March is Women’s History Month! A full 31 days commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.
For the entirety of this country’s existence, women have been making strides on a number of fronts, both domestic and international, to establish our place as equals to our male counterparts. With a multitude of equal rights movements highlighting nearly every decade of the twentieth century and bleeding into this one, the United States has gradually become a nation where inequality is increasingly intolerable (depending on who you ask).
However, a consistent sore spot in American history can be seen with women’s sports and their pay inequality. As many of us have heard and constantly been made aware of, the pay for professional athletes is not exactly regulated to maintain even a thread of equality. This is due to a number of factors such as popularity but gender takes the cake.
As the catalyst to a number of passionate arguments between women’s sports enthusiasts and Micheal Jordan groupies (although both are not mutually exclusive), the topic of equal pay in sports has become a heated topic. Many argue biological reasons or (in their eyes) limitations behind the lack of excitement around women’s sports.
But I have a hypothesis! The sports world is reluctant to change. With what I would argue to be a lack of a collective American culture due to our enormous geographic reach, the United States (and sometimes Canada) finds refuge and pride in “their” team. As athletes get taller, faster, smarter and increasingly more creative, the media highlights the most eye-catching stories and plays for the masses to hyperfixate on for the next few days.
With a head-start in the 20th century, male sports have evolved around tradition, funding and history while women’s sports are still getting on their feet. This comes to a head in limited media exposure for female sporting events, leading to a consistent lack of demand for said events in the future. The media controls our preferences.
I can prove this point by asking you the following questions: Is there a FIFA Women’s World Cup? If so, when is the next one?
Judging by my highly educated guess, not many of you know that yes, there is a FIFA Women’s World Cup and the next one is happening in five short months. Arguably one of the best Men’s World Cups concluded at the end of last year that literally and figuratively united the entire world in the name of football. With Messi and Argentina scraping their way to the center of the FIFA bracket and securing the coveted title in penalty kicks over previous title winner France, football was at the forefront of most human minds.
What about the women? I’ve heard crickets about the 2023 cup being held this summer in New Zealand and Australia and the United States has won four of the last eight including the last two tournaments! We could be in for a FIFA hat trick and the anticipation has not picked up yet! The Women’s USA national team is also accredited with pushing for the unanimously passed bipartisan Equal Pay for Team USA Act.
In other words, for the sake of women’s history, equal pay and American legitimacy in the global football community, I say get excited.