It wasn’t until 2012 that women were first able to compete in every single summer Olympic sport. Women did not have the opportunity to compete in an Olympic marathon until 1984. Even today, women are unable to compete in the Nordic combine event at the winter Olympics.
For many years, women all over the world have been fighting for equal recognition and pay for women’s sports. Recent years have seen much higher in-person attendance and viewership, and in turn a 22 percent increase in women’s professional sports sponsorships since 2023. While women’s sports are finally getting the attention they deserve, the pay gap is still far from equal.
Unequal pay, and inconsistent treatment towards female athletes causes an unfair mental burden. This not only impacts the athlete’s mental health, but also the longevity of their career. For the majority of professional female athletes, the income that they receive from their sport does not even cover the costs that come with competing at a professional level. For example, even at the top level, the No. 1 WNBA draft pick was guaranteed $76,000, while the No. 1 draft pick in the NBA was guaranteed $10 million. On average, men have been seen to receive 21 times more in playing salary. Women’s sports have the potential to greatly contribute to the global economy, and closing the gender pay gap could lead to this. Additionally, there are many factors such as pregnancy, childbirth, aging and family-planning that impact the career and career earnings of many female athletes.
Finally, many women and girls have experienced abuse or harassment within sport settings. Nearly 21 percent of professional female athletes have experienced sexual abuse as a child in sport, this is almost double the rate of male athletes. However, safeguards designed to protect female athletes from sexual and psychological abuse are still underfunded, and are frequently ineffective. Violence in sports stems from power imbalances within sports, and the normalization of violence against women and girls. This power imbalance has allowed countless offenders to escape accountability. Furthermore, the many public scandals that have taken place over the years have overshadowed the many great accomplishments of these female athletes.
By the age of 14, girls are dropping out of sports at two times the rate of boys. Young girls have 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high school sports than boys. These factors contribute to whether young girls play sports, removing them from countless opportunities. Sports help build important life skills for young people, and everyone is deserving of access to safe and equal sports.
Article by Anna Andrejko