Abstract

MUJICA JOHNSON, Felipe Nicolás  and  CONCHA LOPEZ, Rocío Fernanda. Gender inequality in the sports press of El Mercurio. Trama comun. [online]. 2020, vol.24, n.120, pp.71-84. ISSN 1668-5628.

Women have been historically despised by the androcentric culture, which continues to this day and is a reality that crosses the different social fields. Therefore, this patriarchal perspective is also present in sports and is reproduced through the sports press. With the intention of investigating this problem, this study was conducted with the objective of analyzing the presence of men and women in the sports section of the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio. The methodology used responds to a mixed approach, with a documentary study design. The documentary sample was taken from the digital version of the newspaper, which corresponds to the textual and photographic content of the sports news of the last seven days of the month of May and August of 2018. In total 478 news items were analyzed, which contained 307 photographs. The results reveal a wide gender inequality in the visibility of female and male sports. Likewise, it is identified how the news relativizes the problem of sexism and generates favorable expectations of achievement for men's sport. Finally, it is concluded that this newspaper has reproduced the androcentric culture through its sports press.

Keywords : Sport; Gender stereotype; Sensationalism; Sports journalism; Androcentric culture.