American Sport in the 21st Century: Gender and Sport

On April 16 in my American Sport in the 21st Century class, we discussed gender and sports and how fair are sport opportunities for girls and women. We discussed the agencies of sex role stereotyping.We talked about the role of stereotyping within the school and the media. The role of stereotyping within school is that it reinforces differential expectations and steers boys and girls to different activities. The role of stereotyping within the media is that it is one of the most influential/pervasive forces. Preschool children watch 24 hours of television a week and by the time they graduate, they will watch over 100,000 commercials. This then sets the agenda of how we think, act and feel. We also discussed a brief history of women. Also, we talked about the participation and equity issues in the world of women and girls.

(An example of sex role stereotyping)

Brief History

1700's- Little or no participation
1800's- Men and women participated at the same level in the same activities but only if you were considered upper class
1880's- Bicycle and Bloomers
1900's- Womens colleges (Vassar, Mt. Holyoke)
1900's- First Olympics (golf and tennis)
1914- World War I
1920's- Emergence of women's collegiate sport
1930's- Depression
1940's- World War II (AAGPBL- reproductive freedom, liberation)
1960's- Beginning of recognition
1970's- Title IX
1973- Billie Jean King vs. Bobbie Riggs
1980's- Emergence with women in professional leagues in softball, basketball and volleyball
1982- Women's sports taken over by NCAA from the AIAW
Since the 1990's- success of female athletes (World Cup, WNBA, Olympics, LPGA)

Title IX

We had discussed the importance of females within the athletic standpoint and I found a video on youtube with Billie Jean King talking about the importance of Title IX: Billie Jean King and Title IX. Billie Jean King begins to talk about title IX and how her generation had to fight for the rights for women. She had to play Bobbie Riggs, as discussed in the notes, which had caused an excel for women in sports after she beat him three games to none. She had two jobs and both of her friends had scholarships, who were males and she wasn't complaining but she thought it wasn't fair. Women now have more education and the health of the nation depends on Title IX. Women get millions less in scholarships and about 43% of women get to coach at the collegiate level for women's sports. At the men's level, however, only about 3% of women get to coach men at the collegiate level. She talks about the accomplishments that women have and that women, as a whole, have a lot longer to go. For example, she talks about Mia Hamm, the World Cup and Maria Sharapova. Likewise, she shows a great sense of enthusiasm towards women athletes and the importance to keep pushing Title IX and providing opportunities for women in sports. In the interview, Maria Sharapova is brought up and stated that she looks up to Billie Jean King as an imitation of a woman in the sports industry. In the notes on April 16, we had discussed how important of a role Billie Jean King has played for women overall in the sports field. She has opened up the eyes of many individuals and continues to push for women to join the sports world and to become apart of the great atmosphere and freedom that women now receive in sports.