Mujeres deportistas: poca visibilidad y mucho estereotipo

Abstract

The article analyzes the public opinion on the image of sportswomen in relation to that of sportsmen in the Historical Territory of Gipuzkoa (Basque Country, Spain). In recent years, on the one hand, there has been a significant advance in the parity of sports practice and, on the other hand, a high sports performance of female athletes has been observed, which has become visible to the extent that they have had the opportunity to prove it. However, the media often continue to offer a stereotypical image of female athletes later reproduced in public opinion. The article shows the results of a survey carried out among the population of Gipuzkoa on the visibility / invisibility of sportswomen and the stereotypes associated with their image. The results indicate that still, and despite different efforts, female athletes are not very visible to the population. Both the spontaneous and assisted notoriety of female athletes is much lower than that of male athletes. Low visibility adds to another problem, the persistence of stereotypes. The tendency to influence issues related to physical appearance is confirmed, as well as the attribution of different values according to the athlete's sex. Despite everything, a favorable predisposition towards the consumption of sports practiced by women has been identified. In short, there are some steps towards parity, but the challenge remains