Although women in sports media have certainly earned more respect over the years, there are still many leaves to turn.
There was a time when women were not a part of the picture at all. However, considering it has been more than 40 years since the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission became institutionalized, not enough progress has been made.
Statistics from a 2013 racial and gender report card from the Associated Press Sports Editors highlighted 150 AP newspapers and websites and gave the AP a C-plus grade for racial hiring practices and a D-plus grade for gender.
Not only do statistics show that the majority of these employees are white men, but they also indicate that women have not yet earned high accolades in their places of employment in sports media. According to the study, women are only 9 percent of sports editors, 14 percent of assistant sports editors, 9 percent of columnists and 20 percent of copy editors/designers.
Although there is a nationwide gender bias in the workplace, sports media is one of the frontrunners. Every stat and study can be thrown out there, but the real question remains: Why does bias still exist despite our efforts to get rid of it?
Sports have historically and fundamentally been associated with masculine identities, as they are linked to physicality, dominance and competitive spirits.
Those traits are ones tied to the traditional male, and this is something that has been ingrained in our ideologies. And because propaganda and advertising have so much influence over sports audiences, these organizations have, in turn, objectified women.
When women are portrayed in the media, they are often used as a means to “sell” masculine-associated products such as beer, sex and sports.
Unfortunately, these stereotypes and objectifications have put women trying to make it in sports media under the microscope — and often for the wrong reasons.
Sports Illustrated columnist Richard Deitsch wrote a piece in November 2013 that investigated this idea, suggesting that women in the industry could be at a systematic disadvantage. He conducted interviews with six notorious female sports media figures about sexism in sports media and received some chilling responses.
“(Albany Times Union columnist Jennifer Gish) wrote a column criticizing Bills fans, and the voice mails she received were just ridiculous,” Lisa Wilson, executive sports editor for The Buffalo News, told him. “She was told she should stay in the kitchen and that women shouldn’t be writing about sports anyway. This was two years ago, not 20. You would think the kitchen insults would have gone out with big hair, or at least with VHS.”
Award winning multimedia journalist and former ESPN employee Amy K. Nelson wrote, “I’ve been called a c--- more times than I can count, had myriad death threats and been told the only reason I have my job is because I’m either a.) sleeping with the athletes, or b.) sleeping with my (presumed) male bosses.”
Deitsch’s article is only one of many pieces on the discrimination and objectification of women in sports media. It is refreshing to see that many men in the industry like him are stepping up to the issue now more than they ever have.
However, the numbers speak for themselves, and the cruel experiences that some of the most famous female sports media figures have dealt with are unjustifiable.
Being an aspiring female sports journalist myself, I dream of having a job where my opinions and reporting skills are more valued than my appearance. Hopefully the gender stereotypes associated with sports media will be leveled out.
But in the meantime, I, along with countless other women already in the sports media industry, must be wary of the fact that what might matter most to my co-workers and my audience now is the outfit I decide to wear to work.
@kelsey_surmacz4
ks363012@ohiou.edu
