1. Women in Sports
Separate isn't Equal

2. History Of Women in Sports
The 1st ancient Olympic games was in 776 BC
Women did not appear in the Olympic until 1912
Title IX passes in 1972, stating that any educational program receiving Federal assistance can lose it funding if it discriminates on the basis of sex
Title IX was a turning point for women in sports, finally giving women access to better coaches, equipments and arenas

3. Inequality in Sports
In the United States, sports contribute billions of dollars to corporate America every year, making it the 6th largest industry
Only .5% of that wealth is invested in women’s sports
Even though female students comprise 57% of college student population the receive only 43% of participation opportunities, 56,110 fewer participation opportunities than their male counter parts
Women receive only 45% of college athletic scholarships
Women receive only 38% of college sports operational dollars and only 33% of the recruitment budget
A NCAA Division 1-A women's coaches average salary of $850,400 this is $932,700 less than the a Men coach average salary.
2001 women’s sports passed the $1 billion mark in total sponsorship revenue. Men’s sports passed the $25 billion mark.
In 2002 only 15 NCAA division 1 schools spend more on all women's sports combined than on football

4. Both of these people are professional tennis players featured on the cover of the same magazine, yet they are shown in completely different ways. The male portrayed as powerful and athletic, while the female is portrayed as vulnerable and seductive

5. Females Athletes in the Media
Only 5% of sports coverage is focused on women.
Only 3% of ESPN written coverage is on women.
In 5 years women have only appeared on 5 out 168 ESPN covers.
By using our sociological imagination, we are able to look beyond the face value of the images used to depict female athletes and see how they reinforce the view of women as inferior to men while supporting an inequality between gender.

7. Gender Equality in Sports
Jelana Prokopcuka won the New York City Marathon in both 2005 and 2006 and both years she received a purse equally the highest in marathon history.
In 2007 Wimbledon announced for the first time, it would provide equal purses to male and female athletes
All four Grand Slam events now offer equal prize money to the champions

9. Gender Socialization
The foundation for the lack of females in sports begins with early gender socialization through both society and media
Girls are taught to only play “girly” sports
Playing “manly” sports is against social and gender role
These stereotypes reflect more on the inequality that exist with In our culture and less on the bias of the media
This kind of socialization makes a system where fewer women athletes exist and reinforces social norms of men using sports to demonstrate strength and dominance
Boys are taught to embody aggression, strength, dominance while girls are typically viewed as more emotional, weaker and submissive.

10. Cooley’s “Looking Glass Self”
Charles Cooley coined the term “looking glass self”, which says that the self comes form our ability to imagine how other people see us.
This social term relates to females at all ages in the sense that they believe that they must be feminine and pretty to fulfill their gender role of being a women
Regardless of how strong and aggressive they may be on the field, most women still want to be depicted as feminine outside of sports and fear being considered masculine.
Our self-image arises from our ability to imagine how other see us.
By the age of 14, girls are dropping out of sports at twice the rate of boys.

11. Why worry about gender inequality in Sports
HALF of all girls who participate in some kind of sport experience higher than average levels of self-esteem
According to Oxygen/Markle Pulse poll, 56% of women agree that seeing successful female athletes makes them feel proud to be a women
88% of Self Magazine reader think that it is very important in their purchasing decisions that a company provides a products or service that sports girls and women in fitness

12. Apply the Perspectives
The structural-functional perspective reveals many functional and dysfunctional consequences which sports provides for society as a whole. Functionalist would say that sports promotes the abilities and pursuit of success of female athletes but that the tainted media portrayal of females in sports is a dysfunction.
The conflict perspective provides a better look at the inequality in sports. They point out that the inequality is a refection of societal issues that need to be addressed at a larger scale and the need for social reform.
Symbolic-Interactionism view sports as an ongoing process and not just a system. They look more at the individualistic experience of women in sports and how that effects them and how they view society. They focus more on the pressure on female athletes to still act like and be portrayed as a lady.

13. Work Cited
Anderson, Deborah, John Cheslock, and Ronald Ehrenberg. “Gender Equity in Intercollegiate Athletics: Determinants of Title IX Complaince.” The Journal of Higher Education 77: Web. 8 July 2014.
Carty, Victoria. “Textual Protrayals of Female Atheletes:Liberation or Nuanced Forms of Patriarchy?.” Frontiers: A Journal of Womens Studies. I
Coakley, Jay, Sports in Society: Issues and Controversies. New York: McGarw-Hill, 2009
Conley, Dalton.(2008). You May Ask Yourself: AN Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. NY: W.M. Nortom
Messber, Michael. “Sports and Male Domination” Female Athlete as Contested Ideological Terrian 5: Web. 9 July 2014.
United States Sports Authority. “Gender Bias in American Sports: Lack of Opportunity, Lack of Administrative Postions and Lack of Coverage in Women’s Sports.” The Sports Digest, Web. 8 July
Zimbalist, A. (1997). Gender equity and the economics of college sports. In W. Hendricks,(Ed.) Advances in the economics of sport (Vol. 2, pp. 203– 223). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.