AN ANALYSIS ON DEALING WITH THE CHALLENGES FACED BY FEMALE ATHLETICS MODERATORS IN A MALE-DOMINATED FIELD.

Abstract

Despite growth, women’s sports continue to get much less publicity in the sports media. The already marginalised status of women’s sports is exacerbated by the pitiful number of journalists who both cover and debate these events. Conducting in-depth interviews with female sports journalists to understand their professional identities and thoughts on the state of women’s sports coverage in the media, this study seeks to address a gap in the literature. Women athletes made up the bulk of the participants, who were hoping that more positive coverage of women athletes’ sports activities would result from changes in the demographics of newsrooms and improvements in digital news technologies. Gender prejudice has been a hot topic for quite some time in the business world. Men make $1.10 while women make $.80, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families. This number accurately portrays the gender pay gap that exists in all industries, but it fails to take into account the many other types of discrimination that women face. The shocking lack of female athletes is a reflection of the male-dominated nature of the sporting industry. There are other factors at play besides women’s lack of enthusiasm for the sport that contribute to its under-representation. The media still pays a lot less attention to women’s sports, even if there are more of them. Because there are so few journalists who cover and discuss women’s sports, their already low profile is substantially worse. This research seeks to address a gap in the literature by conducting in-depth interviews with female sports journalists to learn about their professional identities and their perspectives on the presence or absence of women in sports coverage in the media today.