Abstract:
This study examined male and female sports journalists at the 100 largest U.S. newspapers to see if they differed in their job satisfaction, feelings of empowerment, and outlook toward the profession. It also examined if they differed in personal demographics and career paths. Finally, all of these factors were examined in relation to plans to leave the profession before retirement. This is one of the first studies to compare men and women working in sports departments. Data was collected for 193 sports journalists through an Internet survey. The results suggest that sportswriters are satisfied with many aspects of their jobs and fairly satisfied overall. Men and women did not differ on any aspect of job satisfaction. Male and female sportswriters also scored similarly in feelings of empowerment and outlook toward the profession. For personal characteristics, women were significantly younger, more likely to be single, and were less likely to have children. The women also reported less time in the profession, not surprising given their age. Men and women were similar on all other personal and career variables studied, including positions held, income, education and preparation for their jobs. The only demographic or career variable related to decision to leave sports journalism before retirement was gender. Women were significantly more likely to say they planned to leave the field. Women were more than twice as likely as men to say they would leave the field within the next two years. Age, race, income, marital status and other career variables did not statistically emerge as significant predictor variables in why a sportswriter would choose to leave the industry. When attitudinal measures were added, only outlook toward the profession and goal internalization emerged with gender as related to decision to leave the profession. Those with more positive outlooks and higher internalization of their newspaper's goals said they would stay longer, but gender was still the dominant factor in variability within the decision to leave. Future research should examine reasons, beyond those investigated in this study, related to why women are more likely to leave sports journalism.
