A record 27 games of the NCAA women's basketball tournament were shown on television this season. Unfortunately, sport sociologist Margaret Duncan said Monday, the quality of media coverage of female athletes has not followed that growth. Duncan, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, spoke to almost 100 people at the Weisman Art Museum about the image and stereotypes of female athletes in the media. I do feel encouraged by the increased coverage. Now we need to work on actual narrative strategies.
People can change.
A lot of it has to do with educating people. But one of issues in sports journalism is that they live in the same society as everyone else. We live in a culture that has very sexist beliefs. A 1994 study co-authored by Duncan found that the quality of commentary, graphics and technical work on NCAA women's basketball tournament games was inferior to men's games. Also, women's tournament games were not promoted well, while men's games were advertised during women's games.