Sports have been a male dominated field ever since they became a form of entertainment. Women’s sports have never been as relevant, nor have they been as highlighted.
The first televised women’s sports game was in 1975, while men’s had been streaming since 1939. Society will always be seen as inferior to men in the sports world, because it’s an internalized sexism we cannot remove.
However, something that has become more relevant for women recently is sports media.
When you think of women in sports media, you most likely imagine the dolled up reporters who interview players postgame, and report on how the game is going.
But there are a lot of other jobs in sports media that go on behind the scenes.
Editors, photographers, journalists, and more are all jobs that are needed to perfect the streaming, and social media of sports teams.
Women have recently proven their ability to compete in this field, and be a very impactful asset to teams.
On social media platforms, I often see women posting about their day to day lives as NFL photographers, working for NFL media teams. One thing I noticed about women in this field is that we obtain a certain level of creativity that helps make social media posts that are different and new.
A lot of these women are just doing the things they love, but don’t understand the impact they’re making.
As a woman who grew up with brothers who are very sports oriented, I too became very interested in sports. I never knew that there was a possibility that women could have such an impact on a sport like men’s football.
After researching more, I learned that a lot of women also have interest in sports that are male dominated, but are still making an impact. It’s refreshing to know that although women might not be able to compete in sports that don’t offer a women’s league, there are still ways to be involved.
Women in the sports media are creating diversity that inspires many other women and helps them realize that there is still a way to be a part of something that has been male dominated for so long.
Women working in sports media still face a lot of challenges with criticism, not only at work but also on social media.
For most female reporters, it’s very difficult to do their jobs without being sexualized or judged by men on social media platforms. Even though they are there for their knowledge about the game, and are just trying to do a job that they enjoy, there will always be people judging them on other irrelevant factors.
There is still such a long way we have to go for equal treatment with women in sports. And treating women with respect instead of seeing them as objects, is still something society struggles with, especially in sports media.
Overall, more and more women are making differences in sports by the day, and the differences they’ve already made are still worth celebrating.