Let's be honest, female opinions, viewpoints, and sports related conversations in the media world are often not taken seriously enough nor respected in the same way that their male counterparts' voices are.

While you could ask any woman interested in talking, covering, or watching sports, or her personal experiences with sexism, nothing reinforces that divide more than the big networks who continue to produce only, and I repeat only male dominated content.

As a once aspiring sports journalist myself, one of my biggest pet peeves makes sense considering the many men in the field who hold very little, if any, respect for an alternative voice.

Even more so, the consistency from many to intentionally underestimate a woman's knowledge in sports, especially in football, basketball, and baseball, the three sports that tend to bring in the most revenue each year, is infuriating and repulsive.

Don't even get me started on the lack of female broadcasters and reporters that are never on the screen when you turn on ESPN, CBS Sports, or even NBC. Of course you do see some women, but what role are they really playing on screen?

Are they analysts? No. Are they running their own show? Definitely not. No, they're facilitating the conversation as a host; asking the men around the table what they think.

Sure Doris Burke, Maria Taylor, and Holly Rowe have made great strides to change this, and I applaud the efforts that have come with their voices, but even the biggest women in sports today continue to talk about the struggles they've faced in such a competitive environment.

I mean not only do women have to overcome the prejudice that comes with journalistic endeavors, in women's professional sports the gender gap is critically apparent from just about every angle.

Not only does this show the lack of power women hold in the sports industry, it shows the representation problem that we still have.

As we grasp at the hope that the sports we all love may end up coming back in the next couple of months, we must also realize that we are guilty of this "preference" towards male dominated sports content whether we acknowledge it or not, it's real and we are all to blame.

Tell me, if you had to name a single WNBA player, would you actually come up with a name as fast as if someone asked you for a NBA player? I highly doubt it. To be frank, it would take me a minute as well.

Yet, even the least-knowledgeable of sports fans could name at least one male player and why is that? What drives the general public towards men's sports rather than women's?

Here's why: It's hard to get interested in women's sports when you don't even see them on the air.

Think about it. It's truly rare in the average American household (without a prepaid subscription), to turn the TV on and see women playing golf, soccer, basketball, or any sport really. Besides during Olympic seasons every two years, it's men, men, and more, wait for it... men!

I love to watch sports. It's a universal language of excitement, heartache, pain, and reward. It brings people from all areas of the world together and there is just something so exciting and positive about that aspect of it that makes me continue to watch.

However, too often are people genuinely impressed by the knowledge that women including myself have while watching, analyzing, or even writing about the game.

It's like because we are women, we are still not taken seriously enough... and this is 2020.

Just because a woman will probably never be able to observe a 3-4 defense from the field, or experience a 90 mph fastball go flying by her, or even have a 6'6 guard block her in the paint does not mean that she doesn't know what she is talking about, and it certainly doesn't mean that she lacks the skill to comment on it either.

With such a lull in sports coverage due to COVID-19, I have had some time to reflect about how this needs to change.

I mean it's hard not to think about the women in all of this, those behind the scenes, those on camera, and most of all, the women who have had to live this reality every single day just in their pursuit of success and happiness in a sports driven world.

I know there are bigger problems out there right now. Matters that involve life and death.

But while we deal with the systemic change that needs to happen in this country, let's remember to think about all aspects of those words, all areas where we can improve as a society, and all of the people we can help see the bigger picture in the long run: women deserve to be heard.