Leave it to one of the biggest international events to pull us back 50 years and put women back in their place as subordinate to men. The Olympics have only been happening for about a week now and so many are already reminding females that we will never be as good as our male counterparts. 45% of all athletes at the Olympics this year are female – so why are women still being treated as if we do not belong?
Over the past week, our female athletes have been triumphant – bringing home the gold in gymnastics, cycling, shooting, and even vanquishing the world record in swim. However, despite the incredible accomplishments of these young women, many media reports do not even focus on the athletes themselves, but instead on the fact that they are mothers, wives, and acting like "girls" (whatever that means). It has been almost a century since women were granted the right to vote and over 50 years since the "equal rights amendment" was passed, yet we still cannot look past gender when it comes to athletic success?
Some of the most absurd comments that have been made in the past few days unfortunately ermerge from popular news sources. For example, when Corey Cogdell won bronze in women's trapshooting, the Chicago Tribune tweeted, "Wife of Bears' lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics." I'm sorry, what does her husband have to do with her success in shooting (which, along with her name, is not even mentioned)? The article linked to the tweet expands on her husband's background as a Bear and why he was not able to make it to watch his wife in the Olympics, only including three sentences about Corey as an athlete. Despite what some may think, women are not defined by the men in their lives! We are independent human beings and should be recognized as individuals. After Katinka Hosszú (Hungary) won gold in the 400-meter medley, NBC Commentator, Dan Hicks, actually panned to her husband in the crowd and awarded him the credit for his wife's gold by stating that he's "the man responsible". Again, what does Katinka's husband have to do with her athleticism? These two examples are just a couple of the many recent sexist comments regarding the 2016 Rio Olympics that are proving how difficult it is to be recognized as a female athlete. Some other statements include another NBC commentator's observation that the female gymnasts "look like they might as well be standing in the middle of a mall" or that Katie LeDecky, who broke her own World Record in the 400-meter freestyle, is simply a "female Michael Phelps" and "swims like a man". If popular news sources are commenting on female athletes in such a sexist manner, how do we expect the rest of society to move away from such trends?
These women have been putting in the same amount of time, work, and effort as the men competing in the games and deserve the same recognition for accomplishing the same task. Corey Cogdell is such an amazing shooter because she trained and worked hard for years. Katinka Hosszú's gold medal was awarded to her because she swam faster than her competition, not because of her husband. The US Women's Gymnastics team were conversing and laughing because they had just demolished their competition and won a gold medal in the Olympics. Finally, Katie Ledecky? She is 19 and absolutely shattered the World Record that she had set; Michael Phelps would be lucky to be compared to her. It is baffling that so many women have won a gold medal in the Olympics, yet they are still only viewed as someone's wife? They are still only seen as a mother? They are still only considered to be the "female Michael Phelps"? No. This is an injustice. These female athletes are independent, successful women and deserve the recognition that men receive.
To all the female athletes out there, stay badass and keep fighting.
