Women have been fighting to break stereotypes and gain equality in society. In sports, specifically, women were once not even permitted to watch the Olympic games. Even after fighting against the odds and having access to participate in sports, they had to undergo gender testing to make sure that they were real women and not men. Even today female athletes still face less and different media coverage than males. They have made achievements in the field of sports in recent times but they still had to face lots of challenges and obstacles.
Women’s inclusion in sports has increased in recent years, but still, there is gender inequality in participation. This gender gap can be ascribed to factors such as cultural attitudes, lacking to access resources and athletic ability. They often face pay disparities and sponsorship gaps compared to men, despite similar levels of achievement and success they are often paid less than male athletes in professional sports and also have fewer sponsorship opportunities, which limits their earning potential. Women’s sports often receive less media coverage and attention.
Women athletes have several obstacles connected to body image and prejudices; they are frequently rated based on their physical appearance rather than their ability to engage in sports. Many athletes have been vocal supporters of gender equality in sports.
GENDER EQUALITY
Gender inequality as noted, has many negative values for female athletes. In addition to the unequal type of coverage female athletes receive less coverage. women’s sports are also shown as less exciting and entertaining than men’s sports. It is said that less than 10% of sports media covers women’s sports and less than 2% of sports media covers women’s sports that are deemed masculine. Even news staff are less likely to diagnose this difference than viewers and they may not realize that they are discriminating against female athletes. Even though the Olympic Games are now offering the same number of sports for women as they do for men.
Despite remarkable progress, there are still more terms of equity and representation for women in sports. We can build a more varied and equitable society where women have the same possibilities to accomplish their athletic aspirations as men by tackling the problems and limits experienced by women in sports.
