The standard way of thinking about sports has it that people tend to think of male sports first. This is no surprise seeing how men sports are portrayed and televised more. On average, people are more likely to be able to name male athletes before they can name female athletes. In addition, male sports have a larger audience. Women are at a disadvantage as a result of the sports world revolving around male sports. Female sports are second to male sport: not a close second, but a default second. The real question is how this trend came about. How did the male sports surpass female sports to the point that the imbalance required artificial equality as an attempt to make male and female sports equal? The imbalance results from societal influences
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Female athletes make substantially less than male athletes. The benchwarmers for the NBA make “$500,000, more than 10 times greater than the minimum annual salary for a WNBA player...which was $36,470”(Dubois). Supporting a family on a professional women’s basketball salary would place allow for a middle to lower class life style, while NBA player are some of the most wealthy people. Essentially, it means that men can be professional athletes and women cannot. A woman would need a second job to compensate for the lack of money they make in the WNBA and furthermore it shows that the women sports aren’t even valued enough to make them a career. On the other hand, men basketball is valued more because a benchwarmer makes more money than the most talented female basketball players. In order to change the turnout of fans and in turn the incomes of WNBA players, the WNBA must become more popular. The league can do so by motivating more females to be basketball players or appeal to a larger audience. The reason for the pay disparity is the ticket prices. WNBA claims they want to make prices affordable, but in reality they cannot charge higher prices because people will not pay the high prices. This struggle is not unique to basketball, many women’s sports, softball for example face the similar problems. Female sports are continuously at a disadvantage in comparison to male …show more content…
Tamar Haspel highlights the difference between female and male capability in her article “Throw Like a Girl? You Can Do Better.” The difference between a man and woman’s ability to throw comes from an evolutionary difference: “’Women did the gathering, and often brought a baby with them…that [one-piece] rotation came from women having to throw while holding a baby’”(Haspel). Essentially, men have more physical ability, which aids them in sports. People like watching the best of the best, so the physical capabilities are another reason why female sports have smaller audiences. My feelings on the issue are mixed, I do acknowledge that men have more physical ability, but I do not believe that female sports should not be supported because men compete at a different level. I like to watch and cheer for the best players, but connections with athletes make me a fan, therefore, I support athletes of all abilities. Many do not feel the same as I do, in particularly the desired audience to make a sport popular- “18-34-year-old male sports addict”(Dubois). Not only do we need to persuade girls to play sports, but change the perception of boys in regard to females playing sports. If female sports could attract more male fans then the popularity of the sport would
Female athletes make substantially less than male athletes. The benchwarmers for the NBA make “$500,000, more than 10 times greater than the minimum annual salary for a WNBA player...which was $36,470”(Dubois). Supporting a family on a professional women’s basketball salary would place allow for a middle to lower class life style, while NBA player are some of the most wealthy people. Essentially, it means that men can be professional athletes and women cannot. A woman would need a second job to compensate for the lack of money they make in the WNBA and furthermore it shows that the women sports aren’t even valued enough to make them a career. On the other hand, men basketball is valued more because a benchwarmer makes more money than the most talented female basketball players. In order to change the turnout of fans and in turn the incomes of WNBA players, the WNBA must become more popular. The league can do so by motivating more females to be basketball players or appeal to a larger audience. The reason for the pay disparity is the ticket prices. WNBA claims they want to make prices affordable, but in reality they cannot charge higher prices because people will not pay the high prices. This struggle is not unique to basketball, many women’s sports, softball for example face the similar problems. Female sports are continuously at a disadvantage in comparison to male …show more content…
Tamar Haspel highlights the difference between female and male capability in her article “Throw Like a Girl? You Can Do Better.” The difference between a man and woman’s ability to throw comes from an evolutionary difference: “’Women did the gathering, and often brought a baby with them…that [one-piece] rotation came from women having to throw while holding a baby’”(Haspel). Essentially, men have more physical ability, which aids them in sports. People like watching the best of the best, so the physical capabilities are another reason why female sports have smaller audiences. My feelings on the issue are mixed, I do acknowledge that men have more physical ability, but I do not believe that female sports should not be supported because men compete at a different level. I like to watch and cheer for the best players, but connections with athletes make me a fan, therefore, I support athletes of all abilities. Many do not feel the same as I do, in particularly the desired audience to make a sport popular- “18-34-year-old male sports addict”(Dubois). Not only do we need to persuade girls to play sports, but change the perception of boys in regard to females playing sports. If female sports could attract more male fans then the popularity of the sport would