Are Women Sports Journalists in Spain Truly Progressing or Facing “Pseudo-Progress”?

Abstract

Sports journalism has become one of the news products with the most significant social reach in the press, radio, television and digital media. Despite the significant presence of women in journalism, they continue to face gender-based stereotypes. In Spain, not very many women can effectively access the labour field of sports journalism, and those who do find themselves in a space dominated by men, which results in a perpetuation of the existing imbalances in society. The main objective of this study is to analyse the evolution of the roles developed by women journalists in the article-production aspect of the Spanish sports press between 2010 and 2022. We use quantitative content analysis, studying the articles published in Marca and Mundo Deportivo during the second week of June in 2010, 2014, and 2018, and the third week of November 2022; in each of these years, the men’s FIFA World Cup was played. The results of this study show that: (a) women journalists have an almost invisible role in the production of articles, and (b) rather than progress, women are facing “pseudo-progress”, a more appropriate term for the appearance of a change that is not actually occurring.