Gender Inequality In Sports

[Lobo50Fan]

Hello all!

I am writing a paper in my Sociology course, Culture and Diversity, on gender inequality with a focus on gender inequality in sports. I've created a questionnaire that I'm using to get a lot of my data for this paper and was hoping you all can help me out if interested. The questionnaire won't take too long to complete and any responses would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a link to the questionnaire: Gender Inequality in Sports

Thank you all in advance!

Katie

 

[OldAlum]

I am having a bit of a hard time with the vague nature of some of the questions. "Face inequality" in any way? In pay and pro opportunities that are in large part a function of the market? Or inequality in opportunities in college, facilities, etc? And then the "Men are more capable". Is stronger, able to jump higher, etc "more capable"?

 

[Lobo50Fan]

I am having a bit of a hard time with the vague nature of some of the questions. "Face inequality" in any way? In pay and pro opportunities that are in large part a function of the market? Or inequality in opportunities in college, facilities, etc? And then the "Men are more capable". Is stronger, able to jump higher, etc "more capable"?

I wanted to keep them fairly vague and a bit broad on purpose. The inequality would cover pay, opportunities, endorsements, media coverage, covering both college and professional sports. I was hoping to be able to include all of that in the questions and still keep the number of questions down.
I've seen many threads on general sports boards, articles, blogs, comments all talking about how inferior the women's game is (in any sport) and how the WNBA for instance is used as the butt of jokes. There have been many times where I've seen people talk about the showy nature of the men's game and how often dunks are glamorized while they always comment on how the women's game at least has good fundamentals (which we all know is something that UConn teams master and make look amazing) as if it were something bad or something that made the game more boring.
In that way, that was what I imagined with the "men are more capable" question. Able to jump higher and dunk, the perception that they are stronger, will always be better or superior. Much of this comes from society as a whole, the perception that women are inferior to men. That has thankfully changed quite a bit, but it is still present unfortunately.

 

[Husky25]

I am having a bit of a hard time with the vague nature of some of the questions. "Face inequality" in any way? In pay and pro opportunities that are in large part a function of the market? Or inequality in opportunities in college, facilities, etc? And then the "Men are more capable". Is stronger, able to jump higher, etc "more capable"?

As primarily a Men's sports fan, I feel I'm in the same boat.

The biggest issue I've seen with regard to women's sports is with "fair (read: equal)" compensation across gender lines, but take the NBA/WNBA for example. Advertisers and Networks are only willing to pay what will make them money in the long run. The WNBA just does not have the following that the NBA has. So I don't see how a Sue Bird can command a similar rate as Tony Parker, when the money is not available for that particular product.

In terms of opportunity, is there not mostly a women's compliment for every men's league? I don't necessarily see that as a significant issue.

 

[CocoHusky]

Done. Good luck with the paper.

 

[meyers7]

Done.

 

[CTrefugee]

I wanted to keep them fairly vague and a bit broad on purpose. The inequality would cover pay, opportunities, endorsements, media coverage, covering both college and professional sports. I was hoping to be able to include all of that in the questions and still keep the number of questions down.
I've seen many threads on general sports boards, articles, blogs, comments all talking about how inferior the women's game is (in any sport) and how the WNBA for instance is used as the butt of jokes. There have been many times where I've seen people talk about the showy nature of the men's game and how often dunks are glamorized while they always comment on how the women's game at least has good fundamentals (which we all know is something that UConn teams master and make look amazing) as if it were something bad or something that made the game more boring.
In that way, that was what I imagined with the "men are more capable" question. Able to jump higher and dunk, the perception that they are stronger, will always be better or superior. Much of this comes from society as a whole, the perception that women are inferior to men. That has thankfully changed quite a bit, but it is still present unfortunately.

Kool-aid

 

[Wally East]

As primarily a Men's sports fan, I feel I'm in the same boat.

The biggest issue I've seen with regard to women's sports is with "fair (read: equal)" compensation across gender lines, but take the NBA/WNBA for example. Advertisers and Networks are only willing to pay what will make them money in the long run. The WNBA just does not have the following that the NBA has. So I don't see how a Sue Bird can command a similar rate as Tony Parker, when the money is not available for that particular product.

The situation regarding the two US National soccer teams would fit this.

 

[Wally East]

Kool-aid

You know that almost a thousand people died drinking the poisoned Kool-Aid, right?

 

[OldAlum]

Well, I did my best with it.

What is your thesis? It seems the way you are using "inequity" may affect your results. There may be inequities that are not due to gender or race bias. American male professional soccer players are not paid what NBA players receive. Many times it is economics.

And are you interested primarily in the opinions of UConn Women's Basketball fans? Because that is the skewed sample you will get here!

 

[Husky25]

The situation regarding the two US National soccer teams would fit this.

The irony is that I really, really like watching the USWNT. Certainly as much as watching the men. However, Men's Soccer is far more popular around the world, which is where the money comes from. The Average MLS salary is about $140,000. Alex Morgan makes 3x that.

 

[Lobo50Fan]

Well, I did my best with it.

What is your thesis? It seems the way you are using "inequity" may affect your results. There may be inequities that are not due to gender or race bias. American male professional soccer players are not paid what NBA players receive. Many times it is economics.

And are you interested primarily in the opinions of UConn Women's Basketball fans? Because that is the skewed sample you will get here!

My main focus, not part of the survey, is society's views of gender roles and gender stereotypes that then carry over into sports. There are definitely many inequalities in sports, but since my paper is mostly based on gender that's where the questions are focused. It's something I've seen quite a bit over the years watching sports in general. That along with Stewie's speech at the ESPYs and Sue and Lauren talking about it in an interview they did when Lauren was back in Seattle brought it back into the conversation (for a while anyway) and the timing was perfect.
I do appreciate any input. The best is all I could ask for. I have sent/posted the link to this survey to many groups, social media, message boards so it'll be a very large sample hopefully! Thank you all for responding and taking this survey!