Women have traditionally been under-represented in the global sports media in terms of the amount of coverage dedicated to women's sport compared to men's. There have also been qualitative differences in the manner of reporting of women's and men's sports, reflecting the patriarchal attitudes dominant in society. This article explores the extent to which these traditional differences exist today in the Spanish print media. Drawing on data analysed from a sample of Spanish newspapers during the summer Olympic Games of 2004 in Athens, we carried out an empirical analysis of the amount of coverage dedicated to women's sports and research of a more qualitative nature which focuses on a detailed evaluation of the narratives employed, the images published and the political commentary surrounding women's events and female athletes. While the gender gap in the coverage of the Olympic Games in Spain is narrowing and ideologies regarding masculinity and femininity are gradually changing, gendered discursive strategies and subtexts prevent this process from evolving further.
Aimc (2004a) Estudio General de Medios: Oct 2003—Mayo 2004. Madrid: Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicació, available online at: [http://www.aimc.es/02egm/resumegm204.pdf ], accessed 31 August 2004.
2.
Aimc (2004b) Estudio General de Medios: Resumen General. Madrid: Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación, available online at: [http://www.aimc.es/aimc.php?izq=egm.swf&pag_html=si&op=cuatro&dch=02egm/24.html ], accessed 27 June 2007.
3.
Bernstein, A. (2004) `Is it Time for a Victory Lap? Changes in the Media Coverage of Women in Sport', International Review for the Sociology of Sport37(4): 415—26.
4.
Bishop, R. (2003) `Missing in Action: Feature Coverage of Women's Sport in Sports Illustrated', Journal of Sport and Social Issues27(2): 184—94.
5.
Blain, N. (2003) `Beyond “Media Culture”: Sport as Dispersed Symbolic Activity', in A. Bernstein and N. Blain (eds) Sport, Media, Culture: Global and Local Dimensions, p. 277. London: Cass.
6.
Brookes, R. (2002) Representing Sport. London: Arnold.
7.
Cameron, D. (1995) Verbal Hygiene. London: Routledge.
8.
Capranica, L. and Aversa, F. (2002) `Italian Television Sport Coverage During the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games: A Gender Perspective', International Review for the Sociology of Sport37(3/4): 337—49.
9.
Coates, J. (2004) Women, Men and Language: A Sociolinguistic Account of Gender Differences in Language. Harlow: Longman.
10.
Cohen, G. (ed.) (1993) Women in Sport: Issues and Controversies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
11.
Connell, R. (1997) `La organización social de la masculinidad', in T. Valdés and J. Olavarría (eds) Masculinidades: Poder yCrisis, pp. 31—43. Santiago: Isis and Flasco-Chile.
12.
Creedon, P. (ed.) (1994) Women, Media and Sport: Challenging Gender Values. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
13.
Comisión Mujer y Deporte: Comité Olímpico Español (2004) `Las mujeres deportistas quieren llevar su voz y extender la práctica deportiva a la sociedad', available online at: [http://www.mujerydeporte.org/noticias/ver_noticia_03.asp?Id_noticia=2165&Titulo_not=Las+mujeres+deportistas+quieren+llevar+su+voz+y+extender+la+pr%E1ctica+deportiva+a+la+sociedad ], accessed 6 July 2005; September 2006.
14.
Daddario, G. (1997) `Gendered Sports Programming: 1992 Summer Olympics Coverage and the Feminine Narrative Form', Sociology of Sport Journal14: 103—20.
15.
Duke, V. and Crolley, L. (1996) Football, Nationality and the State. Harlow: Longman.
16.
Duncan, M. (1990) `Sports Photographs and Sexual Difference: Images of Women and Men in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games', Sociology of Sport Journal7(1): 22—43.
17.
Duncan, M. and Hasbrook, C. (1988) `Denial of Power in Televised Women's', Sports in Sociology of Sport Journal5(1): 1—21.
18.
Duncan, M., Messner, M., Williams, L. and Jensen, K. (1994) `Gender Stereotyping in Televised Sports', in S. Birrell, C. Cole and W. Wilson (eds) Women, Sport, Culture, pp. 249—72. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
19.
Eastman, S. and Billings, A. (1999) `Gender Parity in the Olympics: Hyping Women's Athletes, Favoring Men Athletes', Journal of Sport and Social Issues23(2): 140—70.
20.
Eastman, S. and Billings, A. (2000) `Sportcasting and Sports Reporting: The Power of Gender Bias', Journal of Sport and Social Issues24(2): 192—213.
21.
Fejgin, N. (1994) `Participation in High School Competitive Sports ', Sociology of Sport Journal11(3): 221—30.
22.
Gil Calvo, E. (2006) Máscaras masculinas. Barcelona : Anagrama.
23.
Halbert, C. and Latimer, M. (1994) `“Battling” Gendered Language: An Analysis of the Language Used by Sports Commentators in a Televised Coed Tennis Competition ', Sociology of Sport Journal11: 298—308.
24.
Hargreaves, H. (1994) Sporting Females: Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Women's Sports. London: Routledge.
25.
Higgs, C., Weiller, K. and Martin, S. (2003) `Gender Bias in the 1996 Olympic Games: A Comparative Analysis', Journal of Sport and Social Issues27(1): 52—64.
26.
International Olympic Committee (2004) Olympic Charter 2004, available online at: [ http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_122.pdfRule 2], paragraph 7: 11, Lausanne, Switzerland, accessed 15 November 2005.
27.
Klein, M. (2004) `Work and Play: International Evidence of Gender Equality in Employment and Sports', Journal of Sport and Social Issues8(3): 227—42.
28.
Lines, G. (2002) `The Sports Star in the Media: The Gendered Construction and Youthful Consumption of Sports Personalities', in J. Sugden and A. Tomlinson (eds) Power Games: A Critical Sociology of Sport, pp. 196—215. London : Routledge.
29.
Llopis, R. (forthcoming) `Aprendizajes y representaciones: La construcción de la masculinidad en el fútbol', Sport in Society7.
30.
MarcaOnline ( 2004) `Camino a Atenas 2004', available online at: [http://www.marca.com/caminoaatenas2004/deportes.html], accessed June—August 2004.
31.
Messner, M. (1988) `Sports and Male Domination: The Female Athlete as Contested Ideological Terrain', Sociology of Sport Journal5(3): 197—211.
32.
Messner, M. and Duncan, M. (2003) `Silence, Sports Bras and Wrestling Porn: Women in Televised Sports News and Highlights Shows', Journal of Sport and Social Issues27(1): 38—51.
33.
Messner, M. and Sabo, D. (1990) Sport, Men and the Gender Order: Critical Feminist Perspectives. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
34.
Quesada Rettschlag, S. and Díez García, M.D. (2004) `Descripción y analisis del deporte universitario en España. Perspectivas de futuro', available online at: [http://www.efdeportes.com/efd12/lys2.htm], accessed 7 July 2004.
35.
Real Federación Española de Atletismo (2004 ) `Diecisiete españoles en el Top-20 Mundial', available online at: [http://www.rfea.es/ranking/estadi.htm], accessed 15 August 2004.
36.
Spender, D. (1980) Man Made Language. London: Routledge.
37.
Tuggle, C.A. and Owen, A. (1999) `A Descriptive Analysis of NBC's Coverage of the Centennial Olympics: The “Games of the Woman”?', Journal of Sport and Social Issues23(2): 171—82.
38.
Ucendo, N. (2003) `La mujer deportista en los medios', Comisión Mujer y Deporte, available online at: [ http://www.mujerydeporte.com/analisis/igualdad/LaMujerDeportistaenlosMedios.pdf ], accessed 6 September 2006.
39.
Vincent, J., Imwold, C., Masemann, V. and Johnson, J. (2002) `A Comparison of Selected “Serious” and “Popular” British, Canadian, and United States Newspaper Coverage of Female and Male Athletes Competing in the Centennial Olympic Games: Did Female Athletes Receive Equitable Coverage in the “Games of the Women”? ', International Review for the Sociology of Sport37(3—4): 319—35.
40.
Wensing, E. and Bruce, T. (2003) `Bending the Rules: Media Representation of Gender during an International Sporting Event', International Review for the Sociology of Sport38(4): 387—96.
41.
Whannel, G. (1998) `Reading the Sports Media Audience', in L. Wenner (ed.) MediaSport, pp. 221—32. London: Routledge.
42.
Whannel, G. (2002) Media Sports Stars: Masculinities and Moralities . London: Routledge.
