Abigail Cordova

Mrs. Gongora
Period 4
9 September 2015
Gender Discrimination in Sports
After the spectacular success of World Cup 2011 and the 2012 Olympics, CSA and FIFA
could help womens soccer reach even greater heights, Dellinger said in the statement. Instead,
the leaders of CSA and FIFA are embarrassing the game and, even more, themselves. The gifted
athletes we represent are determined not to have the sport they love be belittled on their watch.
Getting an equal playing field at the World Cup is a fight female players should not have to wage
but one from which they do not shrink. In the end, we trust that fairness and equality will prevail
over sexism and stubbornness (Waldron). Till this day women athletes are still being
discriminated and being lowered in value as men. Female athletes are not getting the same
opportunities to play in a male role sport. Female athletes are capable to learn and be successful
in a male sport just like male athletes. Female athletes should be able to play a male role sport
without being discriminated, lowered in value, and harassed. Female athletes tend to be
discriminated by male athletes. Male athletes believe that women cannot be the same or better in
the same sport they are playing. Women are looked at sexual objects not athletes. Men athletes
have to stop singling out women. Female athletes are not being recognized for their abilities and
their achievements. Which leads to women being lowered in their value and lowering their selfesteem to playing a sport. Harassment can lead to many women not wanting to participate in
sports or give up in a sport that they are in. Women being treated different could lead to negative
conflicts in society. Women could be emotional, sensitive, and may not have the same mentally
as men do, however, women have the ability to play and be equal as men.

Male athletes do not see female athletes masculine and strong to play a male sport,
therefore they could not play a male sport. Male athletics believe woman are not as strong as
them and dont have the same athletic ability as them. Male athletes have agreed that woman
cannot play up to their skill level and they are weak in strength. There is lack of women athletes
in male dominated sports. Sports have encouraged a separation between males and females.
Males on the other hand are not in favor of allowing women to participate in male sports.
(Sexism in Sports). The idea of a male sport has always been viewed as masculine. A female
athlete is not viewed as masculine is some cases. It is unusual to have a female athlete play in a
baseball team or a football team, but that does not mean they are not capable of being successful
in that field. Female athletes keep being excluded from male sports based on the views of male
athletes.
Female athletes are being viewed in a low level of athletics based on the discrimination
male athletes give them. The type of language used in television can help construct social reality.
Television choose to use the conventional androcentric language, which leads to a system of
male dominance and superiority. (Duncan). Some television sports news focused on women but
rarely women athletes. The sports news had portrayals of women as comical targets of the
newscasters jokes and sexual objects. Female athletes do not having the same air time as men,
either they are being viewed on the air very little time or getting discriminated. Sport news are
not showing equal rights between male and female athletes. The sports language is mostly male
dominance. The news chooses to not have a non-gender language. Female athletes who get no
respect in sport news and in magazines could lead to people in society to follow their steps and
disrespect these women.

Female athletes are strong and need to be respected, not to be looked at like sex symbols
for their looks but as leaders for their overcoming traits. We always have to prove that were
feminine and sexy. We can be tough and sweaty and a sex symbol; if we do that, were
acceptable. Michael Jordan didnt have to take off his clothes said Donna de Varona. Female
athletes are being overviewed by male sports. Female athletes are being credit and exposed for
their sex appeal. This can lead to creating an image of inferiority compared to male athletes.
Female athletes do not have an issue to show their accomplishments. Female athletes have no
article issue. Sports magazines have female athletes but show female athletes as sexual symbols.
Female athletes are not being able to show what they are capable of. Harassment starts with male
athletes and television programs. Female athletes are not being given the opportunity to become
successful.
Female athletes have to prove they are capable of playing a male sport but are still being
held back by their obvious differences and biased towards male strength. A womans body is
not portrayed as a strong, muscular machine capable of extraordinary athletic feats like mans
body is, but instead is seen more as an object pleasurable to the eye when it is exposed outside of
the realm of sports (Hanson). Females are being shown in bikini photos rather than them being
in an athletic shot in uniform. Male athletes see women as a person who belongs as caretaker,
wife, mother, and mostly a sex object. Lack of the media is not letting people see the abilities of
female athletes. Magazines, sport news, and other on air television are hiding the fact woman can
play a sport. Female athletes are being shown as sex objects to higher the views or buys in a
magazine or a sport news. This leads to female athletes not having a chance to show what they
are capable of. Sport news gets more viewers when they show a female athlete as a sexual

symbol or when a magazine shows a female athlete as a sexual symbol they tend to have more
sells.
Based on a womans gender, women are not getting the same opportunities in sports as
male athletes. Female athletes need to have the same equal rights as the men do. If there are
opportunities for men then there should be both equal quantities and qualities of opportunities for
women. Equality cannot be separated by location. If women dont receive gender equity on the
field of play they will continue to be denied in in society at large. (Thomasson). Competition
helps women and girls to mature, nurture self-esteem and accomplishment. Co-ed teams can also
lead to engenders conflicts between male and females. There was an athletics regulation in 1975
to let female athletes get the same opportunities as men but people are not following that rule.
Till this day, female athletes are not given the opportunity to play in a male sport. Not giving
gender rights on the field could lead to gender inequality in society. Letting males and females
play together can show people that women and man overcome their gender differences. Female
athletes will not have a chance at a male sport unless male athletes give them a chance. Female
athletes can benefit from playing in a mole sport and so can male athletes.
The value of female athletes is nothing compared to what male athletes are valued. The
value placed on womens sport is often lower than men, resulting in inadequate resources and
unequal wages and prized. In the media, womens sport is not only marginalized but also often
presented in a different style that reflects and reinforces gender stereotypes (Women, Gender
Equality and Sport). Women being harassed in a sport are manifestations of the perceptions of
men dominance. Women also are behind in the equipment they need. Male athletes are taking
everything away from female athletes. Many colleges or high schools are not adding female
sports. Male athletes have a good amount of power to let women play of male sport. Male

athletes are not doing anything to show women are capable of playing in their sport. Not only
will females and males be playing together but this could lead to gender equality in workplace.
Female athletes do not have the same skills as male athletes to be able to play in a male
sport. Males are designed to be bigger and stronger and can therefore compete on an entirely
different level than females. And that reason alone is enough to show why the two sexes should
be on separate teams (Greer). Many female athletes are not capable to deal with a mans
strength if given to them. In general, a male will over power women in strength. For example, a
female athlete in football could be very dangerous. A female in football is mostly targeted
because she is weak. A male athlete will always target a female athlete in a sport. Female athletes
do not have the same skills or mentally as men do to play a sport. When a male athlete is playing
a sport he tends to do whatever he can to win and that means playing rough. A female athletes
body cannot take the pain that a male athlete can. Having a female athlete playing with men that
play rough could lead to that female getting hurt.
Female athletes have their own place in their own female sport. Letting a female athlete
play on a male sport would take away some female programs. Hindering female sports would
be a setback from the huge advances that have been made in women sports by advocates such as
Senda Berenson, a gymnastics instructor and P.E. teacher at an all-girls school that created the
first girls basketball team (Victor). This could lead to cutting out many female sports. Co-ed
athletics is not equal to females or male sports due to the physical different between females and
male. Having female athletes play on a male sport could lead to female athletes not being
physically capable of playing mens professional teams. The completion between male and
females will increase being put in the same sport. Female athletes are indeed different than men,

however, on the field they are equal and there should be no reason why they are being
discriminated.
Female athletes and male athletes look for the same idea in sports. On the field,
court, meet etc. they are equal. Having females and males on one team could show the
uniqueness of men and women. Discriminating a female athlete can lead to these women not
wanting to participate in any sport. Female athletes should not be harassed on their sexual
appeal. Men athletes are lowering the value of female athletes to show they cannot be better than
them. Female athletes are capable to be on the same level as male athletes. I play softball and I
use to play baseball in an outside league. Male athletes would always tell me I am not cut out to
be on a baseball team, thats why there is softball. Baseball showed me to be competitive but in
the best way possible. But I was not strong in physical appearance and mentally to be able to
play on a baseball team. Chrissy Summers, a hockey player, believes playing a sport is not on
how strong you are but what you can do with that. Chrissy does not believe she is better than a
male athlete but she believes she can be just as equal or better, but in the aspect of confidence.
Chrissy wants to better the game not be discriminated. Chrissy Summers read Doctor
Stevenson's research and was strongly inspired. Since she was already the kind of woman who
had once written a love poem to her hockey stick, she started Beyond Sticks. They start with
hockey, but their real mission is the belief that "success comes when athletes are able to translate
these skills into other areas of life (Casalina).

Works Cited
Casalina, Anita. "Giving Girls a Sporting Chance." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.
Duncan, Marget-Carlisle, Michael Messner, Linda Williams, and Kerry Jensen. Gender
Stereotyping in Televised Sports LA84 Foundation. N.d. Web. 1 September. 2015
Greer, Janelle. "Males and Females Should Not Mix on the Field of Competition." 19 Feb. 2011.
Web. 17 Sept. 2015.
Hanson, Valarie. The Inequality of Sport: Women < Men. Undergraduate Review: a Journal
of Undergraduate Student Research 13 (2012): 15-22. N.p. Print.
Sexism in Sports. Sexism in Sports. N.p. N.d. Web. 27 August. 2015
Thomasson, Lane. Gender Discrimination in Sports. Gender Discrimination in Sports. N.p.
Web. 31 August. 2015
Victor, Sabrina. "Girls Shouldnt Play On Boys Teams | The Lariat." The Lariat. Admin,
9 Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Sept. 2015
Waldron, Travis. "Top Womens Soccer Players File Gender Discrimination Lawsuit against
FIFA." ThinkProgress Top Womens Soccer Players File Gender Discrimination Lawsuit
against FIFA Comments. 1 Oct. 2014. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.
Women, Gender Equality and Sport. New York: United Nations, Division for the Advancement
of Women, Dept. of Economics and Social Affairs, 2007. Print.