NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... schools are known to put up their football teams in nice hotels before home games, two to a room, while women are bunked four to a room while out of town (Tarkan 27). Football players daily food allowances can average $ 25 for dinner and $ 15 for breakfast, while women receive only an $ 11 total daily allowance. Another luxury of being a college football player is the mode of transportation. While female sports and most male sports rely on busses and vans, the football team is flying. Football games also tend to draw the biggest crowds.
For example, at the University of Iowa, home football games can bring in crowds in excess of seventy thousand screaming football fans. The big public response that football receives only causes the sport to grow. ABC's sports commentator, Keith Jackson states, " I don't care for it. There's too much emphasis on one game at the expense of others. " Football dominates the airwaves during the season with sometimes three or four college games shown each weekend. Football is a big cause in the sexual discrimination problem that exists in sports today, but it's not the only cause. Another cause for sexual discrimination in sports is the television and other forms of media.
As I stated earlier, football games are shown every weekend during the season with hardly any counter balance of women's games shown. The two teams that played in the Fiesta Bowl split $ 17 million which is about $ 500, 000 more than any other bowl game (Kirkpatrick 82). Basketball season, with numerous games shown every weekend, follows the football season. Even with women's basketball getting some television time, it still doesn't compare to the amount of air time men's basketball gets. During the NCAA championship, ESPN shows men's basketball for nine straight days.
CBS broadcasts nearly 66 hours of championship basketball over a 19 day span (Chad 23). This is compared to the one full day allowed for women's NCAA championship basketball (Baker 38). Other sports that are aired by CBS are the College World Series, the NCAA outdoor track and field championship, and NCAA women's gymnastics. The big time sports, football and basketball, bring in the biggest sponsors which is how a television network makes its money. Temple University spent $ 500, 000 on advertising it's men's sports teams while only spending $ 945 total for women's advertising (Bedell 5 B). The money a team receives to be on television also adds to the budget differences between men's and women's sports.
Tradition also plays a role in the cause of sexual discrimination in sports. For years, male sporting events have been very exciting and popular. Today, with men generally controlling what is shown on television, male spectator sports still reign (Nelson 78). Male sports are what people grew up watching and appreciating. The excitement that comes in watching these competitions has kept them popular.
As women's sports grow, it is hard for people to change their ways and switch over to watch field hockey or volleyball instead of the high intensity game of football. As exciting as these sports may be, people are not always so open to change. Tradition can be a very strong cause to sexual discrimination in sports. These causes; football, television, and tradition, all lead to sexual discrimination in sports. Now that the causes have been identified, it is now possible to start thinking of solution that will help the situation improve. Solutions to this problem of sexual discrimination in sports do exist.
Limiting football spending, offering more scholarships for women, and adding more women's sports programs are all possible solutions to this problem. As stated earlier, football is a major contributor to the problem of sexual inequality in sports. Limiting the amount of money spent on football would free up a lot of money for other sports. If there was a national limit on the number of football scholarships allowed, this would ensure that no one team would have an advantage over another. The limiting of scholarships would free up money to a school's athletic program as well as bring the overall number of scholarships closer to the number given to female athletes. If the number of football players is reduced, this would also free up lots of money that would have been spent on helmets, uniforms, expensive knee surgeries, food, and assistant coaches.
It would also mean fewer tutors and counselors, because of the large number of academically deficient athletes football tends to include (Fairly C 2). According to NCAA president Judy Sweet, "If you took football totally out of the mix, the number of scholarships for men and women would be equal-maybe even more for women. " An argument to this situation is that football programs bring in lots of revenue that goes to help athletic programs. This is not necessarily true. Nearly 80 % of all football teams lose money (Burk 93).
There are too many players on football teams and these excess players use up money. Limiting the football budget and distributing the money elsewhere is a good solution, but it has it's disadvantages as well. Another possible solution to the problem is to offer the same number of scholarships to male athletes and female athletes. As stated earlier, men receive more than double the amount of scholarship money than women. Doing this would be a big step towards equality between men's and women's sports. This solution also has a disadvantage, the cost.
Scholarships cost money and adding scholarships gets to be rather expensive. This would be a good solution, if not Another possible solution is to add more women's teams to a school's athletic program. This would be a good solution since most schools offer more men's sports than women's sports. In the Big Ten Conference, they voted to bring intercollegiate sports to a two to three ratio of women to men (Moline 18). Since 1992, over 800 athletic teams for women have been added to colleges across the country (Tarkan 26). This has helped in closing the gap between the number of men's and women's sports teams offered.
However, this is not a solution without drawbacks. In order to bring this ratio closer, men's teams would have to be cut or additional funding would have to come from somewhere else. In Illinois, a bill is being passed that would allow colleges to receive more funding for athletics (Tarkan 26). This would allow more women's teams to be added without hurting men's teams. This is a good start, but in most states funding for this solution makes it less attractive.
Overall, money seems to be the biggest problem when it comes to a good solution to the problem of sexual discrimination in sports. The solutions of cutting back at football funding, giving equal number of scholarships, and adding women's teams, all have their drawbacks. It seems that none of these solutions alone will solve the problem. I think a combination of all of these solutions is the best solution to this problem. Lack of money was the drawback to the solutions of adding scholarships and more sports for women. These solutions are good, but a source of money is needed to allow these to be practical solutions.
The money for these solutions could come from football. Football has far more money budgeted than any other sport at a college. As I stated earlier football doesn't necessarily make money and therefore they shouldn't need to spend as much as they do. If football funding helped subsidize new women's teams, it would allow more women's teams to be created.
This would help bring the number of men's and women's sports to a closer ratio, as well as bring the participation of male and female athletes to a closer proportion. If football programs were limited to a smaller number of scholarships, those extra scholarships could be distributed to female athletes in order to equalize up the number of scholarships given to male and female This combination of cutting back at football funding and adding more scholarships and sports for women seems to be the best solution to the problem of sexual discrimination in sports. Even though this may not make things totally equal, it does make things better. Hopefully, someday men and women will be considered equals in all aspects of life, including sports. Until then, we must do our best to be as fair as possible. Bibliography:
Free research essays on topics related to: stated earlier, men and women, male and female, sexual discrimination, solution to the problem
Research essay sample on Men And Women Male And Female
