Tenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

In November 2018, nine-year-old Riley Morrison wrote a letter to NBA superstar, Stephen Curry, after attempting to purchase a new pair of Under Armour Curry 5 basketball shoes for her upcoming basketball season and learning the shoe was not available in girls’ sizing. In a viral letter to Curry, she poignantly highlighted the inequity of the situation and encouraged Curry to remedy the problem, noting, “girls want to rock the Curry 5’s too.” Inspired by this incident, the purpose of this study was to offer an empirical examination of the sport retail options available to girls relative to their male counterparts. A content analysis of the websites maintained by top sport retailers and major sport apparel brands was conducted in order to examine the merchandise options available to girls and boys in sport. Results of the study illustrated severe gender inequities relative to the youth sport retail market. The majority of sport retailers did not differentiate between genders in their “youth” product lines, and “youth” sport products predominantly featured photos of young boys actively engaged in sport. Girls were almost exclusively treated as “other,” presented as “fans,” or ignored all together. The theoretical lens of enclothed cognition is applied to help interpret the findings and establish female youth as an undeserved market segment in the sport retail industry. Implications will focus on the impact this has on the broader issue of diversity and inclusion in sport.