Women in Sports

Women athletes have never been given as much recognition and support as male athletes, especially in male dominated sports; nor have their number of spectators ever been as high. I think one reason for this is because male sports have been around longer than female sports. For example, the NBA has been around for decades whereas the WNBA was established just a few short years ago. Women are also portrayed differently than men when discussing sports. When you watch a commercial on T.V. or flip through a magazine it is quite easy to pick out the male athletes. On the other hand, the female athletes are much harder to find. As we mentioned in class, Danica Patrick is often times seen posing in very sexy, provocative, model-like way for various advertisements. Usually the advertisements she is posing for have nothing to do with the sport she participates in. Normally only attractive female athletes will ever be shown on commercials or in other advertisements. However, when you see male athletes in advertisements they are most often wearing their team uniforms and promoting their sport in some way.
Even though I wish that women would receive more recognition for the hard work and dedication that they put into their sports, I can, in a way, understand why they do not. For example, at my high school our girls basketball team has always been really good but rarely ever has a large student crowd at any of the games. The boys basketball team has been horrible for years, but they always have a good number of fans at their games. Even I had never been to a girls game until my senior year.