The Media Coverage Of Womens Sport In Australia Media Essay

The Media reporting Of Womens Sport In Australia Media EssayIn past centuries, women were discouraged from act in any physical activity. Women were castn as having inadequate strength and efficacy to suffice any physical activity instead were expected to be submissive and obedient mounters of their manful relatives in this wholeness sex activity. In the modern-day world, women have the rights to participate in different sports, and argon admit for their expertise to a degree however, it is obvious that mens sport is still dominant. It is seeming(a) in nearly all societies that men were and still be receiving the absolute mass of the media insurance coverage, and are more(prenominal) recognised and re con godded for their athletic efforts.When images are presented in the media for sport, they are often of muscular men who have achieved excellence in their sport. At a young age, children are influenced to follow the stereotypes created through the years. Young wo manly childs are often excluded in school sports and pressured to express themselves as more dormant and beautiful beings. As a result, young boys are minded(p) higher(prenominal) opportunities in sport and are rewarded for much(prenominal)(prenominal) things as getting yucky in a game of football and tackling players is rugby. As George Orwell said, Sport is war without bullets. Sometimes the language of sport borrows the language of war we hear roughly battles, warriors, and some very real-life injuries. By comparing sport to past events such as war, whither women were subjected to roles that only supported men as they were seen as weak, fair(prenominal) and vulnerable, it is clear that the media is encouraging this disempowerment.While girls are increasingly encouraged to participate in sport, they are brought up believing that they are much weaker than boys, and cannot perform at the same level or intensity. Boys that do not crack the male stereotype norm in sports are of ten visualised as having feminised gender characteristics. A young boy to be told that he throws like a girl or runs like a girl is considered an insult to normalised masculinity. Sport and masculinity are closely entwined, and as a result femininity has been defined as the opposite and distanced from sport. Men who don the industry in traditionally female sports such as gymnastics, move and diving are stereotyped as performing in a more powder-puff domain.Women in Australia have become largely tortuous in a majority of sports and sporting events including the Olympics and the Commonwealth games. Over 40 percent of the native participants in the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 were women, and Australia had one of the largest contributions to this office. However, their achievements are slight ac fellowshipd as those of men, through receiving less media coverage on TV and in the print media, newspapers and magazines. Womens sport receives a total of 9% of all sports coverage in all Australian telecasting news and current affairs (Department of Families, Ho victimisation, Community Ser frailtys and Indigenous Affairs, 2010). On the some other hand, male sport receives over 80%. This unequal coverage has unfortunately created a sticky situation for sportswomen. Women are given less opportunities for professionalism and their media representation commonly portrays them as sexualised and feminine. Unfortunately the limited good turns of women in management within the industry means that changing this disempowerment is a difficult issue for women.The borderline coverage describes women in ways that stress feminine beauty, weakness, passivity and insignificance, deflecting attention from their athleticism. As women are not seen as evenly skilful nor worthy of this media coverage, women find it vital to have a watertight focus on their appearance to attract the attention of viewers. In a majority of womens sports, the outfits worn by female athletes are m inimal and tight, and sensory hair and makeup is flawless which portrays women as glamorous rather than skilful. Womens sport in Australia sees the Opals in basketball wearing tight fitting bodysuits in job to the mens knee length oversized shorts and baggy jerseys and women in bank volleyball wearing skimpy bathers while men play in shorts.This image attracts the wrong attention from viewers and even though the number of viewers (usually men) may increase due to this, women are stereotyped and their line up abilities are made insignificant. Women are oblige to conflict each other to find ways to attract coverage to senesce their profile and project much-needed sponsorship dollars. After attracting sponsorship women are pressured by their sponsors to hold on to emphasise femininity and nip glamorous and beautiful, in order to be successful. Martina Navratilova is one athlete that never followed the stereotype, and relied on her athletic skills in order to be successful. Tod ays women tennis stars are good athletes who shouldnt have to wear dresses with plunging necklines to grab headlines (Navratilova, M 2000) On the other hand, Tennis superstar Anna Kournikova, has never won a professional tennis tournament, yet is one of the most famous women athletes. She relies on her looks and chooses to promote herself sexually, mostly in mens magazine. The courts are as a stage, people love to see attractive players. Yes it is true I always try to be as seductive as possible but I wouldnt be here if I couldnt play tennis (Kournikova, A 2010). Majority of women athletes downstairsstand that to be in all successful, they must have to follow the stereotype and have a strong feminine look to attract viewers.The language used by the media to describe women athletes subjects them to d featuregrading and s personify language. Women are often described using manner of speaking such as vulnerable, choking and defeated while male athletes are given empowerment through the language used to describe them. The majority of descriptions of men include words such strong, powerful and gutsy heavy(p) them confidence to perform. Commentators and writers in the media push this disempowerment by not only using this language, but by relating women to children and treating them as amateur, unprofessional athletes through using their world-class names only.Lack of sponsorship hampers the growth and professionalism of womens sports. As the women are unable to catch substantial sponsorship, they are unable to receive an increase of media coverage and vice versa, therefore the situation is difficult to overcome. The Australian Bodyboarding Pro Tour has been rough as a contest for men to express their surfing abilities. For women, this contest has only been available for a few years, with most girls funding their own participation and travel expenses. Out of over 20 women entrants from Australia, only 4 received sponsorship. For women to be able to continue t o perform like men, and grow in professionalism, they need to acquire funds like men do.The minimal of coverage is limiting the sponsorship opportunities therefore restricting vocation and training opportunities. Earning a minimal income from their rivalrys makes women unable to balance a professional sporting career and a family life. Without sponsorship, or a high winning income, women are forced to also work for a living in order to support their sport, and their family lives. Their busy schedules mean their hours to daily exercise and training are limited, which affects their chances of performing at their best ability.It was once thought that perhaps male athletes were more powerful athletes and therefore deserving of a higher salary. Society believed that the athletes performed at a fractiouser and more exciting standard and for longer periods of time. However, this fact is entirely false and majority of sports are played, and at the same standard, by two men and women. Ki ra Llewellyn, who surfs for a living, is usually paid between $1000 and $5000 for her competition winnings. She received $20,000 US prize for the Sintra Pro in Portugal which was the largest sum for a woman in this contest. However, this prize money is not acceptable when the male winner received double the amount.Society has minimal understanding and knowledge of the sports due to the restricted coverage. Shelley Maher, president of Womens Lacrosse Australia said Australia is number one in the world in womens lacrosse and yet a very small percentage of the population would know about our sport, let alone that we were champions. Women strive hard to accomplish their goals in their sport. Sadly though, the lack of coverage means they are not credited for those achievements. Its not fair that a tennis player, for example, gets a half page article for breaking into the world top ten and we have the best in the world right here under our noses and nobody outside the sport seems to care, body boarding enthusiast Amanda catjang pea says. In fact, the sportswomen from Australia in the 2006 Commonwealth Games won more gold and plate medals than men.Consistent media coverage can benefit a sport by creating positive role models for societys jr. generations. These roles models sadly are limited in the world today because of this minimal coverage. Roles models are needed in contemporary Australia to help girls to set goals and accomplish their dreams. Once children reach adolescence, participation in physical activity declines immensely. Having role models in the media, allows the children see that women athletes do exist and therefore these children will begin to see athleticism as an alpha part in the female identity. The media needs to show a variation of models, some with a strong athletic ability to ensure, to ensure that the jr. generation is able to break through the construction on feminity.In conclusion, women have always been seen as the second sex when it c omes to sport. Even though it is evident that coverage has increase over the years, it is clearly still a major disempowerment. Womens sport needs to be given equal coverage as men and needs to focus on their talents rather than the stereotypical images of women such as beautiful and sexualised. This will help create a standard for Australia that both women and men are equal beings, and will be expressed to the world through their media coverages. These factors as above need to be addressed to allow women to succeed in the sporting industry. Being given equal income, and not making women sexualised will create role models for the younger generations and will allow the industry to grow positively. Providing more physical upbringing for girls in school based institutions will encourage young girls to continue exercise and understand it is achievable to perform at an elite level. As Kate Ellis, the Federal Minister for Sport stated, In a country with such a rich sporting culture as A ustralia, where womens sport is agonistic and very successful on the international stage, it is incredibly disappointing that female sport remains so starkly under-represented in the media.