Reinforcement of Gender Stereotypes in Sports Discourse: A Comparative Qualitative Analysis of Pakistani and International Newspapers

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the linguistic strategies used for projecting sportsmen and sportswomen in sports news of selected Pakistani and foreign newspapers. Sports are perceived to be male dominated where women are typically viewed as mere intruders and consequently sportspersons are represented in traditional ways by the media. By using Hall’s theory of representation as its theoretical base, the present work has analyzed forty news items qualitatively; gathered from two Pakistani and two foreign newspapers for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively. The analysis has focused upon linguistic strategies employed for depicting male and female sports stars. The study concludes that media is extremely biased in its depiction of sports stars as focus has been laid on feminine attributes of sportswomen while sportsmen have been depicted in athletic ways. The study recommends sensitizing media outlets regarding the detrimental effect of this biased reporting on the public perception of sportspersons.