Thanks to Title IX, more women are playing sports than ever before—so why is coverage of women’s sports actually declining? Especially when you look to the strides women are making, and the amazing presence of young athletes like Mo’ne Davis?
Over the past 40 years we’ve made incredible headway in women’s access to sports. Case in point, before Title IX was passed in 1971 about two in every 50 girls took part in high-school sports. By 2012 the numbers were about two out of every five.
Development programs and talent is high. The U.S. has professional women’s basketball, golf, soccer, and even football leagues. Yet, according to a study by the Center for Feminist Research at the University of Southern California in 2010, coverage of women’s sports on national television has declined to 1.6 percent of total airtime.
Does that mean that as more women play sports, the less important they become?
Sports media is powerful. It doesn’t just respond to our desires as sports consumers, it helps create our demands. With this current decline, how can we think of women’s sports as anything other than amateur if they’re given minor league attention?
It’s simple, we speak with our dollars, we lend our support to the outlets actually supporting and empowering women, and we shut out those that are dismissive. Sports media isn’t waiting for us to get interested in women’s sports, it’s creating our apathy. That is something we need to change.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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