by Kaizyah Ames, 10th
Women are frequently stereotyped as too “weak”,“fragile,” and “emotional” for sports. For a long time, the world tried to say that women’s sports weren’t as “intense” or “exciting” as men’s sports. Women’s sports are often treated with the disregard that these opinions inspire. In the 2006 movie, “She’s the Man,” the main character Viola has to pretend to be a boy just to get a spot on a soccer team! While that makes for a funny movie, it also points out a huge problem in the real world; female athletes are constantly having to prove that they belong on the field. Even worse, things have not changed very much since the movie premiered.
Empowerment is about having the right tools to succeed. A few years ago, during the 2021 March Madness basketball tournament, a video went viral that showed a huge “gear gap.” The men’s teams had a massive, professional weight room with everything they could ever need. Meanwhile, the women’s teams were given one single rack of dumbbells.
It was swept under the rug, and it proved that even at the highest level, women are often treated like an afterthought. When athletes called this out on social media, it forced people to realize that equality isn’t just a goal, but something that needs to happen now in every locker room, and weight room in the country.
One of the biggest examples of women standing up for themselves is the U.S. Women’s National Team. Even though they were winning World Cups and bringing in tons of fans, they were getting paid less than the men’s team.
Soccer stars like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan didn’t sit back and accept the mediocre pay. They spent years in a legal battle to prove that their hard work was worth the exact same amount as the men’s. In 2022, they finally won a $24 million settlement and a promise that they would be paid equally from now on. Equality was about showing every girl playing sports that her time and talent are valuable just as men, not about money.
The fight for equality in sports is about way more than just the scoreboard, pay, and equipment. The fight is also about making sure that talent and hustle are what matters, not gender. Whether it’s professional soccer players fighting for fair checks or high schoolers demanding equal field time, women are proving that they don’t need a disguise to compete.
All they need is a fair shot.