Women consistently receive backlash for pretty much anything they do. Whether it’s their makeup, the way they talk, or even how they dress; it just so happens that most negative comments about women are based on their appearance.
Recently, Beth Mowins was the second female broadcaster ever (first for a national broadcast) to announce Monday Night Football. Of course other programs such as Sunday Night Baseball now have a female broadcaster, Jessica Mendoza, but the world of sports is taking a long time to integrate women as announcers to shows like Sunday Night Baseball and Monday Night Football.
With Mowins’ first appearance on Monday Night Football she received a lot of backlash like many broadcaster’s may face. Mowins criticism was different though. The negative comments she received weren’t about the way she called the play-by-plays, it was the way her voice sounded when she did.
Unfortunately I wasn’t surprised. Instead of Mowins being criticized for her play-by-play skills, she was criticized for her voice. Those who criticized her claimed that the statements they made about her voice weren’t sexist, but I’m justgoing to have to say “nope, they were.” Saying that a women isn’t good at her job because of the sound of her voice has nothing to do with her skill set. Instead of critiquing a woman on how she sounds, people should criticize them on their professional skills.
Women are consistently criticized on their appearance, especially in sports. Female athletes are always told to “give the camera a smile” or receive negative comments on their appearance, whereas men never receive comments like that. It’s important that not just in sports but in any profession, women are held to the same standard as men. It’s up to reporters to ask female athletes the questions they would ask a male athlete.