British journalist Vicki Sparks became the first woman to commentate a men's FIFA World Cup match for BBC.
She is not alone, former US Women's National Team midfielder Aly Wagner became the first female game analyst on American television when she commentated a World Cup Match for Fox Sports while German Claudia Neumann and Swede Hanna Marklund did the same in their respective countries.
However, all of these women were met with criticism from people who believe that women should not be commentating men's matches as well as patronization from men who believed they were clueless.
Former defender Jason Cundy was highly criticized by the media when he complained that women's voices as too "high-pitched" for soccer and that he "found it tough to listen." While former French national team player Patrice Evra was criticized for his misogyny and shock that Juventus forward Eniola Aluko understood basic concepts of soccer.
I believe that this blatant sexism is exactly the reasons that there need to be more women commentating men's soccer matches. Women are just as capable of understanding and analyzing soccer as men are, in fact, the commentary of Aly Wagner and her partner Derek Rae has been praised as "the tournament's best commentary."
As both a player and a fan, I have always felt like there is a connotation that men's soccer is, for some reason, better than women's soccer. Maybe it is that fact that nearly everywhere around the world, men's soccer receives more coverage and funding than women's. Maybe it is the fact that many women's soccer leagues are newer than the leagues of their male counterparts. Whatever the reason it needs to end. Especially in the United States, a nation that has seen its women's national team win three FIFA World Cups and four Olympics golds, while its men's team has failed to win one of either, yet fails to truly support women's soccer.
Aly Wagner was recently quoted as saying "I think it's really important to have men and young boys and teenagers…hear women's voices in the sports world on the level of analyst…as long as it's good analysis." I completely agree.
There need to more female commentators at all levels of soccer and other sports to show that, despite the vast gender inequality, women can work and succeed in the field of sports journalism. And the only way to get women accepted as sports commentators is to make it the new norm.
