OLYMPIC ISSUES - Gender Bias

Throughout the year 2000 Olympics, various issues have been raised by the media, the one we have chosen to research is gender bias. During the Olympics, the Hong Kong commentators and reporters of South China Morning post have shown an unacceptable lack of respect towards women= Hong Kong reporters and commentators have shown this by judging the women, not by their performance but on their being women.

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In this article, Svetlana Khorkina, a Russian gymnast represented her country on the uneven bars - not performing well. To bring her reputation down reporters made a point to mention her being in Playboy in 1997. Mentioning this is irrelevant to her falling off the bars. Having been in playboy does not affect her ability to be a good gymnast, nor will it in the future. Therefore there is no real purpose in this apart from changing what some people think of her, when it is not right to judge people with what they have done in the past.I have never come across this kind of criticism in regards to any male athlete before... Is that a coincidence?

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In another article we collected, the first words printed on were: TIKANDO, melted hearts at the Olympics, melted in tears. This showed gender bias by saying that Kay Poe lost one of her matches and that her best friend sacrificed that place for her. Which she then lost. Lots of supporters from USA were disappointed which then led to Kay Po leaving the arena in tears. This would be irrelevant to say in a newspaper because it implies that she is a weak person . This would never be stated for a man because they would not want him to appear weak but appear strong. Why does being a man make a difference? As you just heard. the author of this article comments on the fact that Irina Privalova is a "31- year old mother". This has no relevance what so ever to the rest of the article. Irina Privalova won the gold for the women 400m hurdles. She is a top athlete and whether she has children or not has no effect on her ability to perform. So why should she be judged on her role as a woman? It is not only in this article that I have come across the same kind of criticism. A Hong Kong television commentator also commentated on several females' family lives and related that to a disability . That is something which I personally think is absurd.

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After researching and analysing the information we collected, we found that gender bias in the Olympics has been a big issue. Not only in newspapers but also in magazines and live commentary. It goes further than this. When asking a male member of the P.E. department on his view on female athletes in the Olympics he answered: " At their best they are worth half a male athlete" So if an educated teacher cannot see past a person's sex, how can we expect anyone else to? This, by no means, is fair as an athlete should be judged by ability and not gender.

Karin Moeller, Lisa Cuthbertson, Melissa Meijne