Time for Fair Play

It is true that in the last 100 years many of the issues prominent in the female society have begun to be targeted and overall conditions for many women have improved with more freedom of speech and a higher political status. However, even today there exist some sectors of society where women are not treated equally to men. Sport is one of these sectors.

A BBC Sport study from 2014 revealed ‘30% of sports - including golf, cricket and squash - pay prize money that rewards men more highly than women.’ The biggest disparities concerning this is in football, for instance ‘Arsenal won both the men's and women's FA Cup this year, but while the men were given £1.8 million, Arsenal Ladies received £5,000 for their win.' (BBC Sport) This means that the men were given a shocking 360 times more than the female team. 

We live in a society where inequalities are supposedly being phased out. However, with such a massive difference in pay between male and female sport it is evident that this is not always the case. Many argue that the reason for this shocking statistic is that there is less public attention for female sport and therefore it is not viable for them to be paid equally. However, the reason there is not as much interest in women’s sport is because female sport is repeatedly denied the opportunity of being represented in the media. Surely, the increasing interest in female tennis proves that there is a viable interest in female sport. As a result of this tennis is one of the few sports that has equal pay for women.

It is not just the matter of pay inequalities in sport that is concerning, but the seemingly conspicuous attitude that female sport is less important. At a rugby dinner last year I was appalled to see that the whole list of the female rugby players had been ‘missed’ from the guest list. How can female athletes expect to earn enough money from their careers when there is such an obvious lack of respect for what they are doing?

Pressure is now being put on schools as ‘2 million fewer women than men [play] regular sport’ (The Guardian) but what is there to motivate women to participate in sport? The prospect of a sporting career for a woman currently is practically impossible in comparison to the male ‘elite,’ so why would anyone attempt to follow such an uncertain career path? Moreover, schools themselves pay little attention to female sport in comparison to their male counterparts. I myself have seen male prospects in school P.E. having considerably more help with training than women with an equivalent ability.

If people wish for female sport to attract more of a public platform to enable equality, then the media should allow it one. Athletes around the world are being cheated out of a career on the simple premises that they are female. Despite this we are being told that for the first time in history women are on an equal status to men; I ask you to look again.

Written by Grace

Picture credit: Willow

 http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jul/25/school-pe-lessons-putting-girls-off-sport  
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/29786682