[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n 2017, a story broke out about how a former tennis player stated he could beat one of the best women tennis players in the world.  According to a report made by NPR, “If a woman is the best in the world, she still isn’t a match for a man—according to John McEnroe. Speaking to NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro Sunday, the retired tennis legend said that Serena Williams, who is the top-ranked female tennis player in the world, is nowhere close the best overall pro. ‘If she played in the world of men’s tennis, she’d be ranked 700 in the world,’ said McEnroe. He also stated that if he ever had the chance to he could beat Williams in a match, though he said he doesn’t really ‘want to do it. ’Garcia-Navarro became curious: ‘You really think at 60, you could possibly beat Serena Williams?” 

 “McEnroe qualified his statement: ‘Maybe I should challenge her now because she’s pregnant.’ (Recall that Williams won the Australian Open while two months pregnant.)”

 If you are an athlete there is one person you aspire to be like. It could be a certain quarterback on a professional football team or a male athlete that has won several tournaments in their season. The strange thing is that these last two statements say nothing about women athletes. Even though the world of professional athletics is large, people mainly overlook the success of women. This means even though women have fought for their rights as individuals, there are still places they aren’t respected especially in the world of athletics.

Image by J. Howard Miller | Public Domain

Where it all Began

The history of women’s professional athletics has not been going on as long as people may think. In an article from 2008, Richard C. Bell, Ed.D., J.D. recalls, “After women were able to vote,  the first feminist movement involved women in sports and other types of competition, but this part of women’s rights would remain inactive for 50 years.” When women earned their right to vote, they wanted to have the same rights as men. It would have made sense to go after other areas in their country where there is still inequality. One of the things that I find mouth dropping is they had to wait 50 years, and that is a long time. For then to hold off on something that would affect the entire world really made things worse. [perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] For them to hold off on something that would affect the entire world really made things worse.  [/perfectpullquote]

                          A Few Years Later

Fifty years later, in 1973 one of the largest televised matches in history happened. According to from an article written in 2013, Jesse Greenspan recapped, “On September 20th, 1973, Billie Jean King was known all around the world as ranked no.1 women’s tennis player. At 55 years old, a tennis legend named Bobby Riggs stated he could beat any women player. King was up for the challenge, and the way Riggs got ready was to make rude and unnecessary comments. Jesse Greenspan recalled, “Riggs made things more interesting by saying rude comments, including that ‘ the best way to handle a woman is to keep her pregnant and barefoot.”

Before the match took place, the comment made about how to handle a woman wasn’t right. He was saying how women only should be used to make children and follow their husbands. After the match, however, those things no longer apply. This match really made women become somewhat recognizable in the sports industry. For Billie Jean King to stand up to a man that was being arrogant showed she had a lot of courage, but before the match, those things said we not right. Now, there is a movie being made about this incident and tells you how the match began. This problem has not stopped yet because there are several statistics that show that in today’s society, women athletes are becoming less appreciated for their success.

Here is the Trailer for Battle of the Sexes if interested| Public Domain

 The Mess is Still Being Made

44 years have passed since that “Battle of the Sexes” match. Even though King won that match, there are still situations in the media today that deal with women inequality. According to an article written in 2017, Lahnee Pavlovich identifies, “Only 6-8% of the sports coverage is developed to them, and stories only add up to being about 3.5% of all sports stories in the four largest newspaper companies in the US.” The one way people all around the world get money or grow a program is to create advertisements. If things aren’t advertised, then things are not going to sell. This statistic shows how the inequality isn’t just caused by people around them, but the media that doesn’t allow women to be considered an equal.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]As women start to rise in professional sports, the media is still trying to promote more male-dominated sports and care less about women’s success.[/perfectpullquote]

As women start to rise in professional sports, the media is still trying to promote more male-dominated sports and care less about women’s success. In the same article was written by Lahnee Pavlovich remembers, “The women’s world cup game was the most-watched soccer game in US history and nearly 25.4 million views.” Even after the hard work the soccer team went through to win a huge title, they are still not as respected as the men. The men only took 4th in their world cup and got a lot of recognition, but it shows just because they are women that they may not receive recognition for their major success.

Williams in Fed Cup Action 22, April 2012| CC-BY-SA

  Another complaint about women athlete is their body image. Shane Ferro explains in her article, “When Serena Williams was getting ready to win her sixth Wimbledon title, the media went to critique her body right away. They were saying how she had large biceps and a muscular frame which gives her power. Her rivals could try to copy her physique, but most of them choose not to.” This really explains how all the media cares about is how a woman looks. Even though Serena has become the best tennis player in the world, she isn’t celebrated for her success, but she is instead frowned upon by the way she looks. Even before this started to get worse, there were some solutions people made to the athletic program so women are somewhat equal to men. Have they really made a difference? 

Some Sort of Solutions

There have been several solutions in the sports industry that have tried to make women have equality. For example, there have been changes in how much women are paid. The Women’s Sport Foundation stated, “In 2007 Wimbledon announced for the first time, they will provide equal pay to male and female athletes. The four major tournaments in men and women’s tennis offer the same amount of prize money.” This shows how people are trying to start taking action with paying women and men the same money so there is some sort of inequality. The one thing about this is that this is only in tennis. Sports like golf, volleyball, and even soccer don’t have equal pay in their programs. In 1972, an organization called Title IX to try and create a sense of equality with women in a sports setting. It stated in an article written by PBS, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”These few words started to make women question how much their equality matters. This shows how women in sports, as a whole, are noticing the problem. Even though this rule was created, people don’t take it into consideration and use this rule. It has been acted as though it does not exist, and is overlooked still causing inequality with women professional athletes.

Conclusion

Overall, equality is something that can happen to women. The thing is, nothing can be fixed unless someone gets it out there even more than it is now. It could start with you right after this. You can go in your community and encourage young girls to go try out for sports. You can encourage others to go and support the girls’ sports teams. Change can be something that can easily happen overnight. If nobody even tries to take a stand, things will just stay the same. Sports should be a way for young girls and boys to express their love for a physical activity. So once you get home from a game or tournament, turn on the television and look at those famous athletes. Ask yourself this question: Women have fought for their rights as athletes, but are they really receiving the equality that they have worked for?

Link to featured image from Pixaby