Media representation of women in sport

In 1985 the Australian Government established a working group to report on Women, Sport and the Media (ASC 1985). It is now nearly 40 years since their report was published, yet the same issues around media coverage and communication still occur. This case study looks at some examples of the way the media frames women in sport and how the language used downplays its importance.

Fink (2015:334) found that “highly accomplished female athletes are often ‘infantilized’ by sport commentators by referring to them as ‘girls’ or ‘young ladies”, however you don’t hear male athletes being referred to as boys. This extends to the use of first names instead of last names by commentators, the first being more casual/amateurish and the last name more serious/professional. During the 1996 Olympic Games Fink’s study (2015: 334) found “female gymnasts were referred to by their first names 177 times compared to only 16 times for male athletes”. This improved by the year 2000 where it reduced to 104 times for female gymnasts, although still 50% more than was used for male gymnasts (Fink 2015: 334). So, whilst there has been an improvement there is still a way to go. Female athletes deserve the same respect from commentators as male athletes do.

Similarly, “sports commentators during telecasts often engage in gender marking for women’s events” but don’t for men’s events (Fink 2015: 334). Gender marking refers to statements like, she is a great women’s tennis player, rather than simply saying she is a great tennis player. The way sporting women are framed gives a subconscious message “that their activity is not intrinsically as worthy or important as men’s sport” (ASC 1985:32).

A clear example of this bias is seen in the commentary of marathons whereby both women and men run at the same time on the same course. Commentators compare the first female to the male athletes that have beaten her, after which “gender comparisons for the rest of the race vanish”, and there is no emphasis on all the men the female athlete has beaten (Fink 2015: 335).

Image by Thomas Wolter from Pixabay

In tennis the media commonly use phrases like, ‘anything can happen in women’s sport’ implying inconsistent performance by female players, whereas a study by Tejkalova and Kristoufek (2021: 743,7 56) analysed 225,000 tennis matches between 1968 and 2018 and demonstrated that female players were more consistent than males.

When the media describes sportswomen, Toffoletti (2016: 204) found they are spoken of “in terms of their physical attributes rather than athletic achievements” and that this language devalues “their contributions and reassert(s) their inferiority to male athletes”. Images of women athletes have a tendency to show them “as passive glamourous posing models” not “active strong female athletes” (Mikosza and Phillips 1999: 14).

Television coverage of women’s sport has been surveyed for government reports and in 1988, 1992 and 1996 constitued between 1.2% and 2% of total television sport (Phillips 1997: 13). Alarmingly in 2014 Vann stated that although women’s sport participation in Australia is high and in fact outpaces men’s participation, “it only receives 9% of all sports coverage in print, radio and television combined” (2014 :438, 440).

Not only is the coverage amount less, the positioning also demonstrates a lack of importance. For example, Phillips (1997:8) found that “91.8% of all stories on the back page” of newspapers “were devoted to male sports”, the back page being prime positioning. Lead stories on news sport segments tended to cover males and in fact Phillips (1997: 12, 14) noticed that commercial networks talk about international sports like American baseball more than Australian women’s sporting achievements and during the survey period a program talked about “guinea pig racing for more than six minutes” yet on the same show the only women’s sport mentioned had 15 seconds of airtime.

Even when women’s sport is covered, the leading stories that are longer and have “better production values” are focused on male sports, while the highlight reels and sports statistics that scroll below the screen focus on male sports (Toffoletti 2016: 200). The actual production techniques utilized for men’s and women’s sport are markedly different – this includes the positioning and number of cameras used, and can “result in rendering women’s sport as less important and exciting” (Fink 2015: 335). For example, the women’s beach volleyball uniform rules restrict the female athletes to tiny bikinis, whereas the males wear loose board shorts.  Additionally, an analysis of camera angles in women’s beach volleyball by Fink (2015: 335) shows them used to “emphasize women’s chests and buttocks” with male athletes getting “more variation in field of view”. This is outrageous sexism; coverage of women’s sport needs to focus on the athleticism of the women not their buttocks.

Consistency of programming and commentary is also pertinent. There needs to be consistency of programming times to allow an audience to build up as well as quality of camera and production. Symons et al (2022: 58) found that “haphazard” coverage makes it difficult for the “audience to know where and how to regularly access” the content. Every night during the footy season there are a number of AFL shows dedicated to reviewing the matches, discussing team selection, and interviewing players. Some examples are Before the Game, The Bounce, Talking Footy and The Front Bar. These shows raise the profiles of players, encourage engagement, and build audiences. There is a lack of regular commentary and review shows about women’s sport.

Due to the lack of mainstream media coverage of women’s sport, alternative media is an option not only to build an audience but also to expand coverage quickly and cheaply. However, there is a downside to using alternative media. The biggest issue with alternative media isn’t cost, production or content but online misogynistic abuse (Kavanagh et al 2019: 557). Alternative media needs constant monitoring as online discussions are “much more aggressive and often quite hateful” (Bird 2011: 498). Measures also need to be taken to protect from online threats to allow the building of an audience using alternative media while protecting female athletes, as Kavanagh et al found (2019: 568) when women read the posts, they don’t get a warning and they can experience fear and anxiety about their safety. Everyone needs to be safe in their workplace and whilst alternative media is a solution it needs to be explored with safeguards in place to protect athletes from abuse.

Media coverage of women’s sport is affecting the public perception of how important it is, and the seriousness with which these talented athletes are taken. If something is featured more prominently or frequently the audience are invited to regard it as more important. Alternative media is an option not only to build an audience but also to expand coverage quickly and cheaply. To ensure there is an equal playing field for women in sport both in Australia and around the world, change should be made.