When Are We Going To Stop Treating Professional Women’s Sports as a Cute Hobby?
The constant devaluing of female athletes needs to stop
The Manchester United men’s soccer team is having their facilities revamped next season. They are being moved into the women’s new, $12.6 million (USD) facility.
Where are the women going?
They are being bumped to portable buildings, of course, and the reason is simple — women’s sports are not seen as comparable to men’s sports.
They are seen as a hobby or a cute diversion, but only as long as they don’t interfere with the more important men’s team.
As a woman and a recreational athlete, I have experienced this first-hand many times.
Throughout high school, our girl baseball team had to wear the boys’ hand-me-down uniforms—they got flashy new ones. Despite the fact that we were back-to-back city champs two years in a row and the boy’s team didn’t win a single game during that time, we were viewed as secondary.
Just like the Manchester United’s women’s soccer team.
Just like all women’s sports.
