https://doi.org/10.37955/cs.v6i1.236
Received June 14, 2021 / Approved October, 23 2021 Pages: 1-13
eISSN: 2600-5743
Female empowerment in sport,
analysis of its narrative and
treatment in the media
Empoderamiento femenino en el deporte, análisis de su
narrativa y tratamiento en los medios de comunicación
Dennys Jordán Correa
Master in Education, Universidad Internacional del Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
dejordanco@uide.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6962-0855
Tatiana Farías Bohórquez
Social Communicator with a major in Journalism, Universidad Internacional del Ecuador, Guayaquil
tafariasbo@uide.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9319-5764
Perla León López
D. in Communication Sciences, Universidad Internacional del Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
peleonlo@uide.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0537-5525
Andrea Ocaña Ocaña
D. in Communication Sciences, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil.
andrea.ocana@cu.ucsg.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2518-7698
ABSTRACT
This article focused on the media's treatment of sports news and the
presence of women in these narratives. Undoubtedly, women struggle
to resignify changing stereotypes for new expressions that favor
decision making, equal treatment both in real life and in the media. In
this way, the empowerment of her role arises, a trend that makes her
promote herself as a media protagonist, acquiring visibility.
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 1 - January - March - Centro Sur Magazine - eISSN: 2600-5743
2
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
RESUMEN
El presente artículo se centró en el tratamiento que hacen los medios
de comunicación a las noticias deportivas y la presencia de la mujer en
esas narrativas. Sin duda, la mujer lucha por resignificar cambiando
estereotipos por nuevas expresiones que favorezcan la toma de
decisiones, el trato igualitario tanto en la vida real como en los medios
de comunicación. De esta manera surge el empoderamiento de su rol,
una tendencia que la hace promoverse como protagonista mediática,
adquiriendo visibilidad.
Keywords / Palabras clave
women's empowerment, media, sports journalism, journalists,
inclusion.
empoderamiento femenino, medios de comunicación, periodismo
deportivo, periodistas, inclusión.
Introduction
The Royal Academy of Language defines female empowerment as:
"Action and effect of empowering" (making a disadvantaged person
powerful), but in recent decades this word has become part of the
feminist vocabulary in projects carried out to promote gender equality.
Its letter of introduction was at the United Nations World Conference
on Women in Beijing (1995) with the aim of increasing women's
participation in decision-making processes and access to power.
In the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the UN
includes a space dedicated to women's empowerment in the
media, where it calls for: "increasing women's access to and
participation in the expression of their ideas and decision-
making in and through the media, as well as in new
communication technologies" (UN, United Nations 1995).
Asunción Bernández Rodal (Rodal, 2015) states that women in the
media honor perceptions, values and social models that for years
dominated a patriarchal society that today struggles against machismo
to seek equal treatment in life and the media. Currently, female
empowerment has an important place in communication, and is part
of a feminist trend that projects images of women in roles that
previously only involved men, this when referring to fiction; if the
context is informative women in the past were prevented from talking
3
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
about issues related to sports, politics and economics (González,
2018). But all this is part of an evolution.
The audiovisual media are promoters of culture and women's issues in
the mass-media have become mediatic as women become more
involved in the labor and professional fields. According to Rosa
Franquet (Franquet, 1990), in her book "La mujer y la relación con los
medios", there are fundamental epochs of feminism in audiovisual
formats. The establishment of the woman - housewife model as an
image was in the 1950s, after the First and Second World Wars, women
returned to their homes to take care of their families and their figure
was projected as an agent of consumption of real estate and household
appliances, because they were only seen in the role of mother and wife,
that is where the boom of contents such as: women's magazines,
fotonovelas, radio soap operas, etc. began. The radical change of
content is reflected in the following decade, in the 60's, with the
feminist movement, women sought and seek to break stereotypes, a
more inclusive television is established with new roles for women. A
new way of seeing, perceiving the female gender; to later continue with
the ongoing debate on gender roles until today.
In Ecuador, discrimination and equality issues enjoy the acceptance of
civil society and are part of the main focus in public debates, this has
allowed the creation of policies with a gender approach that are being
reproduced and socialized (CORDICOM, 2017), even so stereotypes
and gender roles are still part of different social situations.
The challenge for the media industry is to contribute to the formation
of a communication free of prejudice and without discrimination,
inclusive and intercultural, as an indispensable tool for a more
democratic, plural and inclusive communication that contributes to
citizen empowerment for the enforceability of rights (Social, 2014).
Therefore, true empowerment begins by changing the gender roles
that exist in society and using the media to do so, putting an end to
sexism and machismo by creating balanced content.
This problem is evident in the sports formats broadcast, due to the fact
that sports have become masculinized, leaving women without a place
or contribution. According to the 2010 report of Participación
Ciudadana (Ciudadana, 2010) reveals that of the total number of
reporters 61.35% are men and that they mainly deal with political,
economic, judicial and sports topics; 38.65% are women who are in
4
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
charge of social topics, general interest, entertainment, culture and
show business.
In a country like Ecuador, where out of 17 million inhabitants 50% are
women, according to INEC data, and 56% of higher education quotas
are held by women and in the social communication career they
occupy 55%, but that only 36% work in the media says a lot about the
lack of empowerment of women in this field (Registro Único de
Medios, 2018). Developing a plan to position and visualize the female
gender in the world of sports, which has been androcentric since its
origins, is even more complicated. The lack of inclusion is at a general
level, but in Latin America the gap is widening. During the Rio 2016
Olympic Games, the figures are surprising: only 22% of the news with
identified authorship about the sporting events in the Latin American
media was written and/or reported exclusively by women and female
journalists were assigned, more than men, the coverage of non-
sporting topics. (IOC, 2016).
Underlying this fact is the need to create an empowerment that breaks
myths that pigeonhole women in domestic, sexual, sentimental or
training roles. This goes hand in hand with discarding paradigms and
making good use of media and technologies to give prominence to
women in spaces that provide quality content and set a precedent in
the country's sports media.
The development of new platforms and media is an option for
innovative, controversial, feminist and unique topics. The emergence
of the internet and streaming technology, try to satisfy the desires of
an individual, they stick to one's preferences and not the masses; so
relates in his essay Jeff Harvis (Harvis, 2015), who agrees that mass
media are in decline and states that everything is directed to
personalized content and that is why services like Netflix, Hulu,
Youtube, etc. monopolize the attention of those who decide what they
want to see.
Sports programs are part of the long list of unique formats, which is
why paid television has prioritized this topic and launched channels
aimed at the sports-loving public. The main printed and digital
newspapers include spaces on front pages and targeted sections, but
as a social rule, their public is male. Little prominence for female
journalists and sportswomen, because the few lines of the tabloids or
the time in front of the camera was to use them as a visual accessory of
the target (woman - object).
5
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
Nowadays, paradigms are being broken little by little and the sports
field already has female protagonists, or rather it has always had them
but now they demand to be taken into account. This problem is not a
matter of a single country, it is part of the sexism at Latin American
level, for example during the Olympic Games of Rio de Janeiro 2020
(Ecuador participated with 39% of female athletes), the first Hispanic
gender observatory was created: equality during the Olympics, women
still have lower participation in athlete delegations in most countries
around the world, including in Latin America. And while there have
been significant advances in recent decades, even with gender parity
in some nations, this does not guarantee that their
achievements are adequately visible and valued, that they are not
stereotyped by gender, perceived as desirable objects with attention on
their clothing, devalued by the press, by organizers and by advertising
(Observatorio de Género J.J.O.O., 2016.)
The lack of women in the media is also notable, in the 6 open television
channels, only in two programs women are part of the host staff; in
radio there are more women, an average of one journalist per program;
the problem is that the intervention they have in the informative
debates is minimal. Sometimes they intervene to read mentions, social
networks or present color notes, excluding them from the role of
journalism. Managers hire women based on their physique and not on
their capabilities; this is also a sexist way of treating information. In
paid television, women have more participation, but it is still
impossible to find a woman leading the staff.
Equality in the transmission of news determines the progress of
women's sports. Athletes such as Marina Pérez, Olympic shooter,
affirms that the lack of evidence of their achievements in the media is
the cause of the failure of many sportswomen, because sponsors are
not interested in investing in their careers and preparation.
Discrimination against women in the media is evident: out of 20 news
items broadcast in a sports program, only 1 or at most 2 refer to women
and their achievements. The approach to the problem seeks to solve
the equitable treatment of news about women athletes, the incursion
of women journalists in a relevant way, to present attractive content
that attracts the attention of different audiences.
6
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
Materials and Methods
This research uses a qualitative methodology focused on a technique
that combines textual and documentary analysis of the discourse in
order to identify the argumentative frameworks and through them the
ideologies and positions of the media in published editorials and radio
and television news, in response to the prominence of women in recent
sporting events such as: Women's Super Soccer League, Pan American
Games, Women's Libertadores Cup, among others. The sample is
obtained from the editorials published in the sports sections of the
newspapers El Universo and El Comercio.
After a first review, we selected those referring to women and
compared them with those referring to men. We performed the same
procedure with the analysis of the television news of the following
media: Ecuavisa, Directv and Teleamazonas. We took the radio report
from Radio Diblu, the sports radio with the largest audience in the city
of Guayaquil. Once the articles were determined, the matrices were
established, which will be applied in each media and will allow us to
analyze in a methodical and structured way the discourse and its
context.
Results
The publications in the print media analyzed, as indicated above, were
selected based on the information on the research topic, the
prominence of women athletes in the media. This methodological
decision was consistent with the stereotypes that still exist in the
media. It can be identified that there is still a majority in terms of the
prominence of male athletes in sports journalism, there are even
editions in which no news about athletes are included. El Comercio,
although it does not reach equity, is more inclusive than Diario El
Universo.
7
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
Table 1. Record of news about female athletes in El Universo
newspaper.
El Universo Newspaper
The Marker Section
News Men
Mixed news
Date 1
0
Date 2
Date 3
0
Date 4
0
Date 5
0
Total
92
Table 2. Register of news on female athletes in El Comercio
newspaper
El Comercio Newspaper
Sports Section
News Men
Mixed news
Date 1
0
Date 2
Date 3
0
Date 4
1
Date 5
Total
5
Table 3. Newspaper El Universo and El Comercio news stories
STORY FRAMEWORK NEWS
THE UNIVERSE
THE COMMERCE
Differences
Uses very biased titles such as
"Girls get ready to roll the ball."
They focus more on
sporting achievements
8
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
More focus on women's soccer
issues
Women in different
sports
Convergences
Inconsistencies in the number of sports news items
dedicated to women
Despite being a week with a lot of events involving women in sports,
the media give it minimal importance, preferring to address irrelevant
international issues, instead of disseminating the achievements and
preparation of Ecuadorian athletes.
Table 4. Record of news of female athletes on Radio and TV
Radio and Television
Topics
Radio
Diblu
Ecuavis
a
DirecTv
Teleamazona
s
Women's Super
League Soccer
5
South American
Under 19
1
0
1
Libertadores Cup
1
1
1
Olympic Year Female
athletes
0
1
0
World Athletics
Championships
1
1
Total
In addition to the analysis of the selected media, interviews were
conducted with high-performance athletes in the country, who pointed
out the following as the most important points regarding the presence
of female athletes in the media and the media coverage of their events:
"There is no media coverage". "There is still perceived the existence of
machismo when talking about female athletes", "There is no interest
of people in knowing more about them", and that from their
perspective "there is total inequality in the media in relation to the
coverage of journalistic articles".
The need to propose a social campaign to empower women in sports
and break stereotypes has a great opportunity in the country, due to
9
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
the fact that the movement for gender equality is latent in society and,
above all, that a campaign to raise awareness of machismo and sexism
in sports has not been carried out before in Ecuador. In Spain,
Argentina and Brazil they have been carried out with great success,
achieving as a result the creation of gender observatories that promote
inclusive language in the media and the guidelines of major brands
linked to sports.
According to the analysis, out of 20 news items in the media, only 3
correspond to women and sometimes the focus of the news is diverted
with topics related to their role as mothers, sentimental situation or
refer to their physical attributes. For this reason, the campaign should
start from an analysis of various national and international
instruments of Human Rights and the UN, such as the Beijing
Platform for Action of 1995, which delimits a space aimed at the
importance of creating spaces directed and designed for women with
a focus on the equity of the information transmitted.
The social campaign should seek to raise awareness about machismo
and sexism in the media, thus overthrowing the stereotypes created
about women and sport, to end the erroneous "tradition" of gender
roles, and then make a leap of innovation with a digital observatory
and agency to disseminate in the media the empowerment of
Ecuadorian sportswomen. The concept of the campaign is to end the
silence that exists in the media when it comes to women athletes.
Similarly, the study should analyze two premises to be taken into
consideration for the phenomenon of sexism in the media: "making
women visible" and "ending stereotypes". Therefore, from the State
policies, with emphasis on Article 61 of the Organic Law of
Communication where it states and "discriminatory content shall be
understood as any message that is disseminated by any means of social
communication that makes distinction, restriction, exclusion or
preference based on reasons of nationality, ethnicity, place of birth,
age, sex, gender identity (...), from the Secretary of Sports generate
synergies towards the construction of a campaign aimed at addressing,
preventing and eradicating sexism, machismo and androcentric
communication in media. (National Assembly, 2019)
10
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
Conclusions
More than 20 years ago, the United Nations recognized the role of the
media in changing gender stereotypes that influence the way society
thinks and acts. Among these statements, they even stated that women
and the media should be one of the 12 critical areas of concern of the
Beijing Platform for Action, and urged, at a global level, that the media
should intensify its support for women's empowerment. (UN Women,
2021)
In the analysis of news treatment in the media and interviews with
high-performance athletes, the results showed that Ecuador still does
not have equal gender coverage in sports news. However, it is
necessary for audiences to know more about the achievements and
presence of female athletes in the different disciplines practiced in the
country.
Ecuador is a country that has a large percentage of women athletes,
who are often anonymous or very little known to the public, so there is
a need for empowerment in this area. Developing communication
strategies will help to publicize the achievements of women and to
have more space in sports journalism, with important news and
handling inclusive content and language that promotes egalitarian
sport.
References
National Assembly. (2019). Organic Law of Communication. Ecuador.
Buchón, L., Molina, P., & Martínez-Baena, A. (2017). Gender studies
in Spanish physical activity and sport sciences journals (2006-
2015). Apunts. Educación Física y Deportes, 130, 7-17.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5672/apunts.2014-
0983.es.(2017/4).130.01
Camberos Sánchez, María Teresa (2011). Empoderamiento femenino
y políticas públicas, una perspectiva desde las representaciones
sociales de género. Entramado, 7(2),40-53.[date of
Consultation January 25, 2022]. ISSN: 1900-3803. Available at:
https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=265422684003
Ciudadana, C. d. (2010). Informe Consejo de Participación Ciudadana.
IOC. (2016). Latin American Media Monitoring of the Olympic Games.
11
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
CORDICOM. (2017). Discrimination against women and their
representation in the media,.
Erazo, M. I., Jiménez, M. & López, C. (2014). Empowerment and
female leadership; its role in community self-management in the
corregimiento El Hormiguero - Valle del Cauca. Avances en
Psicología Latinoamericana, 32(1), pp. 149-157. doi:
dx.doi.org/10.12804/apl32.1.2014.10.
Facio, A., Fries, L. (2005). Feminism, Gender and Patriarchy.
Academia Revista sobre la Enseñanza del Derecho de Buenos
Aires, 259-294.
Franquet, R. (1990). Women and their relationship with the media.
González, R. A. (2018). Women in contemporary science. Barcelona.
Harvis, J. (2015). The end of mass media.
Mateos, R. et al. (2007). La presencia de estereotipos en los medios de
comunicación: análisis de la prensa digital española. Madrid:
Dirección General de la Mujer de la Consejería de Empleo y
Mujer de la Comunidad de Madrid.
Martínez-Abajo, J., Vizcarra, M.-T., & Lasarte, G. (2020). How do
Sportswomen Perceive the Way they are Treated in the Media?.
Apunts. Physical Education and Sports, 139, 73-82.
https://doi.org/10.5672/apunts.2014-0983.es.(2020/1).139.10
Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion-MIES (2014). Equality,
diversity and discrimination in the media.
UN. (United Nations 1995.). Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action. Beijing.
UN Women (2021) Gender perspective in sports journalism. For a
sports information free of stereotypes
Perrino-Peña, M., & Martínez-Vallvey, F. (2020). Presence and
treatment of women's sports in the local press of Castilla y León
(Spain). Comunicación y Género, 3(2), 93-103.
https://doi.org/10.5209/cgen.68761.
Ramírez Alvarado, M. (1996): "El tratamiento de la mujer en
información periodística", in Revista Meridiana, 2. Sevilla,
Instituto Andaluz de la Mujer; pp. 4-7.
Ríos, Ma. José de los, & Martínez, Joaquina (1997). La mujer en los
medios de comunicación. Comunicar, (9), .[date of
12
Received October 11, 2021 / Approved February, 04 2022 Pages: 1-12
eISSN: 2600-5743
Centro Sur Vol. 6 No. 2 - April - June
Consultation January 27, 2022]. ISSN: 1134-3478. Available at:
https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=15800914
Registro Único de Medios, U. C. (2018).
Rodal, A. B. (2015). Mujeres en Medio(s). Proposals for analyzing
mass communication with a gender perspective. Fundamentos .
Social, M. d. (2014). The National Council for Intergenerational
Equality (CNII).