Fighting for gender equity in sports seems to lie mainly in the interest of females who are athletes and sports fans. While it’s understandable why sporty-minded people are more drawn to the topic, all feminists can be encouraged to stay engaged in gender equity in sports. Sports have a lot to offer the general female population and the general female population has a lot to offer sports.

When I say “engaged,” that doesn’t mean every feminist has to be a loyal fan to women’s sports. It can mean simple actions such as being aware of the issues female athletes face or following feminist sports accounts like the Women’s Sports Foundation, Fast and Female, or She Scores. Some people don't enjoy spending their time watching or playing sports, and that's why they don't feel the need to support women's athletics. However, there are many ways the general public can feel more open to the idea of supporting female athletes.

Here are five reasons to support women's athletics that can be appealing to non-sporty feminists:

Wage Gap
Playing a professional sport is a paid job. Therefore anyone who is passionate in fighting the wage gap women face in the workplace should also be concerned about the gap women see in sports. Professional female basketball players make one percent of what professional male basketball players make (1) . This is no less important than women receiving low wages in a business environment or any other kind of everyday career. If we are fired up about wage gaps in an office, we need to be fired up about wage gaps on the court.

Hiring of Other Female Roles
Professional women’s sports are about the athletes, but the athletes only make up a fraction of the people involved in the leagues. There are coaches, referees, commentators, scouts, managers, journalists, physiotherapists, psychiatrists, dieticians, and other team staff. In men’s professional leagues, it’s difficult for women to get themselves hired. There are a total of two referees in Major League Soccer, Felisha Mariscal and Kathryn Nesbitt. Not only are there just two of them, but they’re both merely assistant referees. The year 2000 was the last time a female was the centre referee in a Major League Soccer game. However, it is common in women’s leagues to see a rapidly growing female staff. The 2015 women’s World Cup had a total of 73 referees, all of them female ( 2) . Furthermore, in the Women’s National Basketball Association, six of the twelve head coaches are women. Women’s sports open up more employment opportunities for females in all aspects of the league. Supporting women’s sports doesn’t only support the athletes; it helps females behind the scenes and on the sidelines obtain jobs as well.

​ Inspiration and Empowerment
Watching women achieve greatness is always inspiring; whether their area of expertise is something I’m interested in or not. I feel more empowered as a woman because that individual is, in a way, representing the entire female population. Her actions show that women have the opportunities men have. Doors are open wide. The world is ours. An example of this is the new Wonder Woman movie. The movie was incredibly empowering to me because Wonder Woman saves the world and battles on horseback and with a sword and shield. I’m not a warrior and I have never done martial arts, but I was inspired because Wonder Woman destroys not only her enemies but also the mask of restriction and delicacy females are expected to wear. She breaks that stigma and puts females, as an entire population, in a positive light.

Shows Character
That mask I just mentioned? You can’t play sports with that on; it’ll just keep trying to fall off anyways. With sports removing that “mask of restriction and delicacy,” females show a different side of their personalities. Athletes want to wear their baggy shorts. They’re not afraid to be covered in mud. They put their dreams before boys. They possess well rounded and carefree qualities that any female can look up to and carry through any aspect of life.

Nurturing Young Girls
Supporting women’s sports is crucial for the nurturing of young and growing females. If we don’t give women’s sports our attention, the leagues won’t gain popularity and young girls won’t be exposed to them. The media has a huge impact on young girls, which is why they need good role models and positive exposure to media. Sports give them this. My previous post, Be More Than the Media , expands on this topic further.



References

1. Adelphi University (2014). A Look at Male and Female Professional Athlete Salaries. https://sportsmanagement.adelphi.edu/resources/infographics/a-look-at-male-and-female-professional-athlete-salaries/.
2. Johal, H. (2015). FIFA explains all-female referee crew for World Cup. The Equalizer. http://equalizersoccer.com/2015/06/30/womens-world-cup-referees-female-fifa-explains/.

​I was slothin' around watching YouTube videos about girls and sports when I stumbled across Gatorade's clip, "Keep Her in the Game." (The video is posted below). This clip spoke loudly to me and inspired me to write this piece about the toxic relationship between young female athletes and the media.

According to Women’s Sports Foundation, girls are quitting sports at two times the rate of boys by age 14. Unfortunately there are many reasons as to why young and teenaged girls drop out of sports. Six reasons talked about by Women’s Sports Foundation can be found here .

Two reasons, inspired by WSF's list, that we expand on in this post are girls' lack of exposure to female athlete role models, and the pressure from advertisements to be society’s idea of “feminine.” We talk about these reasons because they are factors that children and teenagers can learn to control, and parents and mentors can help solve.


Lack of Exposure to Professional Female Athletics

With the lack of women's sports on television, on the Internet, in the news, and in other forms of media, girls are not exposed to the powerful athletic role models. Girls see the actresses on television, the models on Instagram, the latest gossip on Buzzfeed about the Kardashians. Celebrities, models and YouTube sensations are who girls are exposed to and look up to the most. These icons are often in with the latest fashions and trends, and present themselves in a delicate way that girls watching try to replicate.

Non-athletic role models can of course be a positive influence, but without the exposure to female athletes, girls aren't seeing the well-rounded picture of what a woman can be. Their minds aren't enlightened with the fact that yes, women can indeed get down and dirty and still be "#goals."

So, expose girls to professional female athletes and their games. You may recall I talked about this in It Takes a Village to Raise an Athlete . Girls need to know professional women's sports is a thing. The world of pro sports isn't just the men's games she sees on TV every day. Make watching women's games a household routine. Bring the female athletes' accomplishments up in conversation. Do whatever you need to in order to make girls aware of female athletes and just how "cool" sporty women can be.


Pressure from Advertisements
​
In addition to having external positive role models, girls need to learn how to be their own role model. If they don't, the media will take over. Advertisements will tell our girls they're not good enough and show them what they need to have to make themselves "better." Most times, this includes how to be delicate and a "real and attractive" girl. This results in girls walking off the sports field, as shown in the powerful video below (please watch it).

something wrong with us. He made it clear that advertisements have to be around in order for certain companies, such as news organizations, to make money. However, what we can do is learn to think about advertisements critically.

When watching TV or flipping through a magazine with your daughter, niece, girl you're babysitting, etc., make verbal, critical comments about the advertisements. Explain how it's all photoshopped, how the ad is trying to be manipulative, how no healthy human looks like the Barbie in the advertisement (even the photoshopped model in the ad).

Make sure you do as much as you can to make her feel comfortable in her own skin. She is fine just the way she is. Those advertisements will do everything they can to make her feel like she's not good enough and that she needs to buy their product. But she's so awesome she doesn't need that product. Or that stick skinny body. Ever.


As mentors (which can be parents, older siblings, coaches, teachers, etc.), we have a role to play in keeping girls in sports. If sports aren't her thing and other interests, such as music or art, flow through her blood, then that's fine; let her find her calling. But if sports are what she loves, do everything you can to prevent her someday abandoning athletics to be more like a "girl."

To solve the problem, we have to know the problem. If we want the world to watch women’s sports, we need to know why people currently don’t. Here are a few contributing factors and some ways we can try to change.

1. We’re conditioned to watch men’s sports.
Society shouldn’t be harshly blamed right off the bat for not watching women’s sports – female athletics are barely ever on TV. We’re humans; humans are lazy . . . we watch what’s on TV at the time. We don’t unconsciously go digging deep into the Internet looking for the next women’s game that’s going to be live streamed, which, realistically, probably isn’t streaming anyways for another day at the very least. With males’ athletics being the only entertainment that’s ever been on sports channels, we as an audience are conditioned to automatically think of watching only men’s sports.
SOLVE IT: Enlighten yourself and be more aware about the sports that aren’t right under your nose. If you’re into watching sports, find out when the next professional women’s game is being shown on the Internet and plan to tune in.

2. The media doesn’t cover women’s sports.
According to the Tucker Center, women’s sports receive only four percent of sports media coverage. How are women’s sports supposed to hold our attention if the media isn’t pushing the news and features at us? There's no news, interviews, statistics, highlight videos, etc. circulating the Internet. Again, like watching the games, we have to go looking for it, and most times it's not even there.
SOLVE IT: Go looking for it. Search YouTube and the league websites. Watch women’s sports, read the news on their websites regularly, visit their Instagram page, keep up with the stats. The websites can see the traffic through their site administration. Nowadays, and unfortunately, the media only covers what the public deems newsworthy. If the public is showing interest in women’s sports platforms, the media will be more willing to cover what’s going on in the leagues and eventually there will be more material at the ready.

3. Society isn’t as accepting of females as athletes.
As angering as it is, females who play sports -- where the uniform is a roomy top and long shorts -- don't get a very big audience. The 2017 National Pro Softball championship had just over 1,000 fans in attendance while an average tennis match is usually no less than 20,000. People watch tennis, where many of the players dress in short little skirts and tight tops. Because that’s every woman’s place, right? My gosh, shoot me. This is why general feminist movements are important. The day when women are seen less as sex objects and more as equals will be the day women will be more accepted in a baggy basketball jersey.
SOLVE IT: Continue being a feminist. Join feminist movements. Challenge the oppressors. Let the concept of rape infuriate you. Support consent. Anything you need to do to fight for women’s rights.

4. “Women are boring to watch – they can’t jump as high or run as fast as men.”
This is what I’ve heard a lot of. I won’t deny that professional women aren’t able to reach the same speed and other forms of athleticism as professional men can -- men are born with more red blood cells and there's not much we can do to change that. But . . . "boring"? Really? Nah, man. Professional female athletes’ strength is absolutely ridiculous compared to the average male and female athlete. The Olympic women in Rio were running a four minute 1500m. No average male athlete is coming close to that. The women's world high jump record is 2.09m, which is 6.25 feet, WHICH IS TALLER THAN MOST HUMANS. Yo, women are darn good at what they do.
SOLVE IT: Watch women’s sports and appreciate what the players can do rather than what they can’t. When you see a player make a good play, acknowledge that it was a good play. If you find yourself daydreaming how the men would have done it "better," replace the word "better" with "differently."

You know what they say: it takes a village to raise a child. It’s especially true when it comes to raising young athletes. Whether you’re a coach, teacher, parent, friend or family member, these are some things I personally believe we should keep in mind as a society when raising a young, female athlete.

1. Push-ups on your knees are not called "girl push-ups." If she can’t do an original push-up, tell her to do a knee push-up. Never call it a “girl push-up.”
2. Don’t tell her she runs like a girl. If you told that to Mia Hamm she would say, “Maybe if you ran a little faster, you could too.”
3. Instead of telling her she’s strong for a girl, just tell her she’s strong.
4. Tell her about professional female athletes. Read news stories to her. Share YouTube clips with her. Figure out which of the athletes she looks up to and nurture that interest. She attends school where everyone's hockey cards only have male players on them and most people's favourite professional athlete is a man. Make sure she knows women grow up to be athletes too and that they are just as good to have as role models as male athletes.
5. Let’s say you see a little female hockey player who’s too talented for her age. If this were a boy, most would say, jokingly or not, “He’s going to the NHL someday.” So, do the same for her: “She’s going to the NWHL.”
6. Make sure she knows that if she can run faster than the boys, throw a dodgeball harder than them and beat them all at soccer during recess, then she should. If you see her holding back, confront it immediately. Athleticism is not manly . . . it’s GIRL POWER. ​
7. Always remain conscious of the fact that she's an athlete trying to have fun and succeed in a male-dominated department of life. Whatever the situation may be, just make sure she always knows sports are for girls too.

​

It's already December, which means it's almost the HOLIDAYS!!!! Fa la la la la la la la LAAAAAA!!!!!!

I guess that also means the year is hitting its finale. With that in mind, here are some of 2017's top memories from women's sports that we can look back on as we head into 2018.

Isobel Cup (National Women's Hockey League)
The Buffalo Beauts won the National Women’s Hockey League championship in March. The Beauts took the title from defending NWHL champions, Boston Pride, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Goaltender Brianne McLaughlin finished the game with 58 saves and Corinne Buie, the only player to win the Isobel Cup in both seasons of the NWHL’s two-year existence, scored to secure the 3-0 lead. The championship is a single-game elimination process because of financial reasons.

Cowles Cup (National Pro Fastpitch)
The Scrap Yard Dawgs won their first Cowles Cup in franchise history in August. Rookie Kasey Cooper’s two-run home run won the Dawgs the league title. The Dawgs took the 5-2 victory in the third and final game over the USSSA Pride at Tiger Park at Louisiana State University. During the game Cooper hit a total of three runs batted in, securing the Dawgs’ lead. Monica Abbott also contributed, who was named most valuable player of the championship series, kept the Pride to 15 hits and 56 strikeouts over the course of the 29 innings. The final game recorded a total time of 1:56, and 1086 fans were in attendance.

Women’s National Basketball Association Championship
On Oct. 4 the Minnesota Lynx won their fourth WNBA championship in seven seasons. The Lynx defeated the Los Angeles Sparks 85-76 in Game Five of the finals to claim the title. The Lynx are now tied with the Houston Comets, who won the first four WNBA titles, for most championship wins in WNBA history. The Lynx were originally down in the series 1-0 and then 2-1. Sylvia Fowles was named MVP of the series after setting a series finals record-breaking 20 rebounds and 17 points.

National Women’s Soccer League Championship
The Portland Thorns won their second NWSL championship this year on Oct. 14. Lindsey Horan, a midfielder for the Thorns, is the main reason the Thorns clinched the NWSL 2017 championship title. Volleying in the game-winning goal in the 50th minute, she led the Thorns to a 1-0 victory over North Carolina Courage. It was with tremendous precision that Horan finished a long ball kicked to her from the Thorns’ end of the field. Not only did she score the game-winner, she was also named most valuable player of the match.

Vanke Rays (Canadian Women's Hockey League)
The brand new addition to the Canadian Women’s Hockey League has won eight out of the nine games they played so far. The Rays, who were established this year, are ranked second in the league. On Oct. 28, they won their first ever game against the Toronto Furies, who were established in 2011. The Furies took the win against the Rays the next day, which is the only game the Rays have lost at this point in the season. The Rays’ next game is on Dec. 8 against the other brand new team in the league, the Kunlun Red Star.

With all the feminism movements happening in today’s world, you would think sports, such a general and popular area of interest, would be given a decent amount of attention. Especially since it suffers literally the most obvious gender inequality. However, barely anyone ever talks about the problem or how it can be solved. So, right now, that's exactly what we're going to do.


The Issues

There is a disgusting, endless list of gender inequality issues in sports that get on my nerves. To give you an idea, here are three major ones:

1. On Forbes’ list of the 2017 Highest Paid Athletes, a female isn’t listed until #51. Serena Williams receives a salary of $8M a year. What’s more is that Ryan Howard, just one spot ahead in 50th, makes $26.7M a year… That’s a $18.7M difference. DO YOU SEE THE SIZE OF THAT GAP? MY GOSH. Cristiano Ronaldo makes the most in the world with a salary of $58M. So Forbes, you’re telling me the world’s highest paid male athlete makes over seven times more than the world’s highest paid female athlete? Lord help us all.

2. People have such an issue with females playing contact sports. Viewers don’t find it as “exciting” or “interesting.” Don’t tell me that in your lifetime you haven’t heard at least someone make fun of women’s hockey. To back up my argument, take a look at this link: http://interactives.ap.org/2015/athlete-of-the-year/ . It’s the list of all the former Associated Press Athletes of the Year since 1931. If you look on the female list, there is a grand total of five winners who played contact sports – three of those being basketball, which to me just barely counts as a contact sport. Sports should be about appreciating the skill of the athletes. If you want to watch sports because of the contact, stick to boxing.

3. The lack of media coverage is actually repulsive. Newspapers, TSN, Sports Illustrated, social media . . . it’s all men, men, MEN!!!! Stories about how Alex Galchenyuk was absent from practice because of the flu are prioritized over covering the National Women’s Soccer League championship game. Furthermore, the only women on Sports Illustrated posters are women in flaunting skimpy bikinis. Females are not objects!!! Females have the ability to run, jump and slay at sports. But no one would ever know that, because to follow or even know about women’s sports leagues, you have to go to their websites . . . and who’s supposed to know to do that if they're not advertised?


So… How Can This All Be Fixed?

YOU, my friend. Yes, that's right. It all starts with a large fan base. Fans:
- buy tickets and merchandise
- visit the league websites and add to the websites' visitor counts, which is attractive to companies who want to pay and put advertisements on the sites
- encourage powerful companies to sponsor the leagues and teams (these sponsorships are most leagues' biggest sources of revenue)
- talk about their favourite teams to other people, unintentionally spreading the word and generating interest among others
- increase media coverage (the media covers what the public deems "newsworthy"), which holds the public's interest


This Is What You Can Do

STEP ONE: Choose your favourite league. I’ve listed a few below to get you started. Do some s’ploring, pick the one you want to follow and . . . follow it!

STEP TWO: Select your favourite team. Research the teams from the league you decided to follow and pick a squad you want to root for.

STEP THREE: Make note of your favourite players on that team. Keep up with their news and statistics.

STEP FOUR: Repeat step one by choosing a different league this time. Then repeat steps two and three.

Here are links to some of the professional women’s leagues’ websites:

Canadian Women’s Hockey League: http://www.thecwhl.com/
National Women’s Hockey League: http://www.nwhl.zone/
Women's National Basketball Association: http://www.wnba.com/
National Women’s Soccer League: https://www.nwslsoccer.com/
National Volleyball League: http://thenvl.com/

​I’ll state the obvious: by doing these steps you are becoming a fan. Having a team to cheer for causes you to feel more interested in — and emotionally attached to — what’s going on in these leagues. You are literally making a change in this world just by becoming a fan. Supporting women’s sports is simple and free . . . so why not??

​I don’t want to live in a world where sports are only a masculine concept. I really hope you don’t either. Girls are so much better than this. Let's prove it. No matter how normal you consider yourself to be, you have SO MUCH POWER TO MAKE A CHANGE. Whether you want to use that power or not is up to you.