How Gender Role Affects Behavior in Athletes

Gender is a social construct that pertains to the obligations, expectations, and roles that members of a certain society may have for those with different sexual orientations. Gender is frequently used to describe whether a person is male or female. However, the existence of other sexual orientations such being transgendered or bisexual broadens the notion of gender even further. Gender discrimination against minority groups, including women and transgender people, has occurred frequently. The patriarchal nature of today's culture tends to encourage many sorts of gender discrimination (Eagly 44). From the comparison between two footballers, male (Neymar) and female (Marta), it is much evident that gender constructs play a key role in brand formation thereby leading to the difference in the athletes’ behavior.

Gender Constructs

The gender social constructs are often divided into two that is, feminism and masculinity. Feminism is often viewed to be inferior to masculinity. As such, men have often been considered to be more superior to the female athletes owing to their higher masculinity and ability to compete for more than their female counterparts aggressively. The performance of women is often deemed to be lower than that of men owing to the gender perspective that is used to evaluate the performance of different women in the sporting activities. The performance of women is slightly lower than that of men in the various sporting activities owing to the differences in power in the different body parts in the human body. Women tend to perform slightly lower than men in sporting activities such as running, kayaking, rowing, and swimming owing to muscular differences (Brenner 99). As a result, the stellar performance of men is more appreciated compared to that of women, thus, indicating the level of differences that are existent about the gender roles. The outright segregation of men and females in sports can further be used to explain the gender differences in the various sporting activities. Often, the tasks that may require intense physical strength are often left out to men with females being relegated to activities that require less physical strength. In the case of involvement in the same sporting activity, such as football, men are considered to be more experienced than their female counterparts, thus, affirming the gender perspective in the sporting activities.

Comparison of Neymar and Marta

Taking the case of two athletes, that is Neymar and Marta, the former is male while the latter is female. Neymar is a male footballer earning about $15million in a year. However, Marta is an equally talented athlete and footballer, who struggles to make a living. As such, men have a better opportunity to gain experience unlike their female counterparts owing to the exposure to the top tier leagues. However, women do not have opportunities to enhance their experience due to little investment in the female sports and the inadequate talent management programs that are aimed at building the talent of the women (Kaskan 280). Furthermore, the female players are often regarded as mere players with little roles on the field. Even though the female player is assigned a given role in the field such as a striker, defender or midfielder, such characters are perceived to be better executed better by males. Such explains why the women football leagues in many parts of the world are not as highly regarded as is the case with the male leagues that dominate different parts of the world and football broadcasting sites. In the sporting profession, experience and exposure dictate the value of a given player and play a further role in earning endorsements to the player identified to be making such significant impact.

The Media and Gender

The media is responsible for enhancing the different perceptions of male and female participation in various sports, football in particular. The media creates the impression of men being more masculine and having a higher adrenaline, thus more fit for the football game unlike their male counterparts, such often gives the impression of females being less competitive in the sporting activities and further granting the males a higher opportunity. Therefore, men’s football commentary often tends to have a higher quality compared to that of women, thus, indicating the level of prejudice against the female participation in sports. Such affirms why Marta could be considered to be lesser experienced compared to Neymar.

Are they treated differently when they win or lose?

The media has been on the fore front of giving the male athletes more airtime in terms advertising and praising their success. Football being a sport played by both gender, it beat that odds that it can only be given media blackout when the females prosper or little airtime. The media, mostly print and visual usually have a bigger viewership and readership. The content that they send across forms part of the opinion shapers in that they help make their audience have a greater view and perception of the sports personalities that they publish or air (Stanger, et al. 12). The media has a bigger role in ensuring that the publicity given to the athletes is well balanced for the society to have a positive view of the roles that each sports personality bring a on board. For instance, where the sports personality are females, when they bring medals to a country the kind of airplay given is usually in the same magnitude as compared to their male counterparts. This is always done irrespective of the fact that the medals carry the equal value and prestige.

A classic case is the 2016 Olympic Games that had more women in the competition as compared to male participants in the event. This point incase increased the viewership of women, meaning that the participants viewership of women increased to a reason proportion making it more viewed by both sexes, but with women being the majority of viewers.

Are their standards of success and achievement the same?

The standards of achievement always lie on the number of medals that once accrues out of the games. Neymar being a footballer with Barcelona in Spain, he has accumulated more medals in the last few years. This has made him to get publicity from the media, as most of the reputable brands are chasing for his sponsorship of their brands. This is a positive point to such as it helps in him getting more airtime in the media spaces, to help the brands as well as stem his legacy.

There are also competitions that have made sports personalities to be respectable in the society. One being winning the UEFA cup for the sports personalities. This comes with huge cash rewards to both individual and club that the player represents if they win (Hoegele, Sascha, and Benno 602). On the case of women athletes, the women have always played a critical role, but their achievement have not been given more limelight as it should be.

Above all, the standards of success for the sports personalities should be based on teamwork, individual work rate and overall winning of awards forms part of the positive success factors in the race to help streamline the sports industry. Reaching both the World Cup, UEFA Champions league and other possible awards forms a basis of satisfaction for athletes that include Neymar and Marta. Worldwide, in any completion succeeding it what one does forms the beauty and prestige of completion. Those who partake in major events always want to win the award that it brings at the end of the competition. This always makes the competition to be stiff, with all the teams and players strategizing on means and ways of winning.

Standards of Achievement and Success in relation to Gender

The standards of achievements and success for both male and female athletes tend to be different. The standards of performance for the male footballers are often more pronounced compared to the standards of achievement of the female athletes. Such affirms the strict emphasis that the society plays in the sporting activities that tend to involve compared to that which involves women. Taking the case of Marta and Neymar, one can understand how the measures of success are appreciated differently based on the gender of the athlete. The two are both strikers and play for the Brazilian national team. Marta is on record for winning the prestigious FIFA female world player of the year five consecutive times in the period of 2006 to 2010. Additionally, Marta is credited for scoring 15 goals in the 2007 world cup completion and winning the coveted golden boot. At 30 years of Age, Marta is credited with winning the Olympic medals. On the other hand, Neymar is credited for being part of the team that won the FIFA Club World Cup Winner, Brazilian Cup winner, Olympic medalist, UEFA Super cap and the 2011 Brazilian player of the year. Such indicates the level of bias against the female athletes. Winning the player of the year for males is a more precious achievement for the male athletes, unlike the female athletes. As such, the female athletes have to work harder to prove their worth in the football game. A man with fewer titles and medal is regarded to have achieved much more than a female with more titles as is the case between Neymar and Marta. Such calls for a more objective approach into how men and women are being perceived in the football scene.

The levels of success for the male and female athletes are also about the gender of the athlete. For a female athlete, representing the country in an international event, such as the world cup or Olympic games is regarded as a success. However, for males, the worth and earnings of the individual player are deciding factors in asserting the level of success that the given player can earn within a given timeline. As such, success is valued for the male players compared to the female players, thus, leading to evident segregation in the football field. As such, there is need to provide a leveled playground for both the male and female players to enable them to compete effectively in delivering their sports potentials.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the gender codes negatively influence the world of sports by creating segregation on how the male and female athletes are treated. Gender affects the experience that the different players may have on and off the field. On the field, men are viewed to me stronger, and the concentration of the audience is more on the men than the females. Females are always relegated to the role of users and stewards in football with the key attention being on the male players. Additionally, the female players are often viewed as being less experienced compared to their male counterparts. Such levels of segregation are detrimental to the development of football activities amongst various societies in the world. Notably, the male athletes are rewarded with hefty financial wages for their talents while the females are only granted medals and meager pay for their representation of their countries in the competitions. The media is known to play a lead role in enhancing the levels of segregation amongst males and females in sports. In the recommendation, there is need to institute policies in the sporting world that would ensure equity in the participation of males and women in sports. Females need to have adequate coverage of their sporting activities as is the case with men. Additionally, there is need to scout for the female talents and reward them equally to their male counterparts based on the same criteria of awards. Concisely, the gender stereotypes are driven by the societal beliefs of men being superior to females.



Works Cited

Brenner, Philip S. "Differential effects of time constraints on athletic behavior and survey reports of athletic behavior." Sociological Spectrum 37.2 (2017): 97-110.

Eagly, Alice H. Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Psychology Press, 2013.

Hoegele, Daniel, Sascha L. Schmidt, and Benno Torgler. "The importance of key celebrity characteristics for customer segmentation by age and gender: Does beauty matter in professional football?." Review of Managerial Science 10.3 (2016): 601-627.

Kaskan, Emily R., and Ivy K. Ho. "Microaggressions and female athletes." Sex Roles 74.7-8 (2016): 275-287.

Stanger, Nicholas, et al. "Empathy inhibits aggression in competition: the role of provocation, emotion, and gender." Journal of sport and exercise psychology 38.1 (2016): 4-14.