19 June 2021
Writer: Abbie Geering
Editor: Arta Anindita
Picture: Gabrielle Pascal
Gender discrimination is practically everywhere, in everything. That's no different in sports, as it has been going on for a long time and it still saw till today. Since men have predominantly practiced sports, it's seen as more "masculine" because adjectives used to describe it, such as force and aggression aren't typically associated with women. So, when women play sports, especially ones with more masculine qualities, the women in return are perceived as "masculine".
The book, Let Me Play by Karen Blumenthal, describes how before the 1970s many people believe that girls shouldn't play sports. For it was too hard on the body and women need to act "ladylike". There was a time where there were no female superstars to inspire and pave the way for all the girls to come.
The book continues, saying in 1971 the House of Representatives approved the education amendments. This includes title IX, which said that if a school was receiving money from the Government, it couldn't treat boys and girls differently because of their sex. It came to also applies to sports, if a school-sponsored boy, they also need to for girls.
President Richard Nixon signed this into law in 1972. And in 1974, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare proposed rules for IX. In 1975 Gerald Ford, President at the time approves them. Title IX isn't just for sports, it applies to all areas of education such as elementary, secondary schools, and post-secondary institutions (read: federalregister.org).
There are many examples of gender-based discrimination, especially in the past. In the 1967 Boston Marathon is one of these. Kathrine Switzer, signed up under her initials, was in the race. No rules were saying that women couldn't participate, and no rules saying she could. Barely into the race, she was pushed, shoved, and scratched at by an official of the race. The man didn't want her running, so he tried to force her out of it.
Source: Bettmann via Getty Images (listen to the podcast here)
Certain sports focus more on aesthetics, for example, gymnastics can be deemed "better for women". Gymnastics is a sport where the male and female sides differ in some areas. While they will all learn the basics, they will later be separated by gender. For females, Gymnastics shows off their grace and flexibility, whilst males exhibit strength and power. An example of this is the rings, an event done only by men. The event takes a lot of upper body strength, so women aren't allowed to participate.
Men also refuse to add music to their floor routines, they say it is because it will "take the masculinity out of it". Differences like these are in many other sports as well. For more information (read: Is Sport Sexist? Six Sports When Women and Men Are Still Set Apart)
Good news though, the 2016 Rio Olympics, for the first time in history, women represented more than 45% of athletes. This is mostly because of the International Olympic Committee and their goal to achieve equal numbers of men and women. We aren't where we should be and have a long way to go still.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), an organization in North America, is an example of sexism in sports today. In mid-March of this year, great disparities in women's and men's basketball weight rooms were exposed by Oregon's Sedona Prince. This was all happening during the biggest basketball tournament and was going around all over social media. The women's teams were given a small rack of free weights with nothing over 30lbs. Lynn Holzman, the NCAA's vice president of women's basketball, said that they were going to give the women access to a full weight room when they reached the 3rd round of the tournament. After criticism from players, coaches, and fans all over the country, the weights were replaced with a "variety of bars, racks, and stands". The women celebrated after they got to the new weight room.
Weight rooms after and before - Instagram @kershner.ali
There were also other differences between the men's and women's teams, such as swag bags and covid testing. The NCAA saying, "we fell short this year." The incredibly smaller swag bags could have been because of less funding, but that is another issue. The COVID-19 tests were two different tests, however. The women's being a less accurate test, antigen, the men's PCR, a knowingly more accurate test. Again, many quickly stood up against this. Ross Bjork, athletics director at Texas A&M said on Twitter, "I appreciate that (the NCAA) is working on a solution, but this is unacceptable, to begin with. No one in athletics would have thought this was appropriate it would have been consulted."
The gender pay gap is another problem in sports. Women have fought long and hard for equal pay in sports, from well know sports to the ones not many know about. Many people blame this problem on women, with comments like women aren't fast enough, don't dunk, won't play as much. Underinvestment and sexist beliefs are the real problems, not the women and girls.
The U.S women's soccer team has been fighting hard for equal pay (read: How The U.S Women's Soccer Team Found The Strenght In Number: We "Fight For Each Other) . In surfing's 2018 Rip Curl Pro, Stephanie Gilmore earned $65,000 for the women's win. Italo Ferreira took $100,000 home for the men's win. This difference is astonishing and unacceptable. In 2019, Caroline Marks got first at the Gold Coast event, winning $100,000, the first equal prize money in the world surf league.
What we can do:
Recognize inequalities, that they exist, and how they came to be.
Support women and girls sports as a fan or player.
Avoid sexist language (calling knee pushups "girl pushups").
Call out or whistleblow teammates, coaches, fans, etc. on harassment, or discrimination.
Hire more female sports executives and encourage women to go for those roles.
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