National Hockey League
Although it's the least watched sport among the major four, the National Hockey League (NHL) has a dedicated fanbase that is adamant about hockey. Yet, the passion of the fans, the majority of whom online are female, does not translate into who's being hired to comment on the sport. For the most part, the field is dominated by men, specifically those who played the game. By doing this, it's shutting women out from getting the same opportunities because, currently, they're not allowed to play in the NHL. While this will hopefully change over time, here's the current landscape of which genders are broadcasting among the major four broadcasting networks and NHL.TV.
Current Landscape
As this infographic shows, only four women are being employed to report on solely hockey between all four major broadcasting networks and the NHL's personal channel. While ESPN and CBS aren't exactly to blame for this (the latter not having a contract with the NHL so it employs no one to cover the sport), FOX and NBC are drastically unequal in their representation. With 30 people covering the NHL, FOX has no women, a testament to who's watching FOX. The historically conservative network may not push politics during sports, but it's hard to imagine it's not playing a role in the hiring decisions. For NBC, which also has no women on their staff to cover the NHL, falls into the trap of hiring former players as reporters, once again giving women no opportunities. The only network with women on their staff is the NHL's network, yet there's only four of them compared to the 18 men. While it's obvious that the NHL is making a greater effort to negate this gender bias, they have to be the ones to set the groundwork for it. If they're only hiring four women, it gives FOX and NBC no reason to change their system because they see the NHL as not making any effort either.
Treatment of Women
To highlight the obvious differences between how men and women are treated as reporters, I found an interview with NHL Network host Jamie Hersch, the title of which is "NHL Network's Jamie Hersch likes the bad boys". The interview, done by a Minnesota newspaper (Hersch's home state) is clearly pandering to audiences by capitalizing on her gender. In the interview, Hersch is asked a series of questions, none of which touch on her gender specifically but are questions that a male reporter would never be asked. From "I wanted to ask, when was the last time a hockey player hit on your, not noticing the wedding ring?" to "What's more important for a man to have: hair or teeth?", the interviewer, who is also a woman, uses Hersch's gender as a way to ask her about her career. While Hersch didn't play hockey, she grew up in Minnesota around hockey players, as she states in the interview, giving her enough knowledge about to sport to become a reporter for NHL Network. This wasn't an accident that she got the job, yet because she's a woman, the interviewer is implying that she is unable to separate her job from her personal life. Men are never asked if a player crosses a boundary, yet it's assumed because Hersch is a female, and one of the only females in a position like this, as demonstrated above, that it's a large part of her day to day life, taking away from her career. Rather than commenting on how unjust it is that Hersch is treated differently by players because of her gender, the interviewer simply makes a joke out of it, showing just how divided the treatment of male and female reporters are when covering the NHL.