Few aspects of American popular culture are as important as sports. Sports promote physical and mental health among the athletes and provide entertainment for spectators.
Many of us grow up playing one or multiple sports from an early age. I danced, ran track, played soccer, basketball and volleyball. Young athletes often put in a lot of effort into training to get better at their favorite sport or sports. They go to camps, strength and conditioning workshops, play on travel teams in the off season and so much more. Many of us quit after high school, besides the occasional pick-up game, but some play at the collegiate level and a few even go on to play professionally.
Making it to the professional level is tough, and ultimately, rare. These athletes are the best of the best. Professional athletics is a big business in the U.S. Yet there is a noticeable disparity here.
Female athletes are not on the same level as their male counterparts.
Traditionally, women's athletics have been given less attention and more negativity than men's. Many times, female athletes are called "manly" or "lesbians" just because they play professional sports and are insanely fit (I mean, I'm jealous of how fit they are). And it's about time people stop calling women lesbians as an insult. Whether they are or not, it's no one's business. They are free to do as they please. People say these women wouldn't be able to keep up with men or aren't as solid as competitors. Their rules need to be different than the men. They can't handle the level men are on. They aren't worth being given the chance to see how good they are. Women's sports "aren't as interesting." Well, that is all a bunch of bull.
One of the biggest issues, for female athletes is that they usually make less money than men, and in most cases, a lot less (shocker).
This is the U.S. Women's National Team. As we all know, they won the Women's World Cup on July 5. For their epic win over Japan, the team earned a $2 million bonus. When Germany beat Argentina in the Men's World Cup last summer, they got $35 million. Talk about a pay gap!
This is seen in other sports as well. In 2013, the minimum salary for the WNBA was $37,950 and the team salary cap was $913,000. During the same season for the NBA, the minimum salary was $490,180 and the team salary cap was $58.7 million. Sounds fair, right?
It is true, women's sports traditionally don't have the viewing power that men's do. Sports fans flock to their TVs for men's sports, but aren't usually as enthusiastic about most women's athletics. Some may think it makes more "sense" to allocate more money there. But if women's sports aren't given tools to progress, how are they going to get better?
But we all should pay more attention to female sports. Why? Because there are amazing female athletes changing the game. Serena Williams just won her sixth Wimbledon victory and her 21st Grand Slam title. If that isn't badass and worthy of notice, I don't know what is.
There is hope for a change towards a more positive attitude, however. The Women's World Cup final brought in about 26.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history. That number is more than the viewership than any game of the last World Series, the NBA final, Stanley Cup final or men’s World Cup final, according to MarketWatch. Women's soccer is getting more attention than ever. Women's tennis recently won a major victory in terms of pay. Women and men now get equal pay for all four Grand Slam tournaments.
"You play like a girl" has been a long used insult to demean someone's athletic abilities. They aren't strong enough to hang with the big boys. But from the U.S. Women's National Team, dancer Misty Copeland and Serena Williams currently, to sand volleyball legends Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings and Gabby Douglas and the rest of the women's gymnastics team that dominated London in 2012, the sports industry is full of strong, courageous and talented women that show just how powerful female athletes are.
So yeah, I want to play like a girl.
