Women Are Still Struggling To Break Into The “Boys Club” Of Sports Broadcasting But Doing So Could Change The Nature Of Pro Female Athlete Coverage

And since then, women’s contributions to sports media have only grown over the years.

For instance, Doris Burke– one of the most well-known female sportscasters– launched her career in 1990. Since then, she has been an analyst for the NBA on ESPN, College Basketball on ESPN, and the NBA on ABC, as well as College Basketball on ABC.

Similarly, Jemele Hill, a revered sportscaster for ESPN and SportsCenter, began her career in 1999; meanwhile, Mina Kimes– who is now an analyst on NFL Live and a senior writer at ESPN– broke into the sports media industry in 2007.

While aspiring women sports journalists have these powerhouses to look toward, though, there is no denying that these accomplished female sportscasters are like unicorns in their field.

Recently, other prominent female sportscasters even sat down with The Cut and detailed how to this day, making a mistake on air is terrifying– simply because they are women.

“I remember this year, I pronounced a player’s name wrong. It was really cold, and my lips were freezing, and it came out weird. Those are the times when social media feels the worst because, even if I own the mistake, fans are ruthless,” explained Jenny Taft, a sideline reporter for Fox Sports.

“And as a woman, I do find that those mistakes are bigger, like, ‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

Even more disheartening is the fact that most journalism graduates in the United States are women– over sixty-seven percent, to be exact.

Yet unfortunately, the well-known “boys’ club” culture of sports broadcasting pushes many young journalists to ditch their dreams of being on the sidelines and pursue other career routes.

So, of course, hiring more women and tearing down any internal discriminatory hiring processes in sports journalism is the first step. Showing young female journalists what is possible on a broad scale– not just a tokenized one– is crucial.

In the meantime, though, there is a dire need for journalism schools to start inspiring female students to go for their goals despite the industry status quo.