Are Female Swimmers Underrepresented?

There has not been a time where female athletes have achieved equal representation in the sports world. Swimming in particular is plagued with underrepresentation. It is evident in the media, classifying times, restriction in the events they can participate in, inequality in science research, sexualization in print media and fewer scholarship opportunities. As a swimmer myself, I have experienced all of these obstacles. It is difficult to fulfill my dreams in a world dominated by men.

1. Classifying Times

USA Swimming / Via usaswimming.org

Classifying times for women and men are completely different. In a male-dominated society, men are viewed as superior to women in sports and therefore have more rigorous qualifying times in comparison to women. In an article by Dr. Eric Anthony Grollman, he mentions the gold medalist from South Africa, Semenya, whose times were 'too good to be true'. In other words, her times raised suspicions about her sex and her gender. Time standards are different for men and women in official sporting events. Official sports committees have not changed times or improved the women times because as said by Grollman, there is an assumption that "…masculinity equals athleticism, and, since women are thought of as feminine, they should be worse at sports than men.", this leads to females having slower time requirements compared to men. In a chart I found in an article by Robinson Meyer, you could see the dramatic difference between men and women's classifying times in swimming events. Statistically speaking, Meyer says that women's performances linger about 90 percent of men's performances. According to the records during Johnson's administration in 1968, women and men were equally as fast in freestyle events. Centuries after, men took over the sports field with their increasingly fast-paced improvements. But, women have shown to have improved much more than men have and are typically better at long races. So, why are women times for endurance events much slower than men?

Sherry, Emma, Angela Osborne, and Matthew Nicholson. "Images of Sports Women: A Review." Sex Roles 74.7 (2016): 299-309. Springer Link. 29 May 2015. Web. 22 July 2016.

2. Media

Google Images / Via google.com

Female sporting event coverage by the media has increased over time. The quality and quantity have dramatically improved since the early 1900's ,but the gap between female and male sporting event coverages still exist. In Images of Sports Women: A Review, Emma Sherry discusses how the Bernstein conceptual study assessed the changes of media coverage in female sporting events. Although women's events have increased in audience and coverage, there is still a tremendous gap between men and female sporting events. Sherry explains that even though women events have become more visualized through the sports media, it was still "strongly gendered" (p.426). She also claims that, "it is clear that women's sport and men's sport receive different treatment by the media; through 'complex sexualising strategies'". To further support my research, I looked into The real March Madness: When will women's teams get equal buzz?, where editor Kelly Wallace provides us with an example of how unjust the media behaves with female sporting events. Wallace took her family to a Columbia University women's basketball game because her daughters were players themselves. Previously, the family had attended a men's basketball game and the stands were full, but in contrast the women's basketball game lacked fans and there was no sign of television coverage. Wallace and her husband were upset that women sports are not being taken as seriously as their male counterparts and it is something that will soon affect their children's world. In correlation to this example, female swimmers also suffer from lack of an audience in comparison to male swimmers. As a swimmer myself, whenever I was about to compete in my heat ( swimming race), often fans would take a break and go socialize or use the restroom. Conversely, when a heat of men would compete the stands would be crowded, loud and you'd see media coverage in every corner. The deficient media coverage I have experienced in swimming events is similar to that of all women sporting events. This discrimination against female athletes in media coverage is a direct consequence of biological determinism. In comparison to men, our society supports the idea that women lack performance in sports while men dominate sports because of their masculinity.

Grollman, Eric Anthony, Dr. "For Women Athletes, Success May Lead To Questions About Your Sex." (2009): n. pag. Kinseyconfidential. Kinsey Confidential, 22 Sept. 2009. Web. 22 July 2016.

3. Prohibited to Swim Certain Events

Always / Via youtube.com

Throwing like a girl. Swimming like a girl. Playing like a girl. Often times "like a girl" has been defined as "not having the ability" to perform proficiently. (Shinew 40) Women are portrayed as weak and inferior to men. Female athletes "…who are skilled and forceful subjects, and who embody power, challenge the equation of physical power with masculinity."(Whitson 1994). But, even with this challenge, they are still banned from competing in certain events. For example, in the Olympic Games, female swimmers are not allowed to swim more than an 800-meter distance while male swimmers are allowed to swim the 1,500 meters. Swimmers such as Katie Ledecky, a 17-year-old record-breaker, whose favorite events are the 800 and 1,500 meters freestyle, aren't allowed to swim the 1,500 because of the set rules. As said in the article by Kate Dries, Olympics Committees have not added the event because it is "purely historical". Debbie Meyer, the first female to hold the long distance records, questioned why women are not allowed to swim the 1,500 in today's world. Olympic female swimmers like Ledecky, Missy Franklin and UF Gator Elizabeth Beisel are seen as inferior to the male swimmers of today. Even though Ledecky's "personal best of 15 minutes 34.23 seconds, clocked in June, would have made her 28th, in a field of 59, in the men's event Wednesday at the national championships.", she was still a woman and biologically slower than the fastest heat of guys, quoted Dries from the Times article. Ledecky has been the fastest endurance swimmer as of now, but an event cannot be added for just one female athlete whose time compared to other female swimmers is outrageous. With female athletes' underrepresentation comes a lack of audience, which leads to cutting down of events and underappreciation for female distance swimmers. Like said by Kate Dries, "getting an audience on a national scale to see her compete that way could be an uphill battle."

Ross, S. R., & Shinew, K. J. (2008). Perspectives of women college athletes on sport and gender. Sex Roles, 58(1-2), 40-57. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9275-4

4. Unjust Representation in Science Research

B. Brookshire, E. Otwell / Via sciencenews.org

The underrepresentation of female athletes has been a consequence of the lack of science research. In The Effect of Neuromuscular training on the Incidence of Knee Injury, a study of knee injuries in female athletes, results found were as followed;" The knee injury incidence per 1000 athlete-exposures was 0.43 in untrained female athletes, 0.12 in trained female athletes, and 0.09 in male athletes". Women are more prone to injury because of the lack of studies. In an article by Bethany Brookshire, part of the ScienceNews magazine, multiple studies were held in which the gap between male and female athletic studies were shown. "…out of 188 studies, the number of studies involving women's performance was only 36 percent, while men took over the other 64 percent of studies.", meaning more than half of the studies were for male athletes, but more than half of the participants were female. Joe Costello, a physiologist of the University of Portsmouth, wondered if the underrepresentation of women in scientific studies was the case across the entire field of sports science. But the most shocking study results were in performance and sports injury. Gladden, another physiologist at Auburn University realized how women were present in 94 percent of the studies but were not even half of the participants. Gladden believed there would be more emphasis in these studies because of the prevalence of ACL injuries among female athletes. Sports such as swimming, where the whole body is put to work, any wrong move can cause an injury. With the inefficacy of scientific research on female athletes, comes the rise of under representation of female athletes overall.

Hewett, Timothy E., et al. "The Effect of Neuromuscular Training on the Incidence of Knee Injury in Female Athletes: A Prospective Study." The American Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 27, no. 6, 1999., pp. 699-706.

5. Portrayed as Models not Athletes

ESPN Body Issue / Via espn.go.com

Magazines and photoshoots make female athletes seem sexy and vulnerable instead of acknowledging and portraying their strength in sports. In an article by Elizabeth Daniels, there was a study of the effect of media misrepresentation of female athletes on adolescent girls. The results were obvious; women were objectified by the perception of men. In a male dominated society, the media used men's idea of a women to portray female athletes as sexy, instead of displaying their strength developed through sports. In relation to this article, there is an article written by Cynthia Krueger, in which Krueger clearly states that the reason for the underrepresentation of female athletes is because of the misrepresentation of them in the print media. In an industry dominated by men, women sponsorships are mostly based on looks and not performances. For example, one of my favorite swimmers, Natalie Coughlin, an Olympic Swimmer, is featured in many magazines wearing provocative suits instead of a tech suit, which is used by professional swimmers. In addition, magazine editors use programs such as Photoshop to hide the defined muscles from female athletes and avoid portraying them as masculine as male athletes. Due to this, female athletes do not receive the same recognition as men because of the how these magazines transform the perceptions of the people who view them.

Daniels, Elizabeth A. "How Media Representations of Women Athletes Can Impact Adolescent Girls and College Women." Sex Objects, Athletes, and Sexy Athletes 24.4 (2009): 399-422. Sage Journals, 1 May 2009. Web. 22 July 2016.

6. Fewer Scholarship Opportunities

Makers / Via youtube.com

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal assistance.", this quote is found in the Constitution in the Amendment on Education in which Title IX gave female athletes more opportunities in the world of sports. However, in Playing but Losing, an article by Cheryl Cooky and Nicole Layoi, there is an exploration on the leftover inequities towards women. In terms of scholarship opportunities, female athletes are provided approximately 1.3 million fewer scholarships in comparison to males at a high school level. Moreover, in the college level, more than half of the students at NCAA schools are women, but they only receive 44% of the scholarship opportunities. It is sad to see that even though female athletes display the majority of collegiate-level swimming teams, the vast majority are left out on scholarships. Yet, men have an abundance in scholarship opportunities even though they don't represent the majority of the population.

Cooky, Cheryl, and Nicole M. Lavoi. "Qualifying Times: Points of Change in U.S. Women's Sport." Gender and Society 30.1 (2014): 136-39. Sage Journals. 11 Dec. 2014. Web. 22 July 2016.