Scrapbook Item 10: Gender and Sport: How Equitable are Opportunites for Women in Sport

Here is a link to the related article on the topic: http://www.wnba.com/news/2011_draft_espn.html.

The topic of equitable treatment in women's sports was discussed in class on April 12, 2011, and also in the book on pages 232-240.  This article states that the WNBA will have their draft televised once again for the 2011 season, and it will be from the campus of ESPN.  The problem is that the draft will be on at 3 pm on a Monday afternoon.  This gives no one a chance to watch the draft since most people are either at work or school at this time.  If this were to happen with the NBA draft, there would be sever backlash from millions, but since it is the WNBA no one puts up a fight.  Equality has to exist in all aspects of sport, not just on the playing field, and if ESPN is willing to have the draft on site why can't they have it in prime time.  The existence alone of this league over the last 15 years shows the progress women's sports has made.  As a country we have come a long way since the times we talked about in class when women could not even compete, or no one thought they were equal to men, but there still is a long way to go.

The WNBA and other women's professional and amateur leagues may not even be in existence today if it were not for government legislation.  In Coakley's text on page 232, he says that the new opportunities for women's sports have been fueled by this legislation, and without it women's sports still may not exist.  Coakley lists other reasons on page 233, citing the health and fitness movement, women's rights movement, and also increased media coverage as factors of increased participation.  The participation may have increased, but women's sports still do not receive equitable treatment.  The WNBA draft as mentioned before is not in prime time, while the NFL draft will take up three days of evening programming.   Also the best WNBA players barely make 100,000 a year, while average NBA players are making five million dollars.  The salaries have to do with the popularity of the sport, but the media needs to do a better job with women's sports leagues.  It all starts with the media.  Women's teams and leagues will never by popular if the games are never on for us to see.

Recent WNBA top draft pick Maya Moore.