Women in Sports

Female population and participation in sports activities over the years has increased dramatically, as indicated by a 26% increase participation rate as of the last quarter of the 20th century (Silva, and Barata, 2016). This is an indication that the modern society is slowly embracing the need for gender equality in the sports sector. Berdahl, Uhlmann, and Bai, (2015) however argue that a 26% increase rate is not good enough given the male dominance in this sector. Women’s performance and participation as reported by Foley (2017), is dependent on the category of sport and the country involved, however, in general, male dominance is profoundly felt. This paper hypothesizes that gender disparity in the sports sector is highly attributed to the stakeholders’ attitude and can be changed by promoting a positive attitude. women in sports

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    Foley (2017), states that institutions and investors that are supposed to be neutral when it comes to funding both genders are conservative when it comes to supporting women. This comes as a result of the perception that sport is a masculine activity thus a tough nut to be cracked by the women. This line of thought according to Berdahl et al. (2015) has seen very few organization and investors step forward and support women’s’ participation regarding funding and offering them with the needed resources to equip them with the necessary skills.

Secondly, the fans fail to support women in sports, and the process discourages more women from engaging in sports activities. Berdahl et al. (2015) in their work quotes a situation where a male and female football match realized a 96% and 15% attendance rate respectively. Women fail to get the same attention as their male counterparts regarding fan support which discourage sponsors from investing in females sports activities as they are likely to experience a significant loss. Aside from fan support, there are substantial disparities in market endorsements and TV rights making women sports not a favourable venture to support thus discouraging women from coming forth and taking part in different sports activities. All this all narrows down to attitude if the fans had the same perception of women’s sports activities as they have of the male, then they will show up in large number to support them.

Finally, women are not empowered to come in large numbers and take part in sports activities. Empowering women may take the nature of verbal motivation, significant benefits and bonuses. Silva et al. (2016) point out that a WNBA salary is $ 72,000 with no benefits and rewards while an NBA salary is approximately $5 million. This difference is a tremendous demotivating factor which creates a negative attitude towards women involved in sports activities If the female is given the same special treatment, attention and gains, then their opinion towards involvement in sports will be positive seeing an increase in their participation.

In conclusion, a change in attitude will go a long way in increasing women participation in different sports categories. Women, fans, investors, media platforms among other stakeholders need to support women and encourage them to come out in large numbers and take part in different sports activities. The only way to realize this is positively branding, investing and promoting women involved in sports activities as the case is for the male. Based on the above elaborations these are some of the surest ways of increasing women participation in sports activities during the next decade.

Reference

Berdahl, J. L., Uhlmann, E. L., & Bai, F. (2015). Win–win: Female and male athletes from more gender equal nations perform better in international sports competitions. Journal of             Experimental Social Psychology, 56, 1-3.

Foley, D. E. (2017). The great American football ritual: Reproducing race, class, and gender            inequality. Sociology of Sport Journal, 7(2), 111-135.

Silva, M. R. G., & Barata, P. (2016). Athletes and coaches’ gender inequality: the case of the       gymnastics federation of portugal. Science of Gymnastics Journal, 8(2).