Women’s sports are not covered like men’s sports are. Most women’s sports are put second to men’s except for the Olympics. A lot of women can be degraded in their interviews or can be asked questions that do not even pertain to their sport. The Guardian reported that The Chicago Tribune announced Corey Cogdell-Unrein’s, American trap shooter, win with the headline “Wife of a Bears’ lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics”. This headline that was used does not even mention Cogdell-Unrein’s name, just her husbands. A lot of the time women are brushed under the table if they are married to a successful athlete.
I think that women need to be treated the same as men in the sports world. There are some amazing women athletes in this world and they need to be recognized. Reporters need to be cautious, especially men reporters, about going off topic from the sport and focusing on the woman’s appearance. Also, instead reporters need to be conscientious and make sure they say women/woman instead of girls when speaking about women’s sports.
Reporters have also made mistakes when talking to men athletes. They could be talking about an Olympic game and ask how the player feels about losing to or beating a team for the first time but a woman could have already been first place in the US and have kept this record. As this athlete pointed out the reporter completely disregarded the thought of the women’s side of the same sport. It is refreshing to see a male athlete make sure the women are taken into consideration just as much he and the men’s side of the same sport.
When I was in high school playing sports competitively it was always hard when you did not have as many people in the stands because there was a boys team playing on the same day. I think people need to give women’s sports more credit because they can be just as intense and entertaining as a men’s game.
StevieTurski 