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Gender Discrimination in Women’s Sport

AllAnswers
7 min readAug 18, 2023

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Gender discrimination is a heavily conversed topic amongst both genders. This topic has been heavily prevailing since forever. Discrimination based on gender is shown in many books, articles, stories, and modern events such as in the workplace. It is no secret that gender discrimination still exists. The real question is how exactly gender discrimination affects a woman. This essay research paper will discuss what gender discrimination is, how it affects genders in the workplace, in sports based on appearance and performance, and in society.

Gender Equality has always remained a pressing matter especially when it’s for basic rights such as voting. In 1869, after the civil war, the first woman’s suffrage law was passed in the U.S. territory of what is now Wyoming. This law being passed was a big step for women. This law being passed allowed women to vote and serve on juries in western territories. A year later, final ratifications were made to the 15th amendment which outraged women’s rights advocates. This amendment states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” This wasn’t enough, advocates kept fighting and eventually, they were given what they asked for. Women were ultimately constitutional right to vote under the 19th amendment which states “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

Gender discrimination is a situation in which someone is treated less well because of their sex, usually when a woman is treated less well than a man.” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.) In other words, gender discrimination is another phrase for sexism. Gender discrimination in the workplace is when an employer or employees treat a current or potential employee in an unkind way because of their sex. Sexism is often inflicted by the opposite genders. Even though women and men can clearly perform at the same level, have the same skill set as each other and have the same success rates, women are still held back by the issue of sexism. Although sexism is said to be mainly against women, men are also victims of gender discrimination. “Women’s sports received less entertaining and thorough coverage and suggested those factors lead to lower ticket sales and lower salaries for the athletes” Sexism in sports is also an important topic.

A known form of sexism is the “glass ceiling” method. This term “glass ceiling” refers to the belief that is “an unofficially acknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities.” (Google Dictionary, n.d.) This method mainly holds women back from advancing to mid-level and senior-level managerial positions. A prime example of this would be a woman and a man going for an interview at the same job for the same position. The man already has a high chance of getting the job only because he is simply a man. He is eventually given the job even though the woman had more experience and the skill sets for the job. Another example is a woman being promoted to the general manager position but never able to be advanced on to district manager no matter how well she performs. It can be concluded that men are always on, and normally don’t require any skill set or job experience, unlike women.

Title VII is a civil rights act of 1964 is a federal law that protects individuals from discrimination based on gender or sex. It can still be proven till this date that gender discrimination is still real. “Almost 42% of women in the United States reported gender discrimination…” (Parker & Funk, 2017). This article compares the percentages of workplace gender discrimination between both men and women. Women are three times as likely to have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace than men, however, women and men both acknowledge the fact that there is a sexual harassment problem in the workplace. Despite all the amendments, civil rights act, and ratifications discrimination based on gender is still at an all-time high.

One study showed that women with higher education have more of a chance of being discriminated against because of their gender. According to Pewresearch.org, “While 57% of working women with a postgraduate degree say they have experienced some form of gender discrimination at work, for example, the same is true for 40% of women with a bachelor’s degree and 39% of those who did not complete college.” (Parker & Funk, 2017) This proves the fact that women of higher education are more likely to be victims of gender discrimination in the workplace. Because a Woman of higher education is in the workplace some say it could be intimidation. This is just one of the many levels of gender inequality in the workplace.

Women received dramatically less pay than men after shown as much fame or importance than men and they also receive fewer media coverage. Sexism in sports is still a nerving factor. Even celebrities are discriminated against especially in sports. For example, Serena Williams is a professional Tennis player. She recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. Throughout her pregnancy, she had problems with blood clots and circulation. So, as a result, she was made an all-black suit to play in her French Open Match in 2018. She wore the suit and felt powerful even more than normal. After playing in her suit the French Tennis Federation said they were going to implement a dress code and commented on her attire saying “the catsuit went “too far” and saying, “one must respect the game and the place.” (Baker, 2018) Another example of sexism in sports is “women’s sports received less entertaining and thorough coverage, and suggested those factors lead to lower ticket sales and lower salaries for the athletes.” (Threewitt, n.d.) This shows the discrimination in the sports department on behalf of women.

One hope for the future of women’s sport is the recent exposure and interest in the Women’s World Cup, where the final between Spain and England has football fans hoping for an outcome that men’s football has simply been unable to deliver for the last half a century — an England win (Andrews, 2023). Regardless the outcome of this historic pairing, women will see an increased focus on reducing discrimination in the sport and providing new opportunities for young women to compete at a professional level. Work still need to be done to drastically improve the pay disparity between male and female footballers, as reported by So Legal, male players currently earn over 100x that of their female peers:

The highest earners in the Premier League will be paid upwards of £20,000,000 per year, whereas the highest earners in the Women’s Super League will be paid around £200,000 per year.
- Ovaisi, 2022

Lastly, Gender inequality in society. There have been many widespread and upstanding controversies surrounding sexism, feminism and gender inequality. This is the mainstream outlet for coverage on this topic ae mad this heavily existing problem. Things if the media contribute to the problem of discrimination based on gender whether it be on commercials, on Instagram in pictures or on any social media in general. In Society, there is a double standard for a woman in any and everything they do. This standard is placed on women according to their clothing, speech or slang, sex life, type of pictures taken, hairstyles, etc. There are social discriminations based on gender by job titles as well. An example of this would be the thought that only men could be firefighters because of the physical training and physic needed to fulfill the job requirements, however, a woman should be just as qualified by going through the same training as a man. Even still another example would be “the belief that it is the woman’s job, simply because of her sex to stay home and take care of the children. Another example is the belief that women are unable to make decisions as well as men because women are more emotional than men. Or, those only males are capable of being mechanics because they are bigger or stronger.” (Wolfe, 2018)

In conclusion, Gender discrimination is a very widespread and existing problem in society today. While women are usually the main victims, men can also be affected by gender discrimination. Both genders main women are affected by gender inequality in the way of sports, jobs, and society in general.

References

Football
Gender Equality
Discrimination
Womens Rights
Women

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