Examining Gender Inequality Through the Lens of American Sports with Macaela MacKenzie

Air Dates: July 17-23, 2023

Rebroadcast Dates: March 25-31, 2024

For all of the excitement and glamour, professional female athletes still lag well behind their male counterparts in terms of how much they earn, the power they wield in their profession, and the respect afforded them. Macaela MacKenzie shows that this phenomenon in sports is no different from the experience of women across American society.

MacKenzie is a journalist who writes about women and power. She covers women’s equality through the lenses of sports, wellness, and the gender gap across industries. She is the author of “MONEY, POWER, RESPECT: How Women in Sports Are Shaping the Future of Feminism.  She was a Senior Editor at Glamour where she directed all health and wellness coverage.  She’s profiled Billie Jean King, Megan Rapinoe, Simone Biles, Allyson Felix, Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Maya Moore, Mikaela Shiffrin, and many other ground-breaking women.  Prior to her role at Glamour, MacKenzie was a freelance journalist focusing on the intersection of women’s wellness and culture. She has over 2,000 bylines for outlets including Glamour, Elle, SELF, Bustle, Marie Claire, Allure, Women’s Health, and Forbes among other publications.

On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” MacKenzie dives into the power sports have in our world today.  She says, “pay discrimination has been illegal in the United States since 1963, and it still happens.  There’s around a 20% pay gap in any given industry across most of the world.”  She says a broader cultural change is needed.  She adds, “it’s not just that we need legislation to close the pay gap, but it’s that we need to actually really actively challenge the assumptions about women’s worth and the worth of other marginalized groups in order to see lasting progress.”

“Story in the Public Square” broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. A full listing of the national television distribution is available at this link. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 5:00 a.m., 10:00 p.m. and Mondays at 2:30 a.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a project of the Pell Center at Salve Regina University. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.