Women athletes in the Olympic Games traditionally have had fewer events to compete in, and while opportunities for women have increased in recent years, this still reflects the situation. For example, many events in the Summer Games remain closed to women. Events such as boxing, wrestling, equestrian, modern pentathlon, judo, and weightlifting are open to men only (Wallechinsky 183-204; 542-556, 560-576; 239-262; 364-369; 358-362; and 509-536). In addition, many sports have more events scheduled for men than for women. Sports such as cycling have seven events for men but only two events for women. Fencing has six events for men and only two for women. Canoeing is also another sport that short-changes women, with nine events for men and three events for women. Even in such as sport as shooting, men have six events and women have four, with two additional events scheduled for men and women combined (trap shooting and skeet shooting).
In gymnastics and swimming, women fare better. In swimming, there are 19 events for both men and women. In gymnastics there are eight events for men and seven for women (Wallechinsky 424-491 and 315-351). Of the total number of events in the Summer Games of 1984, 164 were held for men, 74 for women, and eight were mixed events for men and women (Wallechinsky).
In the Winter Games, a much smaller event, the biathlon, bobsled, toboggan are reserved for men. Women, however hold their own in the alpine skiing event with five events for them and five for men. In speed skating there are also five events for men and women. In the popular figure skating, men and women share equally in the spotlight. However, when it comes to Nordic skiing, men take the lead with 10 events and women have four events (Wallechinsky).
Women have also had to endure less coverage in the media for their events. In two studies made the Amateur Athletic Foundation quantified what many had already known, that the m...