The Current State of Women Print Journalists: An Analysis of the Status and Careers of Females in Newspapers Sports Departments

Public Organization Review: A Global Journal 5: 219232 (2005)

# 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. Manufactured in The Netherlands.The Current State of Women Print Journalists:

An Analysis of the Status and Careers of

Females in Newspapers Sports DepartmentsKIMBERLY S. MILOCHPAUL M. PEDERSEN [email protected] University, 1025 E. 7th Street, HPER 112, Bloomington, IN 47405, USAMICHAEL K. SMUCKERTexas Tech University( MS 1121, Lubbock, TX 79409, USAWARREN A. WHISENANTUniversity of Miami, Merrick Bldg. 315, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USAKey words: media, sport, female, journalist, reportersAbstractThe purpose of this study was to provide an analysis of the current state of women journalists withinthe sports departments at newspapers across the United States. This investigation involved a

determination of their demographic make-up, job status within the sports department, rationale forentering the field, and advice for younger women preparing to follow in their footsteps. The findingssuggest that although the large majority of women have faced discrimination in the sport media, theybelieve improvements have been made towards equity. The majority of respondents noted that they

were happy with the assignments they had been given. Subjects did, however, feel that they wereassigned to cover females more than their male counterparts, and some responses regardingdissatisfaction with their positions was also noted.Over the past few decades women have made significant contributions to business and industry breaking glass ceilings and serving in executive positions for

some of the most profitable companies in the United States (Dalton and Daily,

1998; Oakley, 2000; Titunik, 2002). Although women have made great strides in

achieving the successes that once were presented only to men, scholars have

suggested that females have not yet completely broken through the gender

barrier that exists in the sports arena (Humms et al., 1996; Neupauer, 1998;

Schell and Rodriquez, 2000). The passage of Title IX in 1972 created great

opportunities for women in sports and spurred an increase in womens

participation on the playing field (Ordman and Zillmann, 2000; Bechhold, 1998).

Even though womens participation in athletics has dramatically increased over

the past 30 years, females remain underrepresented in administrative roles

within athletic departments and professional sport and recreation organizations

(Humms et al., 1996; Arnold and Shinew, 1997). In the past, this pattern has held220 K.S. MILOCH ET AL.true for female sports journalists who...