Gender equity has been an issue in society since the beginning of time. Throughout history, women rarely get their place in society and their welfare isn’t something society takes care of. Women had to face issues of equity in their personal relationship life, their education and career and now in sports also there is a lot of discrimination and equity that women have to fight.
Nowadays, we start to argue that men’s sports are more fun and challenging compared to women’s sports.
Have to agree that women’s sports are rarely broadcasted by the media which makes sports fans believe that women’s sports are less desirable by giving less coverage.
In the history of sports itself, women have been fighting for equality all throughout their places in sports and until this day female athletes still experience significantly less and different media coverage than their male counterparts. Womens’ sport must fight for their rights in this world because it’s not about gender equality anymore but it’s about how sports can unite every single person and community in this world.
Sports is for everyone.
Something we cannot deny is gender inequality in sports still exists today. A lot of female sports athletes have to face inequality in management and their welfare. Female athletes still face numerous obstacles such as the media will focus on masculine and feminine sports that align with sports tradition like football for men while gymnastics for women. These issues will break some kind of barriers and it is very hard to break this traditional gender barrier to allow women to participate and join masculine sports and men to participate in feminine sports.
Sexual harassment in sports is no longer a small issue that has to be taken care of but it’s a big issue that requires a solution and answers from authority. These day female no longer feels safe going to the park to do physical exercise or activities when men start to take advantage by doing sexual harassment to them. This incident happens because of many factors such as there being no specific place for women to do physical activities or if any specific places, they are conquered by men.
Nevertheless, the media also portrayed women as sexual objects by choosing different shots and angles for women’s sports to exploit bodies. The emphasis on their bodies and sexuality could be putting women at risk for anxiety and fear.
Females who experience the media’s emphasis on attractive qualities are more likely to also experience bulimia and body dissatisfaction. In addition, such anxiety is related to quitting sports, experiencing less enjoyment in sports, and suffering impaired performances. Therefore, the unequal attention given to female athletes may lead to many negative consequences for women in addition to protecting male privilege in sports.
In addition, lacking women that are involved in leadership positions in sports make it worse because they can’t create a better policy to protect and preserve female athletes. Furthermore, sports institutions became an institution that was full of men to operate the spirit and principle of sports which give benefits and privileges to men only. Therefore, we can say that sports organizations now have become a place for everyone in the institution to practice gender equality and bias toward men.
Reinforcing the leadership to empower women as acceptable leadership is a must to ensure that the female community is not only treated as a second class but also have privilege in the sports community.
Altering the gender norms that refer to responsibilities and privileges assigned to men and women is something that we have to change. The participation of women or girls in sports remains imbalanced when compared to men is something we can’t deny but we have to agree that participants of women and girls in sport bring a major impact on gender equality in certain contexts. It adopts a positive and supportive attitude toward participants of women in sport but it’s not enough because at this point they have rights and privileges the same as men.
In conclusion, the world has already changed that everyone has the right to fight for their own spot and place, especially in sport. Nowadays, we’re talking about equality and unity in education. Everyone has a chance for a better education system but why can’t we talk about the same things in sports.
If the world trusts that education is a medium to unite people but believe me that sports also a medium to unite people. World is change toward changing but our mentality is still same like 30-40 years back.
Ask yourself why this happens?