Gender equity -- the balance of representation and recognition for both men's and women's athletics -- is critical to any discussion of athletics in an overall sense.

Title IX mandates equity under federal law, but it should be a moral imperative even without the legal teeth. Female participation in sports has tripled in the last 25 years, but media representation has not kept pace. Advocates of the status quo say that men's sports are the only ones that matter, while proponents of equity counter that a three-fold increase in participation warrants increased coverage.

The Idaho State University sports information staff recently conducted a year-long study to review gender equity at the local level with regard to Idaho State athletics. Each of the 511 articles (not paid ads) about Idaho State athletes, coaches or programs in the Idaho State Journal between July 1, 1999, and June 30, 2000, were catalogued according to several gender-related subject areas.

For the purposes of the Idaho State study, news print was selected specifically because of the tremendous impact that the sports section has on shaping attitudes, values and beliefs. The State Journal was chosen because it is a regional daily paper with a circulation of about 18,000 and a readership up to three times that number. More importantly, it provides the most complete coverage of Idaho State athletics and was therefore the perfect candidate for a study such as this.

Given that the ratio of men's sports coverage to women's sports coverage in print media in an overwhelming number of studies has shown that typically at least 75 percent and up to 90 percent of the sports section is devoted to men's athletics, this study was undertaken specifically to measure if encouragement, aid and assistance could stimulate greater gender balance.

During the course of the year studied, I provided materials in the form of five media guides, 78 inserts, 52 (five to 15 pages each) weekly sport releases, 127 game previews and wrap-ups, 309 news releases, as well as many photographs. I also provided further stimulation and support through daily phone calls, e-mails and face-to-face consultation. I'm sure that at times I went overboard, but I'm also sure that it made a difference.

The study found that these efforts made a significant impact (in both quantity and quality) and resulted in marked overall improvement in print media coverage allocated by the newspaper to Idaho State female athletes and women's athletics.

A 1991 Amateur Athletic Foundation (AAF) study of four widely read dailies (USA Today, the Orange County Register, the Boston Globe and the Dallas Morning News) reported a 23:1 ratio between male-only and female-only articles in the sports section. A similar study showed that most newspapers devote only 15 percent or less of available space to women's athletics.

The Idaho State study found a much more reasonable 1.13:1 ratio. About 45 percent of the Idaho State articles in the State Journal were about men only, and 40 percent were about women only.

The AAF also claimed that women-only stories represented just 3 percent of front-page articles, compared to 85 percent for men.

In the Idaho State study, women-only athletics made up about 39 percent of front-page State Journal stories, compared to about 52 percent for men.

And while most of the column inches in this study were devoted to men's sports, the difference was not nearly as profound as that reported by the AAF, which showed that 28.8 times as many column inches were devoted to men-only sports stories as compared to women-only sports stories. Several other studies of newspapers have shown similar male dominance in column inches.

Column inches devoted to a newspaper article is equivalent to the duration of air time allotted to a story in television. ESPN and CNN in their sports coverage assign anywhere from 20 to 40 times as much air time to men's athletics achievements. In contrast, in the Idaho State study, about 1.6 times as many column inches were devoted to men-only sports stories, or a ratio of 60 percent to 40 percent. It still is not perfect equity, but it is significantly better than the ratios typically attributed to sports media coverage.

Vigilance the key

Why focus on the media? The media is everywhere, and it wields an amazing power to influence. According to the 1999 Bureau of the Census, 97 million U.S. households have a television set (98.4 percent of total households), and 57 million households have daily newspaper circulation. In 1998, there were 10,508 newspapers in the U.S., and 12,036 periodicals (of which at least a portion have sports sections or features). The average American will watch nearly 1,600 hours of television this year, and will spend more than 150 hours reading the newspaper and another 80 hours reading magazines.

Print coverage is an important area of research in gender equity because, to put it simply, under-represented is under-valued. Newspapers cover what they believe the public wants to read. But it is more than simply a reflection of societal values -- it also is a creator.

Sports news sells newspapers, and the sports section is critical to a paper's circulation and readership. The sports section constitutes up to 50 percent of some newspapers. It can be five times as widely read as any other section, and at least 30 percent of readers nationwide say they get the paper specifically for the sports section.

It is important to note that at no point before the study's conclusion was the State Journal told that the study was being conducted. The information was withheld to avoid changes in coverage that might result simply from the knowledge that they were under scrutiny.

To promote greater equity, this study showed that vigilance was the key. Most sportswriters admit that their tendency would be to continue as usual unless presented with a viable alternative. It is human nature to resist change unless circumstances ease the transition. Therefore, by making it easy (through effort and extra attention) for the media to run stories or pictures of women's athletics, the results of this study indicate that more gender-equitable print media coverage can be achieved.

The results in this study indicate a continuation of the trend toward equity in Idaho State athletic coverage. So far, Idaho State women's coverage has actually exceeded men's coverage in the State Journal since July 1 by a 1.55:1 ratio in number of stories and a 1.26:1 advantage in column inches.

These results also indicate that active efforts by sports information personnel positively influenced print media coverage. We took provided support and aid to the Idaho State Journal, and it paid off.

There were several limitations to this study. First, the State Journal doesn't have the same type of coverage characteristics as a larger paper that may devote more space to professional sports and have less space to devote to collegiate sports. Second, the sports section is in some degree dependent on the Associated Press for stories and graphics, and to that extent it can run only what the AP provides, which may in itself not be equitable.

Yet, despite these limitations, the study answered the question of whether sports information personnel could make a difference.

Sports information personnel have a unique opportunity, not afforded most, to have a direct impact on the media. The role of the sports information department is to provide information to the media about the school's athletics programs and to facilitate and accommodate media requests in regard to those athletics programs, with the end result being promotion.

In a culture driven by and obsessed with money, too often those who make and enforce the law have not shown the fortitude to stand for what is right, especially if it means standing in the way of financial gain. Because this stance will not likely change any time soon, further advancement of women's athletics may -- and probably will -- be slow. However, as this study shows, change can occur through encouragement, aid and support.

Reed Hollinshead is the associate sports information director at Idaho State University. Cynthia Pemberton, a professor in the Idaho State department of physical education, recreation and dance, contributed significantly to the article. This study is the first part of an ongoing, more comprehensive look at gender representation in the print media.