Battle Of Sports: Gender Barriers In Sports
Gender Barriers in Sports It is clear there are strides being taken towards equality in women’s sports, from Billy Jean King beating Bobby Rigs in the “Battle of the Sexes” to the policy known as Title IX. Every day we as a society make attempts to close the gap between genders. We know gender certainly does play a role in human nature, society, and even sports. But both genders, male and female, still face overwhelming barriers when trying to break into a sport that is not “known “ or “proper” for that specific gender to be participating in. Gender barriers are certainly existent in today’s sports culture, such as “Women’s-only events” or “Men-only event” in the Olympics shows bias towards a specific gender role. In our society’s culture
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Labeling, both of men and women because of the sport in which they wish to participate in. A sport that might be “designated” towards a certain gender, this discourages athletes, male and female, from breaking though these barriers that have been set (Flanagan. 2008). An example is homophobia, being labeled as a homosexual, just because of the sport you choose to play. Such as the notation of a women playing a contact sport or a man figure skating both would be scrutinized by his peers because of this idea of “gender roles”. Again back to my original statement it should be based on athletic abilities everything else aside. A great example of this was this past weekend’s news in sports about Michael Sam, a former All-American defensive end on the football team. He admitted on Sunday in an interview as a homosexual male, he would be the first open male in the National Football League. Breaking that sexuality barrier on April 2nd if he gets drafted, would be incredible, something not many people would be able to do. It would affect the gender barrier people could relate to what Michael had done. Gender barriers are carried over from sports and into the workplace; I believe they are directly correlated. Throughout time these two ideas seem to reflect the nature of the other, women have become a more prominent force in the workplace and at the same time have been able to close the gap for gender barriers in sports as well. But women still are not financially comparable to men’s athletics. The number of women playing sports has greatly increased over the years, especially with Title IX coming into play. But financially it is still not equal, just like in the workforce; women are not paid as equal as
Labeling, both of men and women because of the sport in which they wish to participate in. A sport that might be “designated” towards a certain gender, this discourages athletes, male and female, from breaking though these barriers that have been set (Flanagan. 2008). An example is homophobia, being labeled as a homosexual, just because of the sport you choose to play. Such as the notation of a women playing a contact sport or a man figure skating both would be scrutinized by his peers because of this idea of “gender roles”. Again back to my original statement it should be based on athletic abilities everything else aside. A great example of this was this past weekend’s news in sports about Michael Sam, a former All-American defensive end on the football team. He admitted on Sunday in an interview as a homosexual male, he would be the first open male in the National Football League. Breaking that sexuality barrier on April 2nd if he gets drafted, would be incredible, something not many people would be able to do. It would affect the gender barrier people could relate to what Michael had done. Gender barriers are carried over from sports and into the workplace; I believe they are directly correlated. Throughout time these two ideas seem to reflect the nature of the other, women have become a more prominent force in the workplace and at the same time have been able to close the gap for gender barriers in sports as well. But women still are not financially comparable to men’s athletics. The number of women playing sports has greatly increased over the years, especially with Title IX coming into play. But financially it is still not equal, just like in the workforce; women are not paid as equal as