female athletes are faced with many challenges compared to male athletes. There is a considerable wage gap, minimal media coverage, and title IX issues. Now we are discussing the negative stereotypes that revolve around women and sports and how it negatively impacts them. Over the years it has gotten better, and female athletes are more widely accepted, but there are still negative comments that are made. This discourages young girls to want to participate in sports as a child which results in fewer female athletes. Because of the generalization that women are supposed to stay at home and be the caretakers, there are still beliefs that that is how it should be. This means that women are not supposed to participate in sports which is where the stereotypes stem from. Women are thought to be not as strong and fast as men. There are ways to improve this thinking and promote encouragement towards women in sports. We should be more supportive starting at a young age to encourage girls to participate in sports and grow up to compete and higher levels.
Sources:
https://www.womeninsport.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Gender-Stereotypes-Information-Sheet.pdf