By Daniel Carp
@DanHCarp
USA TODAY Sports intern
Women account for 43 percent of NCAA scholarship athletes yet receive between 2 percent and 4 percent of total coverage.
The opening session of the Associated Press Sports Editors convention — the portrayal of women by sports media — delved into the sources of this gender divide and the ethical dilemmas of a post-Title IX newsroom.
Moderator and USA TODAY Sports columnist Christine Brennan was joined by Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, Missy Meharg, head field hockey coach at the University of Maryland and Monica McNutt, a digital reporter at ABC7 and former Georgetown basketball player.
Each of the panelists brought a unique perspective to a complex discussion. Kane’s studies provided quantitative support for why selling female athletes as sexual objects is a counterproductive practice. As the leader of the Terrapin field hockey program for 26 years, Meharg has watched historical shifts in both women’s athletics and the nature of sports media coverage. Brennan has seen these shifts as a reporter, while McNutt’s experience encapsulates both that of an athlete and a member of the media.
Together, the panel dove into a variety of topics, including the perceived sexuality of female athletes and television personalities, the use of gendered language to denote women’s college teams and the absence of such language when discussing men’s teams and tournaments and whether female sports writers should be proponents of women’s athletics.
The panel’s overwhelming conclusion: Women’s athletics have made light years of progress since the advent of Title IX 40 years ago, now it’s time for the media to catch up.
Two key takeaways:
_ In Kane’s focus group study, images of female athletes’ competence on the field scored significantly higher with respondents than sexualized images.
_ For female athletes, media coverage is a positive byproduct of on-field success. Otherwise, it is unlikely they will be covered at all in today’s media climate.
