Acceptance of women in sport, by society
...les, 1994) The media also influences society’s perception of female athletes. Women are often represented as wives or mothers because society is not accepting of their more masculine figures and questions about their sexuality arise. This also reinforces their connection to males, and represents them as not being independent achievers. Sponsorship is another area where inequality exists. The Sports Sponsorship Advisory Service in Britain reported that “women may need to play the sex appeal card in order to attract corporate sponsorship”. This is partly due to the fact that the media has never accorded women’s sports the same level of coverage and prominence as male sport and because women are often recognized more for their appearance than for their sporting accomplishments (Gender stereotyping in Televised Sports: A follow up to the 1989 Study, Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, 1994). On the other hand there is also emerging evidence that female athletes are, or are becoming equally accepted by society as male athletes. The history of women in sport has outlined the unequal playing field where women were simply not allowed or accepted to participate in any form. The modern Olympics are a perfect example of the progress that has been made in this area. Women now compete in all but two sports (boxing and baseball) and there are even sports in which only female athletes are allowed to compete (softball). The participation and proportion of female athletes has steadily increased over the history of the games from 2% in 1904 to 40% in 2000. and guidelines were put in place in 1991 to ensure that all new sports include women’s events. It should also be noted that within the Olympic competition, men and women receive the same rewards for their success. (Ref...website) Changes in traditional sports to specifically cater for women (rules, equipment, length of match), the portrayal of female athletes as ‘real’ sportswomen through non-gender biased commentary and the recognition of the physical efforts and achievements of female athletes are but are few examples of the acceptance and recent encouragement of women in sport. Legislation and club policies also reflect and reinforce anti-...