Keep up with recent happenings in the female hockey world.
The Struggle of a Female Athlete
Women’s sports has, for a very long time, been underestimated, ignored and quite frankly, not taken seriously in any respect.
For centuries, female athletes have fought for the right to attend sporting events; for the right to take part in sports, and now, to even be covered in them.
1919 Eaton’s Red Wings Women’s hockey team of Canada. One of the very first female hockey teams in the world.
The whole point of the 21st century, one would think, is for women to have as fair a chance as men to succeed in this world. And to be honest with you, I thought we were doing a very good job with that.
Women are becoming directors, CEOs of big companies, and winning predominantly male awards—like rapper, Cardi B, who is the first female to have won best rap album. As far as I was aware, we were on a roll, until I discovered the struggle female athletes face and their fight for equality and respect
Cardi B, seen here performing in the 2019 annual Openair Frauenfeld was the first female to have won best rap album.
It blows my mind to think that the world of female sports is constantly being undermined and downplayed in our society.
You would think that with all the progress that we’ve made in other areas (in education, health care, the work place, and domestic life), the sports sector would be a little different. But sadly it’s not. It's tragic what female athletes have to endure just to play the game that they love.
To shock you with some of the hardships that female athletes experience, here’s this:
Pay gaps: Female athletes get paid far less than their male counterparts, even if they are playing the exact same sport. According to a piece byWikipedia, the free encyclopedia on gender pay gap in sports, a tournament winning male golfer is entitled to prize money that is 6 times more than that of a female winner. With the male winner entitled to receiving $256 million and the female, a minuscule $50 million. Can you even believe that?!
Media coverage: Media coverage is yet another area in sports that has failed female athletes. According to Glamour, Men’s sports get such an incredible amount of coverage—96% to be exact—while that of women’s is a measly 4%. It’s infuriating, and I struggle terribly to understand why! Is it that all the TV stations are always crashing? Or that the billboard posters are being blown away by a strong wind? Or that the TV signal is constantly ruined by heavy rain?
These are the most bizarre reasons I could think of, and I’m pretty sure that they’re not the case. Women play their hearts out on those arenas only to be unappreciated for it. Not only is this unfair, it’s also cruel.
Judgement and disrespect: There isn’t anything that makes my blood boil more than the abuse that sportswomen face. Did you know that nearly 27% of comments on well-read Facebook posts by major Australian broadcasters were negative towards the appearance of athletic women, compared to 8% for male athletes?
It doesn’t make sense to me why people believe that women should be criticized for things they have no control over. It’s not a beauty competition for goodness sake, it’s a sports game!
Lack of support: Did you know that girls in sports are twice as likely to drop out by the age of 14 than boys? According to major studies, a big reason for this is lack of support from society, and sometimes from family. Girls are constantly told that sports are not for them. So what do they do? They leave!
To conclude, all what I’ve been yapping about is pretty pointless if nothing is done abo ut it. We need to stop mumbling and complaining and actually take serious action against this. If you feel as strongly enough about this injustice like we do, you can sign a number of petitions like this and this that fight for equal rights for female athletes.
Female athletes dedicate just as much time and effort towards their chosen sports as male athletes do, and it’s time that we start recognizing the not-so-subtle ways that society undermines these efforts.
Together, we can make true and lasting change.
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