Sport, Gender and Media: the Media Representation of Male and Female Athletes

Analysis on the media representation of male and female athletes has been a popular field of study among sport sociologists. In gender studies, the issue of sport and gender appeared on the agenda relatively late, however, the complete intertwining of mass communication and competitive sport has opened a new dimension on this field; more and more professionals have made attempts to demonstrate the differences in quality and quantity, regarding the representation of male and female sports, with the help of analyzing the content of electronic and written media products. Research results clearly indicate that here, similarly to other fields of social life, women are at a disadvantage. Their representation falls behind that of men not only in quality, but in quantity as well, which can have great influence on the public opinion about the sport of the two genders. The article presents the results of the author's PhD research, which used content analysis of the sport press based on gender, and furthermore, to explore the attitudes of top female athletes, readers and sport journalists. According to the conclusions of the study, the characteristics of gender representation are parallel to international trends; female sport is significantly under-represented in the press. Both in the case of female athletes and the readers it is true that they judge the representation of the two genders to be fairly proportionate, however, according to sport journalists, in a sports media based on financial interests, women have no opportunity for equality.