After Memphis’ final regular season win over East Carolina, several reporters, me included, waited to talk to Tiger wide receiver Anthony Miller. As cameras, recorders and reporters awaited his arrival in the media room, I realized I stood out as a minority – I was the only woman in the room. Male journalists surrounded me.
Today, the number of women covering sports is growing, but the gender bias is still evident to the public.
“Just because you’re a man and might have played football once in your life … the audience is more likely to perceive you as the expert,” Roxane Coche, sports journalism professor at the University of Memphis, said.
A study by Missouri Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance stated over the last 40 years women have made headway in reporting sports. In the 1970s, women were not allowed into the press box. They reported outdoor sports from the field regardless of the weather. In 1978, the NFL gave women equal rights to the press box and other sports facilities, but even when women were granted access, they still faced harassment.
“Locker room banter — that’s real,” Coche said. “It happens all the time. If you’re not okay with that as a woman, then you’re not going to want to take part in it. It’s so engrained in the sports culture that it’s hard to make a name for yourself if when you start out that’s all you hear about.”
Coche, a French native, said men usually consider this ‘locker room banter’ as a joke, but women, especially American women, tend to interpret it differently.
Today, many women reporting sports are shown on the sidelines giving injury updates and interviewing coaches. Few are seen calling play-by-play.
Beth Mowins, an ESPN commentator, said many people misunderstand the role of those who call the play-by-play.
“The play-by-play person is not the expert of how and why,” Mowins said. “The play-by-play person describes the who, what, when and where. Now over the course of time, you do pick up a lot of valuable information. It does give you a lot more knowledge and information than the average fan has ... I think it’s foolish to think you can’t talk about the game without having played it.”
In September, Mowins was the second woman to call an NFL regular season game in history and the first on CBS. While she was well known among those who watched college sports, she was criticized for her opportunity on social media after the game.
“I have started to like the phrase, ‘You have the choice what voice you’re going to listen to,’” Mowins said. “I don’t have any time for negative people with negative attitudes. Life’s too short. You can’t help to run into [criticism] from time to time, but I’m not going to let that chase me away from social media or trying to interact with people that do have legitimate questions or conversations that they want to have.”
Mowins said social media could have a negative impact on the future generation of sports reporters.
“I think especially for younger folks, it is difficult growing up in this environment of social media, and you’re constantly on social media and looking for social media to validate what you do,” Mowins said.
Jessica Benson, a sports anchor for Local 24 Memphis, said while women may be the minority now, women are making strides in sports journalism.
“You get used to [being the only woman in a press conference], but you can’t help but feel weird sometimes,” Benson said. “Sometimes we get lost in being the only female in a press conference … We wish there were more of a sisterhood.”
Benson expects women are going to continue to have a greater role in sports in the near future.
“There’s no room for shutting women out,” Benson said.
She added there are so many opportunities in the industry with so many media outlets it is impossible to keep the number of women covering sports from growing. She said audiences must realize women are currently spread out in press conferences across the country, but collectively, they are growing as a force in sports media.
Benson said social media makes it easier for people to compare themselves, and that can have a negative impact on journalists, but she hopes she and other women who have earned their place in sports media can help those after her.
“People in the industry are helping demystify social media,” Benson said. “Mean things are said on the internet … there is such an easy ability to compare. You have to stay true to yourself and grind it out.”
