Looking On From the Sideline: Perceived Role Congruity of Women Sports Journalists

Female sports journalists face many challenges, including being judged differently from men, based on their looks and the sport being covered. The present study utilized a quasi-experimental design to examine the impact of attractiveness and role congruence on source credibility and reader loyalty for female sports print journalists. A sample of 328 individuals read a newspaper story involving either football or volleyball, authored by a man or a woman of varying attractiveness. Women who covered football were not seen as less credible but were perceived as less congruent for the job in comparison to female volleyball writers. Furthermore, males covering maleappropriate sports not only were perceived as a stronger fit but also were of greater likelihood to generate reader loyalty than those covering female-appropriate sports.