Alexandra Lee

2/18/16
UWRT-1102
Mrs. Thomas
Final Inquiry Proposal Draft

Womens Sports: Where Is the Respect?

As a female athlete in college, I tend to ask myself why do female
athletes not get the same amount of media coverage as male athletes? Why
dont professional female athletes get paid the same amount as male
athletes? Why are female athletes sexualized? I cannot be the only female
who tends to ask herself these questions. I wonder if males ever ask the
same question. To sum up everything I think about, I ask the question, why
do female athletes not get the same amount of media coverage as male
athletes and when they do, why do they get sexualized?
This paper isnt about women having to get all the attention and being
a feminist but it is about equality and trying to understand why women dont
get the same attention and respect. Females deserve much more respect
and recognition when it comes to their success. Females have worked so
hard to get to where they are now. Women like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns
who are American suffragists have walked and protested to have rights. On
August 18, 1920, the nineteenth amendment was passed which granted
American women the right to vote. This right is known as womens suffrage,
this amendment was passed after a seventy year battle. (History) Women
have worked so hard to get to that point why would we stop now?
Women have been playing sports three millennia ago but not in the
United States. Prior to 1870 female sports were only for play activities that

Alexandra Lee
2/18/16
UWRT-1102
Mrs. Thomas
Final Inquiry Proposal Draft

were fun and recreational and not competitive. The sports were informal and
had no rules and just emphasized physical activity. (The Sport Journal) Early
years women were not allowed to play in competitive physical activity in the
United States of America until the Federal Legislation, more known as Title IX
became a law in 1972.
Womens sports was not active till basketball was introduced at Smith
College in 1892. The sport quickly spread throughout the nation but it was
opposed by many people still at this time. Competitive sports for college
women increased in the early 1900s. This subject will be talked about more
when we get deeper into the paper. The womens suffrage movement helped
this emphasis on womens freedoms. Later on came the passage of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, helped increase the status of women but minorities as
well. (The Sport Journal)
The evolution of Title IX happened when women wanted greater equal
treatment in athletics. What is title IX? Well the principal objective of Title IX
is to avoid the use of federal money to support sex discrimination in
education programs and to provide individual citizens effective protection
against those practices. (US Department of Justice) The main focus of
womens groups in the late 1960s and 1970s was to eliminate sexual
discrimination. The rights that women wanted was paid very little attention
to, the rights the women fought for in sports only became noticed when Title

Alexandra Lee
2/18/16
UWRT-1102
Mrs. Thomas
Final Inquiry Proposal Draft

IX was passed. Title IX is a law that was passed for the equity of boys and
girls in every educational program that receives federal funding. Most people
think this was just for sports but athletics is just one of the ten keys that Title
IX focuses on. The NCAA became concerned with what it perceived and they
began to address the issue of womens athletics. The NCAA is a National
Collegiate Athletic Association that is a membership-driven organization
dedicated to safeguarding the well-being of student-athletes and equipping
them with the skills to succeed on the playing field, in the classroom and
throughout life. (NCAA)
After Title IX, females have become much more involved in sports.
College womens athletic participation has increased from 15% to 43% since
1972 to 2001. In high school girls athletic participation has increased from
295,000 in 1971 to 2.8 million between 2002 and 2003. Not only the
participation increased but also the teams that were offered in schools grew
a significant amount. These numbers are ridiculously high and why should
they stop there? Why dont womens athletics continue to grow?
To answer to this question is very simple. Womens athletics will not
continue to grow until the media gives it the right amount of coverage and
the right coverage. The media tends to not talk about a female's success in
sports but more about the looks and what theyre wearing and their personal
life. An example of a female who doesnt get the recognition she deserves

Alexandra Lee
2/18/16
UWRT-1102
Mrs. Thomas
Final Inquiry Proposal Draft

would be a professional tennis player, Serena Williams. She is one of the

greatest female tennis players in the world but also one of the greatest
athletes in the world. Her success in the development of tennis is amazing. It
is sad to see people talk down upon her. She is very athletically built and
strong mentally and physically. The media tends to talk down upon her
because of how she is built; they call her masculine and a man, they
make comments like she should plays mens tennis instead of womens
tennis. Many of these remarks and comments about Serena Williams can be
found on twitter, Serena Williams is a f**kin guy lets no beat around the
bush here David Marklow and Serena Williams is a guy Carson Stewart.
These remarks are sad to see and listen to, I am a tennis player and I see
this a lot when I read articles about her tennis matches or watching her play
on television.
The media doesnt only sexualize women but they dont give womens
sports their recognition. A good example of a womens sport that doesnt get
the same attention as men would be womens basketball. When do you see
womens basketball on television? When do you hear about it? When do you
read about it? From experience myself I can say almost never and I
emphasize the word never. Not only the difference in the coverage they
receive, but the pay as well. In the 2013-2014 season Forbes estimated that
the average NBA player earned 4.9 million dollars while the average WNBA

Alexandra Lee
2/18/16
UWRT-1102
Mrs. Thomas
Final Inquiry Proposal Draft

players was 72,000 dollars. Think to yourself is this very fair because
personally I do not think it is. This is only the basics of what I want to talk
about and as you continue to read this paper many of you will ask, Why
dont women get the same amount of coverage in sports and when they do
why are they sexualized? Women work as hard as men do and they are just
as talented. Female athletes put in the same amount of work, from early
morning workouts to afternoon practices, from the stretches in the beginning
to the stretches in the end dripping in sweat, we have to keep a healthy diet
just as men do. The question is why dont women get the same amount of
respect as men do?