'Battle of the sixes': investigating print media representations of female professional golfers competing in a men's tour event

Bowes, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5635-106X and Kitching, N, 2019. 'Battle of the sixes': investigating print media representations of female professional golfers competing in a men's tour event. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. ISSN 1012-6902

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Abstract

In May 2018, the men's European Tour invited five female professional golfers to compete in its GolfSixes event in England, against 27 professional male players. This was significant, particularly given the female struggle for equality of access, participation, employment and decision making in golf settings. This research investigates the print media representation of these five female professional golfers competing in this male domain. Using the Nexis database, data was collected from print newspapers in the United Kingdom and Ireland over six days before, during and after the event. Following thematic analysis, findings highlight a double-edged sword to media coverage of female athletes competing against men; women received greater media coverage when in the male sport spotlight, but the coverage was framed by gendered discourses. The results document a slow shift towards more equal and equitable print media coverage of female athletes, whilst drawing attention to the problematic ways in which sportswomen are represented.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Review for the Sociology of Sport
Creators:	Bowes, A. and Kitching, N.
Publisher:	Sage
Date:	14 April 2019
ISSN:	1012-6902
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1177/1012690219842544 DOI
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	11 Apr 2019 15:56
Last Modified:	28 Jun 2019 08:58
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/36234

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