Gender Stereotypes In Women's Sports

Women should be limited when competing in ‘men’s sports’ and avoid combative sports

Stereotypes are often depicted as negative labels and this is the same in sport, but sometimes stereotypes can be quite accurate. Some sports are most definitely pigeonholed in terms of gender and this mainly falls down to the physicality of some sports. The sports that some would say fall into the category of ‘women’s sports’ are volleyball, softball and netball to name just a few. Two of these three sports are completely limited to females, softball (an adaptation of baseball played by males) and netball, a sport not played in America but particularly popular in the Commonwealth nations. The third sport that is commonly seen in North America as a ‘women’s sport’ is volleyball. Males play volleyball and this is evident as male volleyball is played at the Olympics. However, the mass participation at youth and collegiate level is mainly women.

‘Men’s sports’ are ones that are competed primarily in by men, ‘traditional "male" sports like ice hockey, bodybuilding, and boxing’ (Alexander, 2002). Testosterone-filled sports that fall under the descriptors of violent, combative or strength-oriented

These three are probably most important because they are sports that both genders play but the women’s side of the game still gains a lot of media coverage, definitely not as much as their male counterparts but more than other women’s sports. A woman competing with men is an on going issue and the differing analyses from liberal and conservative parties will be an eternal debate. Women should perhaps have the power to decide whether they want to compete against men, especially in non-contact sports. Furthermore, limitations on women’s combative sports should be up to the individual and the risk of hampering the reproductive organs would be solely down to the woman