GRSJ224/femalesports

History of Female Sports

Throughout the last half century, female sports have continued to grow in size and exposure. Female sports went from being alienated in major sporting events such as the Olympics, to integral pieces in the overall outcome of the Olympics. Early in the 20th century, women sports were cast aside to the more ‘important’ male sporting events. The 1900 Olympics was the first to include women, as a total of 22 competed in the games . This got the ball rolling in terms of the increased inclusion of women in sports, in addition to the increased awareness of women in a sporting arena.

Although, the rest of the century saw incremental increases in participation of women in sports, it was not until the implementation of title IX when female sports really began to grow. The United States federal government implemented title IX to create equal participation amongst men and women in athletics. However, the sport has long been male dominated which has allowed male governance to mold women sport and create an image that puts women sport below male sport. The sexist view that women care not capable of playing physical sport at a high level has set back the development of women sports. A clear example of this male opposition to women playing sports can be found when the founder of the Olympic games Baron Pierre de Coubertin expressed that women sports is the most unaesthetic sight human eyes could contemplate . This has in turn led to a decrease of interest in women sport from viewers and has led to lower rates of participation amongst women. However, American hockey player Hilary Knight believes It's a slow process, but as long as you are changing the stereotype, and you are really empowering women and girls to feel proud of who they are and not hindering their progress. She feels that over time women will overcome the stereotype in regards to female sports and one day garner as much attention as their male counterparts. .

Title IX

Title IX is a federal law that was passed in the Education Amendments of Act of 1972, that no person in the US shall on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation or be denied the benefits of receiving federal financial assistance . The title IX was applied to all educational institutions, which included both private and public that receive federal funds. Essentially, Title IX ensures that women and men are provided equal opportunities in sports . This paves the way for the expansion of sports within underrepresented sex by providing women with participation opportunities that are similar to those of the men. This was illustrated by the impact title IX had on the participation numbers as of the 2007-2008 school year, females made up 41% of the participants in college athletics  . Prior to the passing of the IX, in 1971, there were 294,015 females partipcating in high school athletics, by 2008 there were over 3 million women paritpcating in highschool sports. That is major increase in participation at the grass roots level for women. In addition, the most important statistic is that as of 2001 females made up 43% of college athletes, indicating the increased prominence of female participation in sports.

Financial Discrepancy

However, the financial discrepancy between female and male athletes at a professional level is still very significant. Research done by Jo Gunston for BBC shows that out of the 56 sports that were analyzed 35 paid men more then females .The biggest discrepancies in pay can be found in soccer and golf.

Soccer

1. Mens World Cup $22 million vs Women's World Cup $630,000.
2. Mens Champions League $8.3 million vs Women's Champions League $199,000.
3. Mens FA Cup $1.88 million vs Women's FA cup $5,000.
4. Mens Premier League $24 million vs Women's FA WSL N/A.

Golf

1. Mens Open Champion $ 975,000 vs Women's Open Champion $298,000.
2. Mens US Open Champion $ 1 million vs Women's US Open Champion $452,000.
3. Mens PGA Champion $1.1 million vs Women's PGA Champion $212,000.

On individual player basis Steph Houghton the best female soccer player in England earns $65,000 a year will Wayne Rooney earns $300,000 a week . These are quite the discrepancies considering female athletes dedicate just as much as male athletes do to their sport. The longtime argument is that male athletes have created more revenue for the sport which is why they receive higher wages than Female athletes. However, The United States Women's Soccer Team opposes this argument with their formal complaint to the US Federal Government in regards to unfair wages between the mens and women's national soccer teams.

United States Women's Soccer Wage Complaint

In 2014 players on The United States National women’s national soccer team issued a formal complaint in regards to the unequal pay the team received relative to the Men’s national soccer team. Household names such as  Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Rebecca Sauerbrunn, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, were the players to take a stand against the discrimination towards women. They challenged the argument that men sports grosses more revenue, which validates why they are paid more. As, after winning the 2014 world cup the women’s national team grossed $20 million more than the Men’s national team yet they were still grossly underpaid in comparison to the Men’s team.

Bonuses	Mens	Women
To make World Cup Roster	$76,000	$15,000
Qualify For World Cup	$2.5 million	$345,000
Win World Cup	$9.3 million	$1.8 million

Shockingly enough, the men make more to just qualify for the world cup than the women do to win the World Cup. Hardly seems fair? Further, the women’s team is projected to bring in more than $17 million in revenues, including a $5 million surplus for fiscal year 2017, nearly doubling their male counter-parts . They earned 4 times less than their male counterparts, even though they have out performed them considerably on the global stage. This is the first time any women’s team has issued a complaint to the federal government, Jeffrey Kessler the attorney for the women states that discrimination has happened forever, but in terms of legal actions, this is the first time I think that there’s been an EEOC complaint on this.. The outcome of this complaint, if in favor of the women could pave the path for other sports to begin paying women athletes as much as the male athletes. Especially, since women can and do create as much revenue as the male athletes.

Suppression of Female Sporting

The discrepancy between the financial compensation of female and male athletes at a professional level runs much deeper than just 'revenue'. Sports has long been considered a ‘physical’ sport to be played by men only, this idea has been engrained within society for hundreds of years. Being ‘feminine’ has been considered the opposite of the characteristics needed to play sports. Sexism has been apparent in the world of sports as society believes that women are not capable of participating in strenuous sporting events. This can been seen when women were not allowed to run events above 200 meters because it would be to physically demanding for them . "This connection with sports and masculinity is a very tough nut to crack" 

Further, the ‘soft’ and ‘gentle’ depiction that society has created for women has shaped the creation of female sports. It does not carry the same ‘aura’ as male athletics. Victorian society viewed sport as “inseparable from the philosophy of Muscular Christianity, which defined itself against femininity and ‘softness’,” says Tony Collins, the author of Sport in Capitalist Society.

It is the idea that in some way female sports are inferior to male sports, in simpler terms female are inferior to male in the sporting arena. The Muirfield Village Golf Club in 2016 voted to uphold its ban on women members, which is quite informative of the irrational thinking of the sporting world on women. Corrigan, James. No More Open at Muirfield After Golf Club Votes Against Allowing Women to Join as Members. Why shouldn’t women be allowed to become members at the golf course? The rational that “women can’t play golf” is unacceptable. It is embarrassing that in 2016 women are still being excluded from participating in certain sporting arenas. Thus, the suppression of women in sports has molded the viewpoint of women playing sports by creating an inferior outlook. One can go as far to say that sexism and gender inequality in society influenced the opportunities that women got in sports.

Moreover, women have scarcely had the ability to make decisions in regards to their own sport, as sport governance is male dominated.  female representation on elite Olympic governing bodies is static – at below 30% . Across the 28 International Sports Federations, 18% of board members were female. Women’s sport has been shaped by an administration made of mostly males. Women’s treatment in sport has always been a manifestation of wider gender inequality. All of the decisions over the years to minimize female sports has led to disparity in funding between male and female sports. This disparity has led to women having fewer opportunities to play and less quality of equipment and coaches to learn from. Ultimately, paying a woman less for a sport than a male gives females less incentive to push themselves further and participate.