Kayla Woodward takes a shot at the basket Wednesday night at the Arena Auditorium during the game against UNLV’s Lady Rebels. The Cowgirls went on to win the game 76-54.
It is not breaking news that women have had to face unfair and unequal treatment. There has always been a double-standard, especially in sports.
Society has made great strides to overcome the influence of traditional gender roles. But while steps have been taken to promote equality for women’s advancement and growth in athletics, many aspects still that limit women.
When it comes to recognition of accomplishments athletes have made, the gap between highlights of males and females is incomparable. Even at the University of Wyoming, the ratio is troubling.
The demand of women athletes past a high school career is diminutive. In an article about women in sports, USNews.com states, “There are 3.1 million girls who play high school sports, but there are less than 200,000 collegiate athletic opportunities for women.”
“We’re still working within a rule and a culture of sport that has been set up on a male model,” said ESPN. “We’re judging it on that male model. When people say girls are not as interested in sports and intramurals as boys, you’re looking at their reaction to a structure of sports set up on a male model of sports they may or may not be comfortable with.”
It is obvious that big sports news networks like ESPN openly admit to judging athletics on a male model. Even as it is acknowledged as wrong, it does not appear that there is interest of reforming the so-called “male model.”
Many changes improving the status of female athletes have been made, especially in recent years. Prior to the achievements made during the feminist movement, female athletes had to play in much worse facilities, under different rules and with stricter dress codes than male athletes. While these regulations have since been revised, we still find aspects that restrict women more.
Although discrimination in women’s athletics happens on a global scale, one can even see favoritism at UW basketball games.
Masculinity has been, and still is, considered superior to femininity in athletics. Women are constantly subject to closer scrutiny and harsher criticism than that of males. It is because of this that women always have to prove they are different from and better than the “average” female, especially concerning their physical abilities.
Though it is still a problem, there has been legislation to work on the issue.
Just like any type of discrimination, this bias against collegiate women athletes can result in much negativity. Aside from leaving women out, it can cause more harmful repercussions like sexual harassment. It can also create unfair prejudices, which could block change to take in place in future progression.
If various athletic departments, local or national, do things such as promoting women in more of their athletic programs and announcements, or even just giving them the equal recognition for their achievements they deserve, modifications are bound to follow.
