Though women make up more than a third of the viewers of major sporting events such as the Stanley Cup finals and the World Series, it is unlikely they see other women on television covering the action. Only 14 percent of sports reporters are female. And in 2012, The Associated Press released a Sports Editors Racial and Gender Report Card; overall, the field of sports journalism received an “F” for gender representation. Most editors, columnists and reporters are still male, though the field has seen small improvements. Additionally, though there are female columnists and correspondents, in most cases women do not appear in the booth on major sports broadcasts. Sports reporting has always been a male-dominated field, but it’s disappointing that this hasn’t shifted in this century.
Furthermore, female sports reporters have historically been considered eye-candy for sports viewers, rather than serious journalists. In fact, when I googled “female sports reporters” as research for this article, the first two articles in the search results were lists with topics along the lines of “40 Hottest Female Sports Reporters.” While one could argue these lists are a reflection of the audience, they are also a reflection of the culture that has developed in sports journalism that leads to the objectification women.
In his Washington Post article, Kevin B. Blackistone details how the television industry has contributed to this ongoing problem. Blackistone describes that a young woman he was acquainted with had spent significant time interviewing for a job at a sports television show until, ultimately, she was asked, “How much cleavage are you willing to show?” Blackistone went on to explain that women have dealt with similar treatment since they first entered the field of sports reporting. Additionally, women have been terminated from their jobs in the sports reporting field in favor of hiring younger women who were considered more attractive than the experienced women who had previously held the positions.
In addition to being criticized for their looks, female sports reporters are also undermined in terms of their knowledge of the sports they are covering. Joan Ryan, the first woman to be hired as a sports columnist at a daily newspaper, stated that the first question people ask about her is, “How does she know about football?” To refute these criticisms, Ryan referenced several esteemed male sports reporters including Bob Costas and Al Michaels, who never played football professionally but do not face the same attacks on credibility that women like Ryan do. The assumption that women cannot be sports reporters because women cannot understand sports is also inherently incorrect. It assumes intelligence is purely based on sex, when studies show it is based on a combination of genetics and environment, so women are no less capable than men in amassing sports-related knowledge.
The fact that some men hold this opinion is not only unfair but also hinders their own ability to get the best experience out of watching or reading about sports. Viewers could get a more high quality broadcast from a female sports reporter, but they refuse to acknowledge that opening the field up to more women could bring improvements rather than deficits in entertainment value and informativeness.
This belief that women cannot be sports reporters stems in many ways from deep-seated psychological beliefs of many men, particularly those with a high school education or less. In a Sports Illustrated article about the harassment female sports reporters receive on Twitter, Andrew Dzurisin, assistant professor of sociology at Middlesex County College, explained that, for many men, sports is the area in society they view as something that should remain men only. Dzurisin goes on to explain that since women have taken on jobs previously held by only men and are excelling, many men want to keep them out of a club that they have always seen as woman-free.
All in all, if equality of treatment is to be achieved in sports reporting, many things need to change. In terms of hiring, appearance should not come into play any more for women than it does for men. Knowledge of the game is what is most important and it has nothing to do with gender or attractiveness. Also, though sports used to be a “men only” club, many women these days are brought up to enjoy both playing and watching sports, and women account for a much high percentage of sports viewers than most Americans realize. Given these facts, women should be represented more fairly in the field of sports reporting.
Carly Mulvihill is a Viewpoint writer.
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