Abstract:
Women's role in society has been redefined and reshaped over the past few decades. Little girls who grew up when being called "tomboy" was an insult are now being told that athletic women are healthy, sexy and attractive.No longer content to be merely the cheerleaders, girls and young women are participating in sports in record numbers. Kane (1989) reports that in 1988 almost two million females participated in interscholastic sports, compared to approximately 300,000 prior to Title IX.Yet some aspects have changed very little. Major league professional sports include only male sports teams. As in the past, male athletes are held up as role models for young people. Male athletes (both active and retired) are favored spokesmen for commercial products. In many sports even the clothing worn by athletes reflects a sexist attitude--men's clothing is functional, women's clothing is generally revealing.And news coverage of sporting events remains highly weighted in favor of male participation in traditionally male sports.In a recent Peanuts comic strip, Peppermint Patty wonders why there's no TV new coverage of women's sports. She and Marcie travel to the TV station to talk to the news director--and discover that "he" is a woman.A review of recent literature on the subject indicates that women's sports events and personalities are grossly underreported. Even when women's sports receive mass media coverage, the athletes and their competitions are trivialized and treated according to traditionally feminine stereotypes.Although the cited studies have shown women athletes don't get their fair share of media coverage, most of these studies have been snapshots in time. They analyze media coverage for specific period as a whole rather than trying to determine whether there has been improvement over time.Perhaps there has been a delayed ripple effect in reporting women's sports that is so gradual only a long term study can detect it. Although the situation is still unequal, perhaps there has been improvement. This study will examine whether there has been any significant improvement in coverage of women in sports to reflect the changes in society over the past 30 years.