” Although gender equality is an issue faced by every single woman in the world, there is a high probability that the sports industry is the area that suffers the most with this problem. Besides the challenges that athletes encounter on a daily basis, female athletes have to confront several other complications on and off their fields of work.
Female athletes are involved in an eternal fight for their rights; a fight that makes several of them go as far as to give up on their dreams. The problems are countless. Women are objectified by fans, commentators, and even coaches because people look at women’s sports as a showcase for their pleasure. Female athletes have to deal with sexist comments coming especially from men who think these female athletes aren’t strong or talented enough to perform well.
However, the topic that causes the biggest frustration for women is the inequality of pay between genders. Cases of female athletes that have come to the media to fight for their rights have become more popular throughout the last decade. One recent case involving the USA women’s and men’s soccer teams brought up this endless discussion about equal payment in sports between genders.
After the men’s World Cup in 2014 and women’s World Cup in 2015, five players from the women’s team filed complaints targeting the U.S. Federation for wage discrimination. The women’s team beat Japan in the championship game to become the best team in the world for the third time, while the men’s team suffered one more early elimination in their history.
Although the results put the women’s team on the top, the amount awarded by the players wasn’t nearly equal. In addition, almost 30 million people watched the women’s soccer finale on TV in the United States as the American team finished their undefeated competition with a monumental win over the Asian team. This game remains the most watched soccer match in the history of the country, including men’s games.
But even with women’s teams gaining popularity around the world, it seems that equality between genders is inevitably going to be an issue in the sports industry for many more years. This is because people continue to deny that female athletes are capable enough to perform at a high level and to make a spectacle for their audience. “
This article is about gender equality in sports, and how it’s an issue that has most likely impacted most female athletes. The article is specifically addressing five players from the U.S Olympic team who filed complaints about wage discrimination. I chose this article because imagining it myself, I would be pretty ticked off if I got paid less than someone else for something I can’t change. They said, “The biggest frustration for women is the inequality of pay between genders.” Not to mention the sexist comments they said they endure from coaches, commentators, and fans. In my eyes, I think this article relates to, “The Friday Everything Changed” in the sense that in both situations, the women were discriminated against just for being a woman. My personal opinion is that everyone should just be treated the same. I don’t understand why it would be so hard to just treat everyone the same, regardless of gender, skin tone, wealth, etc. I think that if not only gender equality but equality for everyone was in place, the world would be a better place.
