Why are there differences in the participation rates of males and females in a range of sports?

(12 marks) Significant differences exist in the gender-based participation rates of many sports. These include the implications for participation, sponsorship, policy and resourcing of sport, construction of gender roles and the role of media in constructing meanings of gender. Historically sport has been viewed as traditionally a male domain. Sport was created by men for men with women playing a traditionally narrow perceived sideline role of observer rather than participant. Modern sport has had to overcome historical viewpoints and bias surrounding the capabilities of females as athletes. Despite many efforts to reduce the stereotypes in sport, they still carry significant implications for participation. Women can be deterred from participating in traditionally male dominated sports such as football. In the movie Bend it like Beckham, Keira Knightleys character is belittled by her mother for spending time playing football rather than chasing boys. The female lead in the movie is not allowed to participate in football because it is not seen as an activity for women of Indian heritage. The mother of this character wants her daughter to focus on cooking or simply taking chaperoned walks in the park. Conversely, males can be deterred from participating in traditionally female-dominated activities such as dance. The movie Billy Elliot highlights the struggle of a young boy who wants to do ballet. Ballet is seen by his father and brother as an activity only homosexual males participate in. Sponsorship, policy and resourcing of womens sport remain a contentious issue. Male dominated sports such as rugby receive more television coverage, higher professional salaries (tennis excluded) and greater athlete endorsements. Sponsorship deals to individuals tend to go to male athletes in the first instance and then to females who are perceived as attractive in the second. Anna Kournikova received more sponsorship and endorsement money than any other athlete on the WTA even though she had never won a singles grand slam. It appears that marketability in womens sport is more highly sought than athletic accomplishment. Societys construction of gender roles is largely based on sports participation. Sport requires boys to be competitive, courageous, strong, fast, powerful. Many families expect their sons to participate in manly sports such as football or boxing for proper social inclusion whereas sports such as dance are stereotyped as feminine and are therefore deemed inappropriate. Traditionally, women have only been encouraged to participate in sports that require minimum physical exertion or body contact as this would not compromise their feminine shape or ability to bear children. Generally boys are more actively encouraged to be involved in sport, to be physical and get dirty. This was also the case historically in the school setting in Physical Education classes. Furthermore, the media has played a significant role within our society at perpetuating the construction of these gender roles. Within Australian society especially, sport consumes large amounts of time and space in the electronic and print media. The language associated with male and female sport in this country speaks to the emphasis on a womens sexual appeal for publicity rather than their athletic ability. Recent news articles refer to the glamour or babe quality of a female athlete or their ability to charm spectators. These words are never associated with male athletes. Male athletes are referred to warriors or gladiators of sport in the media. They are often associated with heroic or war-like metaphors, much in the same way as they were in Ancient Greece when only men were allowed to participate in Olympic events.

Why does the media use metaphors in the coverage of sport? (3 marks)

The media will often use language that overhypes the sporting contests that it covers. When high-profile events such as the Rugby League State of Origin occur, metaphors of aggression and war terms are often used, for example a battle, warriors and bone-crunching tackles. The media message is very clear: you have to be tough and masculine to be successful. Certainly comparing a sporting contest to a war or a battle overstates the importance of the event. These terms are rarely used by the media when describing womens sports. Generally speaking, when the media discusses women players, in sports such as tennis for example, there is more focus given to a players grace and less to their athleticism. In contrast, top male-playing games are promoted as a clash, a torrid match etc. The medias message is to draw attention to an event through various forms of promotion, which include a great deal of emotive language and metaphors to generate interest with the viewers/readers. Answers could include: The medias role in giving meanings to sport Deconstructing media a messages and images Common metaphors, eg football as war
Explain the medias role in the emergence of extreme sport. (5 marks) The promotion of extreme sports by the media has largely occurred through the advent of 24-hour/ 7days-a-week television cable sports channels. These television stations needed to find exciting entertainment to fill in the timeslots. A wide variety of extreme sports are now telecast, including big wave surfing, endurance events, and rock and mountain climbing. The demographic most interested in these sports are young men, and by attracting them to stations such as Fuel TV, the advertising generated makes a great deal of money for the television station owners. These programs are quite cost-effective as they dont rely on high numbers of spectators to attend the contests to add to the appeal of the sport. They can be telecast well after the event, which also makes it cheaper live telecasts are very expensive. By and large, the emergence of extreme sport has been driven by the need to generate corporate advertising. The pressure to ensure that programs generate enough interest has meant that television producers are increasingly taking higher risks with their participants, for example jumping higher, more extremes of weather etc, which may result in injuries. The concern is that not enough is being done to regulate these events and prevent athletes from being exploited. The final edited package may not reflect exactly what has gone on and so mishaps may be downplayed. Young people emulating Jackass style stunts has led to many broken bones etc. While new sports are refreshing and have a market, there needs to be regulation so that these sports are sustained and athletes can safely participate. Assess the various consequences of a sporting organisation running itself as a business, where sport is the commodity. (12 marks) Modern sport has emerged as a commodity that is bought and sold for enormous amounts of money. This emergence has enabled many sports to have global audiences that were previously unavailable because the technology was unavailable or it was too expensive to broadcast.

Most weeks of the year in Australia, you can watch a major sporting event from somewhere in the world, often in the early hours of the morning. Events such as Champions League Football, golf tournaments, Wimbledon, and the US Tennis Open have adopted a business focus. By developing business contracts with television stations and corporate sponsors for advertising space, sporting organisations enjoy worldwide exposure and clubs attract more fans. This generates enormous amounts of money and prestige and allows these sports to maintain state-ofthe-art resources and professional full-time players. For players, it allows them to concentrate on their sport and earn considerable amounts of money that can provide them and their families with very comfortable lives. Sport as business has also lead to high levels of sponsorship and advertising that generally perpetuates the successful running of a sporting organisation. Some negative consequences, however, exist. Advertising of alcoholic beverages and, in some countries, cigarettes, does draw obvious criticism of sporting organisations by health officials. The issue of binge drinking and young people, and the coupling of a young persons favourite spo rt with an alcohol sponsor, is drawing growing criticism in Australia. Some rule changes have occurred in sports to give advertisers greater exposure, for example after a goal is scored in AFL, a short advertisement is played before the restart of play. Also, some sports have lamented the loss of certain traditions, for example when the Sheffield Shield Cricket was called the Pura Cup for a few years. Finally, as wealthy tycoons start buying up famous sporting clubs, many fans may be dissatisfied with some of the changes they make, and this can, and has, alienated grass-roots supporters. Answers could include: The development of professional sport Sport as big business Sponsorship, advertising and sport The economics of hosting major sporting events Consequences for spectators and participants Why has sport be traditionally seen as a male domain? (3 marks)

European heritage from 19th century Manliness/patriotism and character Traditional roles of men/women Barriers women had to overcome to participate, eg damage to reproductive organs, infertility Explain the role of gender participation rates in sport and PA. (5 marks)
Deconstruction of gender what is encouraged by society and family (sex role \socialisation) Relationship needs to be made linking gender between differences in sports chosen e.g. Dance/netball (females) Consider reasons why sports associated with each gender, eg football tough/aggressive=masculine Female participation rates (historically from nothing to almost equitable numbers) PE lessons/co-ed classes impact on girls participation Positive role modelling for girls impact on participation

Analyse the relationship between sport and the mass media (10 marks) Representation of sport in the print media e.g. Newspapers and magazines Australias passion for sport is reflected in the representation of sport in the print media. Reporters use metaphors and clichs, e.g. Gladiators of League to create images of players as sporting idols. The media describes male players as being tough, competitive and driven by passion for them game, e.g. winning is everything, whereas womens sport is regarded (by the media) as less important.

TV has the ability to manipulate and influence how the public think about sport and what sport they watch. The print media can also influence our opinion e.g. Inside Sport encourages worship of sport stars. The descriptions that are used for male and female athletes tend to conform to societys general expectation of what is masculine and what is feminine. E.g. males performances are described as tough encounters, while female performances are described more in terms of appearance and style, e.g. skill and teamwork.
This ability to manipulate media messages means more clubs and players have expected codes of conduct e.g. no fighting in Rugby League, as pressured by the media. Sport and television (electronic media) The media can be responsible for the growth of new sports. Programs such as Wide World of Sports can create interest in extreme sports (e.g. snowboarding, sky diving, etc) which have both positive and negative consequences. A negative consequence e.g. Young people attempting dangerous Jackass style stunts led to several injuries. A positive consequence is how the TV coverage of the Olympics has introduced millions of new people to sports. Another example is the Soccer World Cup of 2006 which encouraged the increase in more young soccer players. TV has also changed the rules and design of many games e.g. see-through courts in squash. Likewise, since spectators need to feel more involved in the action of the game, new technological developed were made for TV e.g. slow motion replays and special effect, statistics. There has also been several advancements to promote viewer interest in sports coverage e.g. new uniforms, changing game times. Pay TV e.g. FOX and free to air sport have allowed for less watched sports to become more advertised as well as being available to those who can afford it. Economic considerations of media coverage and sport Financially, the media benefits from this relationship with sport. TV stations pay huge amounts of $$$ for broadcast rights to cover specific sporting events. Likewise, sports (athletes and teams) benefit from sponsorships that may not have been available if media coverage was not present.

Evaluation: Between sport and the media a relationship has developed that is interdependent. The media relies on sport to attract businesses who wish to advertise. Without media exposure, the lesser known sports find it difficult to obtain sponsorship. Similarly, without the athletes and sports to cover, the media would not be able to provide such comprehensive reports or be able to attract advertising revenue.