Week 7: Female Sports Journalists

Hardin and Shain’s article on female sports journalists focuses on whether they have the acceptance of their peers and their viewership. Without this acceptance and a positive working environment, some women are questioning if the job is worth the sacrifices they have made in their personal lives. A survey cited in the article says that just 11 percent of the employees in a sports department are women. The article also says that the average career in sports journalism for women is 10 years, and that almost none reach management positions. In the big picture, 10 years is a very limited amount of time in which women see their sports media careers fizzle out. Especially considering many years could be spent in lower level positions working the way up the ladder.

A major problem the article addresses is the sexual harassment women face when working in sports media. There’s a dangerous understanding shown in a 1995 survey that female journalists should “expect” to be harassed on the job, which is truly disgusting. However, I know there are women who still accept this behavior today because they do not want to risk their careers which I understand. In a lot of ways, I think the success and longevity of a woman’s career in sports media is based on her appearance just as much as her knowledge and understanding of sports. Mostly in broadcasting, I notice that oftentimes there is the token woman who is on the panel or doing colorful reporting from the sidelines who is just there to look good for all the men watching and to fill a quota.

Considering the first female reporter entered a male-athletic locker room just over 35 years ago, it’s not surprising that women still can face problems, although I imagine it still happens more often than is reported. Just last season in the NHL, Hockey Night in Canada  host, Don Cherry said on air that women should not be allowed in the locker rooms because, I guess Cherry still thinks it is 1970s. This comment was in response to an incident that occurred in the Chicago Blackhawks post game interviews when a female reporter asked defenseman Duncan Keith a question he did not particularly like and made some comments to her that were seen as sexist. This shows that there are still hard headed idiots out there who have little respect for what women in sports journalism try to do, despite it already being very difficult to even get to the point in their careers when they’re granted locker room access.

In addition to the sexual harassment threats, lack of respect, and glass ceiling keeping women from moving up, it’s more the sacrifices that beat writers, especially make to do their jobs. It’s the family and life sacrifices that cause women to think about leaving the business.