From The Straits Times    |

London 2012 Olympic Games special

women prefer the OlympicsWomen may love participating in sports, but they don’t really enjoy watching them on television, except when it comes to the Olympics, according to a new study.

The study, which examined data from 19 women aged 26 to 43, was conducted by Erin Whiteside of the University of Tennessee and Marie Hardin of Pennsylvania State University.

Researchers found that women opt for “condensed sporting events” like the Olympics over sports with longer seasons.

Also, women prefer watching sports such as gymnastics, tennis, and figure skating, while showing less interest in sports such as women’s basketball.

“Our research provides some insight into why the Olympics remain popular with women,” said Hardin in a release dated July 6.

“It’s also about the way in which the Olympics is delivered: in bite-sized chunks that may require just a 10-minute commitment to see an exciting sporting event, during a time of day when women feel they can make that commitment.”

The study also found that women differ from men in how they consume sports media, noting that their spectatorship is tied to domestic work, since women reported not having the time to watch television with child rearing and household chores.

Other reasons women tuned in?

Patriotic ones, as well as for the fast pace of the events, and omnipresent media coverage, which makes it easy to follow certain sports whereas they otherwise might not have time, noted the researchers.

Also, the women reported watching television sports with their husbands just to keep the peace at home, rather than for their own enjoyment.