Content-Type: text/html
Seeking Gender Equity
Seeking Gender Equity on the Sports Pages:
An Analysis of Newspaper Photos from the 2000 Olympics
Marie Hardin, University of West Georgia
Jean Chance, University of Florida*
Julie E. Dodd, University of Florida
Brent Hardin, University of West Georgia
Submitted to the Visual Communications Division research paper competition for the Association of Education in Mass Communication national convention, Washington, D.C., August 2001
*Corresponding author
3046 Weimer Hall
College of Journalism & Communications
Box 118400
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-8400
Phone: 352-392-0450
Fax: 352-846-2673
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
ABSTRACT
Seeking Gender Equity on the Sports Pages:
An Analysis of Newspaper Photos from the 2000 Olympics
Researchers conducted a content analysis of five daily newspapers' publication of photographs during the 2000 Olympic Games to assess the reality of photo portrayals in relationship to gendered participation in the Games, and to assess the existence of sexual difference in the use of photos. The study concluded that the portrayal of women athletes in Olympics competition appears to show continuing change. The researchers conclude that there is good reason to predict a continuing trend of improved gender equity in Olympic sports coverage for women athletes and diminishing portrayals of sexual difference as the number of women athletes competing in the Games continues to increase.
Submitted to the Visual Communications Division research paper competition for the AEJMC national convention, Washington, D.C., August 2001
Seeking Gender Equity on the Sports Pages: An
Analysis of Newspaper Photos of the 2000 Olympics
Shortly before the opening of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, a report from Reuters news agency stated that Olympics organizers had "set an Olympic record of their own by allowing an unprecedented number of women to compete" (Reuters, 1999). The news account said that in the four-year span between the 1996 Games in Atlanta and Sydney 2000, the number of women participating was expected to grow from 3,683 to 3,906, although 423 fewer athletes overall were expected to compete in Sydney than in Atlanta.
Beginning in 1900 when two women were allowed to participate in croquet competition, the doors to the Olympic Games began to open slowly for women athletes in selected competitive sports. By the 2000 Games in Australia, the doors swung wider than ever; the U.S. Olympic Committee reported that 45 % of U.S. Olympic athletes were women (Manter, 2001). For the first time in Sydney women were allowed to compete in water polo, pole vault, hammer, modern pentathlon and weightlifting. The United States fielded women athletes in all of these events - and in weightlifting, entered more women than men into competition (Manter, 2001). The United States also fielded men and women in two new sports added for both-taekwondo and triathlon.
Data reported by the International Olympic Committee following the Sydney 2000 Games show a 4 % increase in women participants between 1996 and 2000. For the first time women competed in 44 % of the total number of events in the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney. A
report from the Feminist Majority Foundation daily newswire reflected slightly lower figures, stating that women made up 42 % of the 10,500 athletes competing in 2000. This report credited the 1972 Congressional Educational Amendment (popularly referred to as Title IX) with balancing the number of team sports for women as for men in Olympics competition. The increasing power of women in Olympic competition was demonstrated in a change in its leadership during 2000; in December, the USOC elected its first woman president, holding out hope for even more gender equity for U.S. athletes in the future (Michaelis, 2000).
Media Coverage of the Olympics
As the number and stature of female Olympians has increased, so has the number of women interested in following the Games. During the 1996 Olympics (Atlanta) and the 1998 Olympics (Nagano, Japan), more than 50 % of those who tuned into network coverage were women (Policinski, 1998). That trend continued in 2000. Although NBC was plagued by lackluster television ratings, women were still more likely to watch than men (Harris, 2000; Mermigas, 2000). According to a September 2000 Harris Interactive Poll, women reported that they were more likely to follow the Olympics than other sports, perhaps because of the higher chance of seeing female athletes.
Of course, it should be no surprise to media executives that women are likely a lucrative market for the Olympics and other sports media (Brown, 1996). The number of girls and young women participating in sport - and most likely, developing a keen interest in mediated women's sports - is increasing. An estimated 21 million American women are active in sport, and the number of women in intercollegiate sport has increased more than ten-fold since 1972 (Acosta
and Carpenter, 1994; Kane, 1996). Participation in girls' high school sports in the United States reached record numbers in 1999; basketball, track and field and volleyball draw participation from hundreds of thousands of high school girls (National Federation of High School Associations, 1999).
Women interested in female athletics may have good reason to watch the Olympics. Coverage of women's events was arguably stronger than it had ever been in 1996 and again in 2000. One author wrote of 1996 media coverage: "The women's movement in sports hasn't had a bigger boost" (Moss, 2000). The 1996 Games were billed as "the Gender Equity Olympics" (McCallum & O-Brien, 1996; Zaglin, 1996). Media attention to women's successes during the event was praised, much to the delight of host network NBC; media coverage was even credited with "changing the face of the Olympic Games" by one newspaper (Eastman & Billings, 1999). In 2000, the media again engaged in self-congratulation for an Olympics "where Marion Jones, Cathy Freeman, and Jenny Thompson got the lionesses' share of television coverage and headlines" (Matson, 2000, p. F9).
But critical assessment of media coverage during the 1996 Olympic Games revealed a different gender scenario than that depicted by the popular media - one that mixed increased coverage with a healthy dose of tired gender stereotypes (Eastman & Billings, 1999; Tuggle & Owen, 1999; Kinnick, 1998). Critical assessment of the 2000 Olympics has not yet been published.
Critical evaluation of media coverage in Sydney is critical, however, to understanding whether the media is properly reflecting the real progress women have made in Olympic
participation, and whether some of the shortcomings in 1996 coverage have been remedied. The purpose of this study is to critically evaluate photographic coverage of gendered sports in five major newspapers (four regional papers and the New York Times) during the 2000 Olympic Games. Special attention is paid to whether the coverage reflected a realistic picture of women's increased participation in the Games, and whether stereotypes that perpetuate "sexual difference" - so prevalent in sport media - have also diminished.
Gender in Print Sports Media: An Overview
Media representations of sport in relation to gender have expanded greatly in the last several decades (Bellamy, 1989; Birrell & Theberge, 1994; Eastman & Meyer, 1989; Kane & Greendorfer, 1994; Sage, 1990). Even so, the media continues to define and reinforce the hegemonic image that sport is a male domain (Schell & Rodriguez, 2000; Miner, 1993). Sportswomen have historically been underrepresented and misrepresented in overall coverage, despite increases in their opportunities and participation; a number of studies reveal the disproportionate rates of coverage the media give men and women (Boutilier & SanGiovanni, 1983; Bryant, 1980; Kane, 1988; Reid & Soley, 1979; Rintala & Birrell, 1984). The disparity in media coverage does not go unnoticed by female athletes and coaches - a 1998 survey by the media watchdog group Women, Men and Media noted that almost half of the athletes interviewed reported that they had to deal with reporters who were uncomfortable or dismissive of women's sporting accomplishments (Policinski, 1998).
Perhaps those attitudes are the reason for the overwhelming number of studies that reveal lack of gender parity in print sports media, including magazines. Several studies of Sports Illustrated found that men dominate from cover to cover - in photographic images and in feature
articles (Boutilier & SanGiovanni, 1983; Salwen & Wood, 1994; Lumpkin & Williams, 1991). Gender research into other magazines such as Runner's World, Sport and Tennis (Bryant, 1980) and children's magazines such as SI for Kids (Duncan and Sayoavong, 1990; Cuneen & Sidwell, 1998; Rintala & Birrell, 1984) have yielded similar results. Similarly, studies that focus not on specific magazines but on general magazine coverage of sport topics (such as tennis) have found an emphasis on males and on females as emotionally unstable and personally unfulfilled by their athletic success (Hilliard, 1984).
Newspapers
Newspaper analyses that focus on gender and sport reveal the same pattern as that found in magazines. In a study published by the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, researchers found that newspaper coverage in four major dailies (all named in 1990 by the Associated Press Sports Editors as the top-10 daily sports sections in the country) found that photographs of male athletes outnumbered those of females by 13 to1, and stories focusing exclusively on men's sports outnumbered stories addressing only women's sports by a ratio of 23 to 1 (Duncan, Messner & Williams, 1992). Flatten and Matheson's study (1996) of British newspaper representation of female athletes showed a decrease in coverage of women's sports between 1984 and 1994, although the actual percentage of sports coverage increased (along with participation by female athletes). This research supports earlier research that suggested British media regards female athletics as less newsworthy than male athletics (Women'
s Studies International Forum, 1994). A study of 23 Australian newspapers found similar results there; it
found that six times more newspaper space was devoted to men's sports than women's sports (Phillips, 1996).
Studies of U.S. newspapers reflect the same dismal results; researchers at Vanderbilt University, for instance, found that men received 82% of all sports coverage and women received 11% with 6% covering both genders in three newspapers: The Tennessean, USA Today, and The New York Times (Women's Sports Foundation, 1997). Another study, on newspaper coverage of boys' and girls' high school ice hockey in Minnesota, found that girls' hockey received far less coverage than boys', and far fewer photos of female hockey players involved them playing hockey (Woodcock, 1995).
Encouraging results occasionally emerge in sports/gender research, however. A relatively recent study involving print coverage of gender in the 1996 Olympics is one such study (Kinnick, 1998). Although it found bias in newspaper coverage related to frequent mention of marital status, attractiveness from a male gaze, emotionality of female athletes, and the assignment of stories along gender lines, it also found some evidence of more favorable treatment of female athletes over their male counterparts. There was no evidence of gender bias either in terms of quantitative representation of female athletes, or in the placement and prominence of stories. This study, along with research involving broadcast images of the 1996 Olympics, provide an indicator that recent sports coverage - at least in regard to the Olympics - has been moving in the right direction. Another study (Wanta & Leggett, 1989) that detected resistance to media stereotypes examined Wimbledon wire service photos and f
ound that male
and female tennis players were not stereotyped in traditional ways (i.e., focus on men's faces and women's bodies).
But the encouragement must be tempered by overwhelming continuing evidence of the media's unrealistic, stereotypical framing of women's athletics. Another study that examined print coverage of the 1996 Olympics underscores this point; two researchers who examined passages of text about female participation in the Games found emphasis on stereotypes that devalued the performance of women athletes (Jones, Murrell & Jackson, 1999). Perhaps Lont (1995) aptly captures the representation of women athletes: It is more common to find a story about a male who lost than a female who won. The scarcity of women from the sports media is not, of course, inconsequential. When women are underrepresented in the media, the implicit message is that female athletes either do not exist, or have no achievements that are noteworthy (Kinnick, 1998).
Photographs and sexual difference
While the under representation and misrepresentation of women athletes is often communicated with text, it is also done through photographs, considered likely more potent influences (Rowe, 1999). The number of photos, camera angles, and the types of activity/passivity of subjects in photos are all ways that a photograph can be used to frame gender. Photographs have often been used to portray women as sexual objects and lesser competitors, weaker, and more willing to display emotional outbursts than men in sports photographs (Boutilier & SanGiovanni, 1983; Duncan, 1990; Duncan & Sayaovong, 1990; Ryan, 1994; Cuneen & Sidwell, 1998).
These stereotypes are often framed as "natural" to women. Duncan & Sayaovong, in their 1990 study of gendered photographs in SI for Kids, defined this framing as "sexual difference" - a term that connotes the framing of cultural, societally constructed differences between males
and females (such as woman as sex object, woman as emotionally less controlled) as being natural and real. Ways that sexual difference might be signified in photographs include women portrayed as more passive, as participants in sport that conforms to images of appropriate feminine behavior, and as more likely to participate in individual than team sports (Kane, 1988; Koivula, 1995; Tuggle & Owen, 1999; Daddario, 1992, Rintala & Birrell, 1984). For instance, the media's tendency to emphasize women in "aesthetic" sports that emphasize feminine ideals of grace, beauty, and glamour, such as figure skating and gymnastics could be interpreted as encouraging sexual difference (Boutilier & SanGiovanni, 1983; Daddario, 1992; Duncan, 1990; Kane, 1988; Rintala & Birrell, 1984). For instance, Kane (1988) found that Sports Illustrated provided significantly more coverage to female athletes in sex-appropriate sports (e.g., tennis, golf, and ice skating) than in those sports considered less s
ex appropriate (e.g., basketball, softball, body building.)
Duncan & Sayaovong (1990) found an emphasis on sexual difference in photographic depictions of athletes. Males outnumbered females and were depicted as more active than females. Sporting roles depicted traditional gender stereotypes -- females in individual, aesthetic sports, and males in strength-oriented or team sports. Only a handful of photographs challenged sport stereotypes and minimized sexual difference (Duncan & Sayaovong, 1990). A more recent study, that of Cuneen & Sidwell (1998), examined advertising photographs in the magazine, and
found the same relationship between gender and sport in advertising content that Duncan & Sayaovong (1990) found in editorial content.
Emphasis on sexual difference has also been documented in Olympic sport photographs. Duncan's 1990 examination of magazine photographs from the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games
found notable differences in photographic depictions of male and female athletes, including differences in the sports and sport poses in which men and women were depicted. Duncan speculated that the threat of female parity could account for depictions of sexual difference; she writes:
The sport photographs examined here suggest that women are not like men.
the implication is that they can never be like men_The issue, at bottom, is
one of power. Focusing on female difference is a political strategy that places
women in a position of weakness. Sport photographs that emphasize the
otherness of women enable patriarchal ends (p. 40).
Research Questions
This research attempts to add to understanding of gender and sport photographs in newspapers by examining newspaper publication of photographs during the 2000 Olympic Games. While this study assesses the reality of photo portrayals in relationship to gendered participation in the Games, it also analyzes the possibility of emphasis on sexual difference. The primary research questions were:
1. How do overall depictions of males and females compare with actual proportionate participation in the Olympic Games? Do photographs accurately portray the proportion at which males and females participated in the Games?
2. Along with the sheer numbers of males and females in photos, the role of the photographs in which they appear must be assessed. Do newspapers in this study emphasize sexual
difference (men as "naturally" more prominent) by their use of dominant photos? Is the publication of males and females in dominant photos fair and balanced?
3. Previous research has also demonstrated that sport media are more likely to frame women in passive poses than they are men, emphasizing passivity of women as a part of sexual difference. Do 2001 Olympic photos published in these newspapers break away from that stereotype, or are women more often depicted as passive than are men?
4. Camera angles-up, down or straight at photo subjects-are photographic devices that empower or de-emphasize power of photo subjects. Do Olympic newspaper photos examined for this study emphasize sexual difference by use of camera angle?
5. Do photos depict males and females in traditionally "gender-appropriate" sports, sports that emphasize sexual difference? For instance, are women portrayed more often in sports with an aesthetic emphasis (such as gymnastics) and are men depicted more often in "masculine" sports such as weightlifting and boxing? Just as important, how do these photographic portrayals compare to the reality of participation in the Games?
1. Research has demonstrated that construction of sexual difference is embedded in the social acceptance of women and men's participation in team versus sports. Do Olympic photographs fairly and accurately portray both women and men as equal participants in
team sports, as they were during the 2000 Games for the first time in Olympic history (Longman, 2000).
1. How do Olympic photos frame women and men as sport leaders? Are women and men realistically depicted in the many roles-player, coach and official-that they both had during the Games, or does the number and use of leadership photos emphasize sexual difference?
Methods
Content analysis, a method that involves the quantifying of certain elements within a text, was implemented to answer the research questions. Through content analysis, relationships of the most salient clusters of images and information are gauged to accurately represent the dominant messages (Entman, 1993). Commonly defined as an objective, systematic, and quantitative discovery of message content, content analysis has also been determined as an useful way to examine media images of minority or historically oppressed groups (Hocking & Stacks, 1998; Dominick & Wimmer, 1991).
Data Collection
The Tampa Tribune, The Gainesville Sun, The Orlando Sentinel, The New York Times, and The Florida Times Union were the sampling unit for this study; these papers were chosen because they all run daily editions (USA Today, for instance, could not be used for the study because it only has one weekend edition), and they were accessible to coders. All but one paper in the study are regional papers with respectable circulation figures, ranging from around 50,000
(The Gainesville Sun) to approximately 250,000 (The Orlando Sentinel) weekdays. The New York Times (with a weekday circulation of more than 1 million) was included in the sample because of its easy accessibility and to provide a national contrast to the regional papers.
Photos from the front cover and the sports section of the newspapers during the 2000 summer Olympics were examined. Artistic models (computer-generated figures such as drawings and graphic representations of athletes) were not coded.
Coding instrument
A recording instrument, using categories from the work of Cuneen & Sidwell (1998) and Duncan & Sayaovong (1990) and adapted for use with newspapers, was generated to analyze the photographs. The categorical variables used included: (a) photo domination (dominant or non-dominant, in relation to the page); (b) gender of the subject (male or female); (c) photo angle (straight, down, or up); (d) motion in photo (passive or active); (e) prominence of the disabled character (prominent or supporting); (f) type of sport (individual or team); (g) category of sport (neutral, aesthetic, high risk, or strength); and (h) leadership (owner, official, or coach).
One important variable presented challenges in definition (and potential challenges in coding): the "category of sport." The categories were defined as follows, using Duncan & Sayaovong (1990) as a guide:
Strength: "characterized by contact sports like football or boxing, in which one opponent overpowers another by superior physical strength, and by events like the heptathlon, which
requires great endurance" (Duncan & Sayaovong, 1990, p. 104). Boxing and wrestling, two Olympic sports traditionally reserved for men, are examples of sports in this category.
High-risk: "sports in which the danger posed to the athlete is produced primarily by the physical environment" (Duncan & Sayaovong, 1990, p. 104). An Olympic sport in this category is the canoe-kayak.
Aesthetic: "included sports wherein success is determined primarily on the basis of grace and proper form (i.e., gymnastics, diving, dressage)" (Duncan & Sayaovong, 1990, p. 104). Synchronized swimming is another example of an aesthetic sport.
Neutral: "contained all other sports (i.e., basketball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, swimming)" (Duncan & Sayaovong, 1990, p. 104). This category was the largest category, and included track and field, baseball and softball.
Although most of the other categorical variables were virtually self-explanatory, another variable, motion in photo, needed further definition. A photograph subject was defined as passive when he or she was either clearly posed for the camera, appeared motionless or appeared only from the neck up.
Reliability
A critical component of the content analysis method is to ensure that the coding procedure is reliable, so that the data reflect consistency in the interpretation and application of the coding schemes and not the biases and/or interpretations of coders. Ten persons were trained to serve as coders of the newspaper photos. Holsti's reliability formula was used to assess coder reliability (Hocking & Stacks, 1998). An inter-coder reliability test and an intra-coder reliability
test were conducted. Inter-coder reliability was established by comparing coding sheets on identical data completed by different coders. The inter-coder reliability test took place before beginning data collection and resulted in a reliability score of 93%. In other words, all the coders coded the data sample data exactly the same 93% of the time before official data collection began. Intra-coder reliability, established by comparing coding sheets on identical data completed by the same coder 24 hours apart, was also tested at the beginning of the study and resulted in a reliability rating of 98%.
Findings
Overall
Images of 1,425 persons - mostly athletes - appeared in Olympic photographs published in the five newspapers during the study time period. Of those images, 684 (48%) were women, and 741 (52%) were men. This finding is encouraging when compared to actual participation in Sydney: of the 11,116 athletes, 4,254 (38%) were women, and 6,862 (62%) were men (SI Sports Almanac, 2001). More importantly, perhaps, these numbers compare favorably to demographics for the U.S. Olympics team - of its 580 members, 280 (45%) were women and 320 (55%) were men (Manter, 2001).
Analysis of photo depictions in individual papers revealed a range of proportion by gender. The Florida Times Union and The Gainesville Sun included more women than men in Olympic photos, while The Tampa Tribune evenly divided depictions of males and females. The proportion of males and females presented in The Orlando Sentinel most closely resembles the reality of the Games: 39% of individuals depicted were women. The New York Times, the only national paper in the sample, ran 4% more men than women in its Olympic photos. (See Table 1.)
Table 1: Frequency/percentage of gender in Olympic photos
Newspaper Men (n) Men (%) Women (n) Women (%)
The Gainesville Sun
72
45
87
55
The Florida Times Union
60
49
63
51
The New York Times
385
52
349
48
The Orlando Sentinel
110
61
71
39
The Tampa Tribune
114
50
114
50
Combined papers
741
52
684
48
Gender and dominance
Of all dominant photos analyzed, 44% included women and 56% included men. Of all women coded, 36% were in dominant photos; and of all men coded, 43% were in dominant photos; clearly, male athletes stood a better chance of inclusion in a dominant photo than did their female counterparts.
Perhaps a fair gauge for assessing whether the inclusion of women and men in dominant photos was fair and accurate is to examine the use of gendered dominant photos in relation to the proportion of medal winners. (It might be reasonable to expect that the number of "winners" by gender could be construed as a guide for the use of dominant photos.) If that is the case, the inclusion of males and females in dominant photos was fair -- 43% of medals awarded at the Games went to women, and 57% went to men. This compares favorably to percentages in the overall sample.
Gender proportions in dominant photos varied among individual papers. (See Table 2.). Of all dominant photos published in The Florida Times Union, for instance, most (63%) were of women. For all other papers, however, the majority of dominant photos were of men, and a higher percentage of men were framed in dominant photos. One interesting deviation from that pattern was for The Orlando Sentinel, where women were more likely to appear in a dominant photo (59% of women were in dominant photos, versus 52% of men), although the overall percentage of dominant photos with women (43%) was less than that for men (57%). So although fewer women actually appeared in dominant photos in The Sentinel, they were more likely to appear in a dominant photo than were men.
Table 2: Percentage breakdowns of women and men in dominant photos; percentage of all women and men in dominant photos
Dominant % all women / % all men
Newspaper % women % men Dominant
The Gainesville Sun
42
58
26
44
The Florida Times Union
63
37
48
30
The New York Times
41
59
27
39
The Orlando Sentinel
43
57
59
52
The Tampa Tribune
47
53
44
50
Combined papers
44
56
36
42
Gender and camera angle
While conventional wisdom and precedents regarding photographic images and gender might lead to the expectation that more women would appear in "down angle" photos that was not the case. Overall, a higher percentage of men were depicted in down angle photos, and in every paper, men were more likely to be depicted in a down angle shot than an "up angle" photo. Only one paper, The Florida Times Union, contained a higher percentage of down angle photos of women (16%) than of men (10%). At the other end of the spectrum was The Gainesville Sun, which ran 20% more down angle photos of men than of women.(See Table 3.) Papers divided the percentage of up angle photos evenly between men and women, with the exceptions being The Tampa Tribune and The Orlando Sentinel.
Perhaps one explanation for a higher percentage of down angle photos of men is the different sport types emphasized for men than for women, if these sport types are accompanied by a preferred camera angle by photographers, but this seems unlikely. ("Men only" Olympic sports include baseball, boxing and wrestling.) An analysis of gender and sport type in photos is below.
Table 3: Gender and camera angle (Percentage, (n))
Women Men
Newspaper Up Down Straight Up Down Straight
The Gainesville Sun
3 (3)
1 (1)
95 (83)
3 (2)
21 (15)
76 (55)
The Florida Times Union
2 (1)
16 (10)
83 (52)
3 (2)
10 (6)
87 (52)
The New York Times
5 (17)
5 (18)
90 (314)
5 (20)
13 (49)
82 (315)
The Orlando Sentinel
0 (0)
99 (70)
1 (1)
5 (6)
11 (12)
84 (92)
The Tampa Tribune
5 (6)
1 (1)
94 (106)
1 (1)
9 (10)
90 (103)
Combined papers
4 (27)
5 (31)
92 (625)
4 (31)
12 (92)
83 (617)
Gender and motion
Studies of gender in print photos (especially photos of Olympic sports in magazines) might lead to the expectation that a higher percentage of women would be framed passively in Olympic sport photos, emphasizing sexual difference.
Overall, that was the case. (See Table 4.) Women were depicted as passive in a slightly higher percentage of photographs than were men in the combined sample. When individual papers are considered, however, just two papers framed more women as passive than men: The New York Times (30% of females were framed as passive, versus 22% of men) and The Orlando Sentinel (15% of women versus 12% of men).
It is important to remember that head and shoulders photos ("mug shots") were coded as "passive," and thus could be a factor, if more women than men were highlighted in mug shots.
Table 4: Gender and motion (Percentage, (n))
Women Men
Newspaper P A P A
The Gainesville Sun
20 (17)
80 (69)
26 (19)
74 (53)
The Florida Times Union
17 (11)
83 (52)
18 (11)
82 (49)
The New York Times
30 (106)
70 (243)
22 (86)
78 (299)
The Orlando Sentinel
15 (11)
85 (60)
12 (13)
88 (97)
The Tampa Tribune
7 (8)
93 (106)
8 (9)
92 (105)
Combined papers
22 (153)
78 (530)
19 (138)
81 (603)
Gender and Sport Type
As discussed in the literature review, media images have traditionally depicted women as excelling at individual sports - considered more "gender appropriate" for females. With the rise
in women's team sports in the United States (highlighted by the high-profile World Cup win by the women's soccer team in 1999), however, it should be expected that more females in team sports would find a place on sports pages.
That was found to be the case for this study; in fact, females in team sports were more likely to appear in an Olympic photo than were men. (See Table 5.) This is interesting in light of the fact that 2000 was the first year that women were able to participate in Olympic team sports in equal numbers as men (Longman, 2000). However, the higher overall percentages of women depicted in team sports might be explained by the medal count; U.S. women's teams received more medals than men during the Games (ESPN, 2000).
A look at individual regional papers, however, shows that three of the four stuck to traditional frames of male and female athletes. The New York Times and The Tampa Tribune were the only two papers that depicted a higher percentage (and number) of females in team sports; the large number of NYT photos was an influence on the entire sample.
For both men and women, athletes in individual sports were most likely to appear in Olympic photographs. This is likely because of the number of individual sports in the Summer Olympics: gymnastics, swimming, tennis, and track and field are a few of the high-profile sports during these Games. Approximately three-quarters of U.S. Olympians (male and female) participated in individual sports in Australia.
Table 5: Gender and Sport Type (Percentage, (n))
Women Men______
Newspaper Ind. Team None Ind. Team None
The Gainesville Sun
52 (45)
34 (29)
14 (12)
61 (44)
35 (25)
4 (3)
The Florida Times Union
68 (43)
25 (16)
6 (4)
57 (34)
40 (24)
3 (2)
The New York Times
64 (221)
34 (117)
2 (7)
72 (274)
25 (94)
3 (11)
The Orlando Sentinel
61 (43)
39 (28)
0(0)
55 (61)
45 (49)
0 (0)
The Tampa Tribune
61 (70)
38 (43)
1 (1)
64 (73)
34 (39)
2 (2)
Combined papers
62 (422)
34 (233)
4 (24)
66 (486)
31 (231)
2 (18)
Gender and Sport Category
Women and men compete in an equal number of Olympic sports that might be considered "aesthetic" (i.e., gymnastics, swimming and diving), with the exception of synchronized swimming, which added nine U.S. women to the "aesthetic sport" category. Sports that might be considered "strength" (gendered more "male appropriate"), such as boxing and wrestling, are generally only open to males. However, weightlifting is now open to women, and the 2000 U.S. Olympic wrestling team included more women than men (4:2).
Even so, on the U.S. Olympic team, more than twice as many female than male athletes competed in aesthetic categories, and almost three times as many men than women competed in the strength sports (Manter, 2001). Consequently, there is a reasonable expectation that more females than males would be depicted as participants in aesthetic sports, and more males in strength sports, because of the numbers of participants involved.
This was the case in the overall newspaper sample and for most individual newspapers. (See Table 6.) However, the difference between females and males depicted in aesthetic sports was just 4%, while the disparity was much higher for strength sports (10%). The relatively close
percentages of men and women depicted in aesthetic sports is encouraging because it suggests a rejection of the use of sport category depictions to suggest sexual difference. Also, one cannot expect depictions of women in "non-traditional" strength sports to move upward until more opportunities in that category are presented to female Olympians.
Table 6: Gender and Sport Category (Percentage)
Women_____ Men ________
Newspaper None Str. HR Aes. Neut. None Str. HR Aes. Neut.
G'ville
14
1
0
8
77
4
11
0
7
78
Times Union
5
6
0
17
71
2
28
2
2
67
NYT
1
11
0
20
66
3
20
1
12
64
Sentinel
0
4
1
4
92
0
11
1
14
75
Tampa
1
4
0
24
72
2
8
0
27
62
Combined
3
7
1
17
71
2
17
1
13
67
Gender and leadership
As discussed in the literature review, studies have found that leadership is one way that sexual difference is framed (Duncan & Sayaovong, 1990; Cuneen & Sidwell, 1998); women are generally depicted far less often than men in leadership roles such as coach or official. Of course, the reality is that fewer women than men are afforded such roles; before the mid-1990s, Olympic teams were almost never coached by women (Schell & Rodriguez, 2000). However, a growing
numbers of women's Olympic teams are coached by women, providing opportunities for visual reflection of this trend. While the numbers of women leaders are still in sore need of improvement, examples of U.S. teams coached almost exclusively by women in Australia
include women's track and field, basketball, fencing and tennis teams; both male and female triathletes were coached by a woman. Women are also rising in profile officiating roles in international sporting events, such as soccer. As alluded to earlier, women have reached new Olympic leadership stature in the U.S., with election of the first woman to lead the USOC (Michaelis, 2000).
The newspaper sample for this study depicted far more men in leadership roles than women, perhaps mirroring reality, but also continuing depictions that reinforce sexual difference on leadership terms. (See Table 7.) The two papers with the most encouraging (smallest) gap in male/female leadership depictions were The Florida Times Union and The Tampa Tribune; in each, women were depicted in 33% of the leadership roles.
Table 7: Gender and Leadership (Percentage, (n))
Newspaper Female ldrs Male ldrs
The Gainesville Sun
0 (0)
100 (1)
The Florida Times Union
33 (1)
67 (2)
The New York Times
20 (1)
80 (4)
The Orlando Sentinel
0 (0)
100 (6)
The Tampa Tribune
33 (2)
67 (4)
Combined papers
15 (3)
85 (17)
Conclusions
Kinnick's (1998) study of the 1996 Olympics seemed to indicate that newspaper portrayals of female Olympians were moving in a positive direction. This research found even more positive results for the 2000 Olympics. As the number of women athletes competing in the Sydney Games increased, there were more women to photograph, and editors of the newspapers in this study chose to put those photos on the sports pages.
As stated earlier, this research examined the gendered nature of newspaper Olympic sports photographs in two ways: by comparing the photos to the reality of the Games and by critically evaluating the framing of photographs, for evidence of sexual difference.
Portraying the reality of the Games
Only one paper, The Orlando Sentinel, portrayed a lower percentage of females than was actuality in the Olympic Games; the rest of the papers (and the entire sample combined) actually reflected a slightly higher percentage of females than was the case. The same was true for the use of dominant photos when compared to medal winnings; females received a fair percentage of dominant photos. Measurement of other variables also reflected use of photos that provided a fair representation of the reality of gendered Olympic competition: females were depicted more often than men in team sports, reflecting the fact that the U.S. women competed in as many team sports as their male counterparts, and actually won more medals (meriting a higher percentage of team photos, perhaps); and women were depicted more often as competitors in aesthetic sports while men were depicted more often as strength competitors. While these depictions may further the notion of sexual difference on the sports pages
(see below), the fact is, they did represent the reality of competition in Sydney. As for leadership, it is difficult to assess whether portrayal of leadership roles as 15% female and 85% male are accurate, for lack of a definitive percentage of male and female leadership roles at the Games. If one were to compare these numbers to those for the U.S. Olympic team, however, they seem to come up slightly short, considering the increased number of female coaches on the 2000 U.S. roster (Manter, 2001).
But overall, it is difficult to deny that the papers in this study did a good job of reflecting the gendered reality of the Games. Of course, it was in their best interest to do so. The Olympics is the one major international sporting event where women and men compete side-by-side; it provides an easy opportunity every two years for sports editors to discard the standard sports section fare of men playing football, men playing basketball, men playing baseball, men boxing, men wrestling and men bowling, to reflect the reality of women as athletes. One hopes that this trend would sneak its way into year-round sports coverage, which is overwhelmingly dominated by images of men. Perhaps sports editors and publishers should think about the numbers of female viewers, drawn by the prospect of seeing their counterparts in sport, that tune in to Olympic sports coverage. Those numbers could translate to year-round sports media consumption.
Portraying sexual difference
This study also coded variables designed to examine whether newspaper photos perpetuated sexual difference - the notion that males as more powerful (politically, socially and physically) is natural, not socially constructed. Results were mixed:
ù A greater proportion of dominant photos were of men, which can be construed as forwarding the notion of men as "naturally" more prominent. This was true for almost every paper and for the combined data. The only justification for this is perhaps the fact that more U.S. men than women actually won medals in Sydney, so perhaps this merited the higher percentage of dominant photos, if this indeed was the reasoning used by sports page editors.
ù Camera angles were not used to convey sexual differences in regard to power. Overall, more women were shot with the straight-on (neutral) camera angle; a lower percentage of women appeared in "down-angle" photos than men. Thus, camera angle was not a variable used by decision-makers to convey sexual difference.
ù Women appeared as "passive" in a slightly higher percentage of photos than did men in the overall sample, an indicator for portrayal of sexual difference. However, because only two individual papers actually framed more women than men in passive roles (bringing up the percentage in an overall sample that was likely even in this category), the results for this variable cannot fairly be said to definitively portray sexual difference.
ù The portrayal of women as more likely to participate and excel at "aesthetic" sports, however, was definitive, thus furthering the notion of women as naturally more apt toward sports that emphasize beauty and grace as primary criteria. Meanwhile, men were more often portrayed in sports that emphasized strength, another stereotype that emphasizes sexual difference. However, it must be remembered that while these portrayals reflected sexual difference, they also reflect the reality of the Games, where more women compete in aesthetic sports and more men compete in strength sports.
ù Another indicator of sexual difference, men portrayed as more suited for team sports, and women as more apt toward individual sports, was not supported by the data. In fact, the overall sample showed that women were more likely to be depicted in a team sport than men, reversing this stereotype
ù Men were overwhelmingly more often portrayed in sports leadership roles, furthering the notion of sexual difference, that men are "better suited" for leadership than women. Again, however, one could point to the reality of the Games as perpetuating notions of sexual difference, more than the mediation of the Games.
Further discussion
When one compares whether the photos in this sample accurately portrayed the reality of the Games, and whether the photos in this sample also perpetuated sexual difference, one simple fact is crystallized: when newspaper sports photos accurately portray the reality of the Games, they cannot help but also emphasize sexual difference, because sexual difference is embedded in the reality of the Olympic Games. For instance, women will continue to be portrayed as more suited for "aesthetic" sports, and less suited for leadership, as long as the Olympics dictates that. We cannot expect completely "gender equitable" coverage of an event that itself is not gender equitable, and we cannot expect to see the stereotypes entwined with sexual difference disappear in "realistic" mediated coverage of an event that itself perpetuates gender difference.
The answer, of course, is just as simple: There must be progress in the reality of gendered potential in the Olympic Games. That means more doors opening for women, so that the Olympics can truly become equitable in the numbers of women who participate, the types of events offered to them, and the leadership opportunities afforded to them. Until that happens, one cannot expect the news media to do more than reflect the gendered inequity bound up in the Olympic Games.
Future research
This is one of the first analyses of print coverage of the 2000 Olympics; obviously, similar studies should be done to ascertain how women and men athletes were framed in sport magazines and by broadcast media (primarily NBC). Studies should examine whether the mediate coverage reflected the reality of the Games, and how that coverage resisted or reflected the notions of sexual difference embedded in the Olympics.
However, as one author points out, while media coverage of the Olympics has steadily (but slowly) improved over the decades, how the media frames female athletes on a week-by-week and month-by-month basis is the true test (Tuggle & Owen, 1999). Thus, it is imperative that researchers continue to hold sports media (newspapers, magazines and broadcasters) accountable for what they do year-round. The Olympics provides a convenient, packaged event to analyze - but the truth is that it has little overall impact on gender attitudes when compared to the 206 weeks during the 4-year Olympic cycle when no summer Olympics games are held. The same type of study - pairing a look at how coverage meshes with reality, and how that same sports coverage might perpetuate sexual difference, could yield dramatically different results than were obtained in this study. The reality is that many women, every day, compete in sports that never make it to the sports pages. While sports leaders should work to make the Olympics a more gender-equitable event, the sports media should concentrate on making sports coverage as realistic year-round as it is during the Games.
References
Acosta. R.V. & Carpenter, L.J. (1994). The Status of Women in Intercollegiate Athletics. In S. Birrell & C.L. Cole (eds.). Women, Sports and Culture. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, 111-118.
Bellamy, R.V. (1989). Professional Sports Organizations: Media Strategies. In I.A. Werner (ed.). Media, Sports, and Society. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications, 141-162.
Birrell, S. & Theberge, N. (1994). Ideological Control of Women in sport. In M. Costa & S. Guthrie (eds.). Women and Sport: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, 314-357.
Boutilier, M.A. & SanGiovanni, L. (1983). The Sporting Woman. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics.
Brown, D. (1996, September 28). Expanding Coverage of Women's Sports Makes Sense. Editor & Publisher, 129(39): 48.
Bryant, L. (1980). A Two Year Selective Investigation of the Female in Sport as Reported in the Paper Media. Arena Review. 4(2): 32-44.
Cuneen, J. & Sidwell, M.J. (1998). Gender Portrayals in Sports Illustrated for Kids advertisements: A Content Analysis of prominent and Supporting Models. Journal of Sport Management. 12: 39-50.
Daddario, Gina (1992). Chilly Scenes of the 1992 Winter Games: The Mass Media and the Marginalization of Female Athletes. Sociology of Sport Journal. 11: 275-288.
Dunn, Margaret Carlisle (1990). Sports Photography and Sexual Difference: Images of Women and Men in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games. Sociology of Sport Journal, 7: 22-43.
Duncan, Margaret Carlisle and Messner, Michael A. (1998). The Media Image of Sport and Gender.
Duncan, Messner & Williams (1992).
Eastman & Billings (1999).
Flatten & Matheson (1996).
Greendorfer (1994).
Harris (2000).
Hilliard, Dan C. (1984). Media Images of Male and Female Professional Athletes: An Interpretive Analysis of Magazine articles. Sociology of Sport Journal, 1:251-262.
Jones, Merrell & Jackson (1999).
Kane, Mary Jo (1996). Media Coverage of the Post Title IX Female Athlete: A Feminist Analysis of Sport, Gender, and Power. Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy. 3(1): 105-117.
Kinnick, Katherine N. (1998). Bias in Newspaper Profiles of 1996 Olympic Athletes: A Content Analysis of Five Major Dailies. Women's Studies in Communication, 21(2): 212-237.
Lont, C.M. (1995). Women, Men and Media: Content, Careers, and Criticism. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth.
McCallum, J. & O'Brien, R. (1996). Women's Games. Sports Illustrated. 85(7): 17.
Manter (2001).
Matson (2000).
Mermigas (2000).
Michaelis (2000).
Miner, J.M. (1993). Women in Sport: A Reflection of the Greater Society? The Journal of health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. 64(3): 44-48.
Moss (2000).
National Federation of High School Associations (1999).
Phillips (1996)
Policinski (1998)
Reid, L.N. & Soley. L.C. (1979). Sports Illustrated Coverage ofWomen in Sports. Journalism Quarterly. 56(4): 861-863.
Reuters (1999).
Rintala, J. & Birrell, S. (1984). Fair Treatment for the Active Female: A Content Analysis of Young Athlete Magazine. Sociology of Sport Journal. 1(3): 36-48.
Rowe, David (1999). Framed and Mounted: Sport through the Photographic Eye, Sport, Culture and the Media. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Ryan, L.T. (1994, February 20). Swimsuit Models or Victim Stories, Who will Cover for Me? New York times, Section 8, 1.
Sage, G.H. (1990). Power and Ideology in American Sport: A Critical Perspective. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics.
Schell, F. & Rodriguez (2000).
Tuggle & Owen (1999).
Wanta, Wayne and Leggett, Dawn (1989). Gender Stereotypes in Wire Service Sports Photos. Newspaper Research Journal, 10: 2, 105 - 114.
Women's Sports Foundation (1997). Images and Words: Protecting Your Image, Respecting Her Image. Panel discussion at the Summit '97 (Women's Sports Foundation National Conference, Bloomington, Ill.).
Women's Studies International Forum (1994).
Woodcock (1995).
Zaglin, R. (1996). The Girls of Summer. Who Needs the Dream Team? American's Female Squads Were the Games' Hottest Acts. Time, 143(8): 49-50.