Misogyny in sports needs to end
In the name of progressiveness, the media and society tells young girls that they can be whatever they want when they grow up. They use slogans such as “girl power” to try and convince young girls that they can be treated as equals amongst their male counterparts. Especially in school, we are fed the idea that things have gotten better for women as time has passed, and while it has to a degree, the work is not finished.
Due to media portrayal, women are seen as weak and below men in both intelligence and power. This lens that people see women through causes many biases that build up to issues such as the wage gap. According to Forbes Magazine, women make 82 cents to every dollar a man makes, and that still does not account for the wage gap between white women and women of color.
In sports, the wage gap is especially high because of society’s desire to favor male athletes over female athletes. An NBCSports article from 2021, described the wage gap between male and female tennis players for the top 200 players in the WTA and the ATP as nearly twice the amount of money for male players to female players.
On a more applicable level, many school districts give more funding to men’s sports than women’s sports. Men’s sports teams tend to have more coaches, better equipment, and more accessibility to fitness areas. The worst part is that people act like they care about equality and equity when in reality, the systems that are in place make accessibility harder for women.
As a community, we need to make sure that our actions speak louder than our words. Women’s sports and activities deserve just as much funding and accessibility as their male-centered counterparts. We need to make sure that we are holding ourselves up to the standard we so heavily preach, because if we do not, we will just disappoint ourselves and generations to come.
