Throughout human history, women have been treated as the lesser gender. This mistreatment is present even in the world of sports, where female athletes face challenges that male athletes have never seen.
Female athletes face a double standard in which they are expected to be feminine, which doesn’t coincide with being an athlete. So female athletes have to balance abiding by society’s norms, while also thriving in a stereotypically masculine activity.
When girls aren’t as feminine as society thinks they should be, they often have to deal with backlash and hurtful comments. When they become too “masculine,” they aren’t seen as real women, and when they are too feminine they aren’t seen as real athletes.
Women in sports also deal with limited media exposure compared to their male counterparts. While men’s sports leagues receive coverage, women’s sports receive slim to none.
A study that USC conducted in collaboration with Purdue discussed in an article titled “News media still pressing the mute button on women’s sports” found that “eighty percent of the news and highlights programs … devoted zero time for women’s sports.” A professor involved in the study followed up by saying that on the occasion that a broadcast does mention women’s sports, it is often mentioned once and overshadowed by men’s sports.
Although women are working just as hard in their respective sports, the media does not showcase them. The media chooses to highlight the male athletes and show their achievements leaving women in the shadows. This lack of media attention exacerbates the struggle that female athletes have when it comes to making money.
In 2024, Caitlin Clark signed a four-year rookie contract for $338,056 with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. The year prior, Victor Wembanyama signed a four-year contract for $55 million as a rookie with the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. Although both were the first overall pick in their respective leagues, Clark earns a fraction of what Wembanyama makes. This massive pay inequality is common across sports. However, the issue doesn’t end with just salary.
In an interview with The Residency Podcast, WNBA star Kelsey Plum shared that WNBA players want a better percentage of revenue shared. She identified that male players get money from jersey sales and TV contracts (when their games are played on TV). When the owners in the NBA make money, the players make money. Nevertheless, this still isn’t the case in the WNBA.
Plum stated, “they sell my jersey in Mandalay Bay, I don’t get a dime.” WNBA stars also don’t get paid for the likeness the way men do. This only widens the gap between the two genders in terms of money made from the sport. Once again, this gap can be attributed to a lack of media coverage.
The media plays a big part in the world of sports, yet, they’re not doing enough for women’s sports. Fortunately, there is a rise in stardom for female athletes such as Juju Watkins and Paige Bueckers, but this is just the beginning. There needs to be more stars like Watkins and Bueckers for female athletes to level the playing field with the male athletes, and it all starts with the media.
