Rio Olympics highlights gender inequality gap in sports reporting
According to new research from Cambridge University Press, men’s sports in the 2016 Rio Olympics received 20% more coverage than women’s sports, representing a contracting gender inequality gap in sport reporting. The research also demonstrated a higher usage of the gender neutral term "sportsperson" alongside a significant association between the words “female” and “first” throughout media coverage.

A new research from Cambridge University Press indicates that the gender equality gap in the reporting of sport is narrowing down. In the recently concluded 2016 Olympics Games at Rio, researchers found that men’s sports received just 20 per cent more air time than women’s during the Rio Games – a considerable stride towards striking a balance in the reporting of men’s and women’s sport.The gender-neutral term ‘sportsperson’ was also used with a considerably higher frequency during the Olympics. According to the release from Cambridge University Press, athletes themselves were making strides towards generating fairer sports reporting.The study also highlighted an association between the words ‘female’ and ‘first’ suggesting that Rio 2016 was an Olympics of firsts for many female athletes, including Taekwondo fighter Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin who made history by becoming the first Iranian woman to ever win an Olympic medal. US Skeet shooter Kim Rhode became the first female athlete to win an individual medal in six straight summer Olympic Games.