Today, TV channels broadcast men’s sports shows more than women’s sport shows.
Why is this the case?
Should TV channels give equal showtime for each?
Why women sports gets lesser time on television
- There is commercial consideration: men sports has bigger fan following in comparison to women - viewership rating men’s sports has wormen followers too, but women sports has mostly women followers only
- More men are into sports than their women counterparts
- There is huge money involved in men sports in comparison to women and that is why television prefers men’s sports
- Conservative attitude of societies force television companies to avoid women sports
- It may not be profitable
Women should also get more time
- Women need all the encouragement to engage in this activity:
- their upliftment
- sports is emerging as a burgeoning industry that can render employment to millions
- This will help societies abandon their orthodox attitudes
While sporting events involving men can be frequently seen on television, those featuring women are a rare occurrence. This gender bias is primarily driven by commercial compulsions, but it is the need of the hour to halt this practice to enhance the status of women.
The most common pretext offered for this lopsided attitude is that sporting disciplines featuring males attract colossal investments that are needed to sustain such a money intensive domain and draw profits. It is argued that sports have been traditionally considered the realm of men, and thus, might not stimulate similar interests from the audience, and businesses might circumvent infusing resources into such areas.
However, media attention has always helped invigorate interest in every field, and the same rationale applies to sports: men or women. A majority of male sports like lawn tennis and basketball, evolve and attain prominence. Similarly, female sections of these sports also developed widespread popularity: they were given equal time in the USA and Europe, allowing events, like Wimbledon championships, featuring women to gain more sponsorships than only male events. Thus, exercising fairness will aid in empowering females, laying open a new employment venue at their disposal.
Additionally, abandoning this discriminatory attitude will enable breaking the stereotype, and induce aspiring young girls to exhibit their sporting skills and physical prowess. This will, consequently, put them at par with men, and force communities to abandon social taboos. To corroborate, telecasting women wrestling matches on Indian television motivated more and more parents to engage their daughters in this sport, and shun orthodox beliefs.
To recap, the lopsided perspective harboured by mediahouses does not highlight the reality; their attention on any domain has made it commercially viable. Therefore, abandoning this prejudice will help female sport become popular and economically sustainable.
