Why People Don't Watch Women's Sports

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."