Monday, April 4, 2011

Women In Sports: Unequal Underdogs

This video contains mostly pictures, but I decided to still post it because the handful of statistics in my opinion, are mind-blowing.  Some of the information provided by this clip include the following;
    --> Female NCAA athletes receive only 45% of college athletic scholarship dollars, which is $148 million less than male athletes.
    --> Female college athletes receive only 38% of sports operating dollars which is $1.17 BILLION less than their male counter-sports.
    --> As of 2002, only 15 NCAA Division 1 schools spend more on all women's sports teams combined than on football.
    --> In 2001, women's sports passed the $1 billion mark in total sponsorship revenue, while men's sports sponsorship was at $25 billion.
These few blurbs are just glimpses at the severity of the gender inequality that still exists today.  These facts don't even touch upon the countless other aspects of life like the work force, education, economy, etc.  If something that typically begins as a hobby for many, but now more often can become a career is so unequal, how is it looking at all these other factors in life?  How unequal is society still today?

10 comments:

  1. I agree with you Alicia. Some of those statistics are extremely mind blowing and it's very sad to see. What if it was the other way around and male athletes were in the women athletes position? Would people be making a bigger deal about it or would they just brush it off and not do much about it?

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  2. Those statistics are shocking! It's amazing how Title IX really wasn't specifically targeted for sports but really, most gender inequality happens in sports teams! I cannot even believe how much less money the women make in sports and yet they're doing the same thing!

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  3. I agree with you too. The statistics are unbelievable. I have even read some other statistics too online while I was researching and even though Title IX has helped, women are still not getting completely equal treatment.

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  4. there was a picture in this video of the female soccer player who took off her jersey after they won and was running around in her sports bra, i don't know if anyone remembers this but it caused a lot of controversy some people thought she was out of place to do so, but guys can take off their shirts? its not like she wasn't wearing anything, female athletes model in sports bras all the time so again, an unfair issue

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  5. we talked about a few of these statistics in class the other day together - but they're still crazy to hear.. I agree with everyone above me too - but going off of Sarah's comment, what would happen if it was the other way around and the men were in the woman's position how would this situation be handled. its weird to think about...

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  6. It's unbelievable how there is such a difference in the numbers when things are supposed to be equal by the law.

    That's a good point Rachel. There are different 'expectations' of what's allowed, aka hypocrisy. I see nothing wrong with what that athlete did. She wasn't exposing herself. Sometimes you really have to wonder what people's problems are.

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  7. Just like everyone else said these stats are mind blowing. I think it's awful how uneven these numbers are and how football teams are given so much money. The sports scholarships should be equal for both men and women and schools should be forced into making this happen.

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  8. All these comments reminded me of Spirit Week activities at my high school. Other people probably had the same sort of experience where the classes each formed teams and competed against each other. In my school there were boys teams and girls teams, or if the competition wasn't about strength (like the Orange Pass) there had to be an equal number of boys and girls. Was this a good idea because it created fairness? Or a bad idea because it emphasized that gender matters (a lot!)?

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  9. How unfair is this?! What is the big difference between men and women. There is no reason for these outrageous statistics. If this was the other way around, going off of what Sarah had said, there probably would be much more made of it. I only think that since men have always been known as "dominant" in society. It's a shame how little credit women get for all the hard work they do.

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  10. great post this week! defiantly sparked the attention of many people!

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