Don’t Treat Women’s Sports Like a Separate Category
Gender isn’t a niche.
Women’s sports are in a better place than ever before, with greater access to participation, and visible role models such as those found on the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team or in the WNBA.
That being said, there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality. Among the remaining issues, U.S. Soccer continues to fight against equal pay for the USWNT, TV coverage of women’s sports is limited, declining, and delivered differently than men’s sports, and merchandise is almost impossible to find, even in-market for championship teams.
Fixing these issues will require some changes in the leadership of sports organizations and media companies. In addition, women need to be afforded more opportunities on the business side of sports.
Time is another important factor. There was a point when women were not allowed to participate in many sports at all. Undoubtedly, public opinion on the value of women’s sports will continue to progress, even if not at the speed many of us would like.
But perhaps we also need to reframe the way women’s sports are classified and named.
It may be convenient to group women’s sports together and discuss them as a whole, but doing so turns gender into a niche, making women’s sports seem less important than men’s.
This gives a license to critics who claim they don’t like women’s sports or don’t find them interesting. These ideas are absurd. Women’s basketball, gymnastics, and snowboarding couldn’t be more different. The only linking characteristic is the gender of those competing. For someone who considers themselves a fan of other sports to give a blanket statement suggesting they don’t care for an entire gender’s sporting catalog isn’t preference — it’s sexism.
No one ever discusses men’s sports as a whole — the scope is too large, and the concept is unnecessary. The same should be true for women’s sports. As it currently stands, women’s sports are grouped together and treated in a similar fashion as the action sports and esports niches of which many are unsure should be called sports at all.
For example, ESPN has a women-specific page and corresponding social media accounts focusing on women in sports called espnW. The concept of espnW is tricky — on one hand, it’s great to have these sports and athletes receiving coverage.
But at the same time, it lumps all of women’s sports together and pushes it to a sister site. Very rarely does women’s sports content appear on ESPN’s main page. In fact, espnW’s existence might just be akin to ticking a box in order to justify a lack of coverage in other places.
Women’s sports should be covered not to appease people, but rather because these sports are equally respected. In a perfect world, gender would be irrelevant when discussing a sports competition. That world can be made a reality by talking about women’s sports simply because they exist, not because we’re required to push them.
The concept of women’s sports being classified in ways that undermine their popularity and present them as below men’s sports extends to the names of leagues and organizations themselves. That the WNBA and NWSL include the word “women’s” in their names implicitly conveys they are below the NBA and MLS, which don’t need a gender qualifier.
It goes beyond just those two sports. In golf, men play on the PGA Tour, while ladies play on the LPGA Tour. Men’s tennis is governed by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), while the female equivalent is the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
With their naming, the WNBA and LPGA, in particular, come across as subsidiaries to the male versions of their sports in a similar way to how the Junior Olympics and Paralympics are part of the Olympic movement but not the main event.
Admittedly, this is difficult to change, as leagues have existent branding. That being said, NPF (National Pro Fastpitch) succeeded in changing its name from the Women’s Pro Softball League and should be applauded.
Even down to team names, the female sports teams of many schools are known as the “lady” version of the school’s nickname. Similarly, women’s professional teams often use conceptual names as Dream, Liberty, or Courage, which convey a less competitive atmosphere in comparison to more aggressive names such as Bears, Raiders, or Raptors that can be found in men’s sports.
Certainly, the beliefs of both those in power and many everyday citizens are barriers on the road to true equality for women’s sports. But beyond ideology, taxonomic issues have turned gender into a niche, almost guaranteeing women play second fiddle in the sports landscape.
Connor Groel is a writer who studies sport management at the University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as editor of the Top Level Sports publication on Medium, and the host of the Connor Groel Sports podcast. You can follow Connor on Medium, Facebook, and Twitter, and view his archives at toplevelsports.net.
