Open Road to Competition: Media Framing of Social Justice Within Professional Women's Cycling

The creation of women's versions of popular men's cycling races sparked plenty of media attention as women had historically been denied access to these spaces. Since access to these races and subsequent media provides opportunities and benefits for cyclists, the races become potential sites of social justice, underscoring the importance of understanding the media narrative of social justice in women's cycling. Therefore, we analyzed the presence of the five propositions (distributive justice, procedural justice, interactive justice, recognition, care, and repair) of social justice in public spaces in media narratives surrounding the women's Paris-Roubaix and Tour de France. Issues of distributive, procedural, and interactive justice were present in arguments that gatekeepers could not invest in women's cycling without proof of success, as well as in gatekeepers’ reputation of intolerance. Women faced disproportionate burdens due to lack of resources, representing issues of recognition, procedural justice, and distributive justice.