Sexism Struggles In Sports

Improved Essays
Sexism Struggles in Sports
Females are often at a huge disadvantage compared to males when it comes to sports. They are often discouraged from pursuing an interest in sports and aren’t given the same tools and opportunities as males. This paper will discuss what limitations girls face, how coeducational teams differ from single gender teams, and how these coeducational teams help create equality of the sexes in sports.
Middle school PE is often one of the most loved or the most hated class students take. This class provides basic knowledge and understanding of sports that can introduce students to their passion for sports, or it could cause traumatic memories. However this class is perceived, it is an extremely influential part of growing up.
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These exceptions included sex education and contact sports, which were optional, not mandatory” (Pritchard 135-36). Before that, males were given better equipment and facilities. Teachers were worried that combining males and females in these classes would cause the males to hold back and females to not want to participate. Even now, many females in middle school PE find physical activity to be embarrassing as well as feel their skills and physical abilities are less than their male counterparts. Regardless, females are more physical during coeducational PE classes than they are in single sex …show more content…
More significantly, through continuing to separate athletes on the basis of sex, the assumptions of female inferiority in sport are reinforced and become even more deeply entrenched” (McDonagh 200). By segregating females and males in sports, males are still given better opportunities and are treated superiorly to women.
One possible solution to inequality in sports is to make more professional sports coeducational. If males and females playing together were the norm, women would not have teams just to appear equal because they are given the opportunity to play. Instead, it would prove that women’s sports are not inferior, and their strengths can be an asset to the team. “Same-sex sport could still be an option, but should be the exception and not the norm and would be based on individual choice, not based on lack of opportunity or as a result of coercive practices” (McDonagh 202). When single sex sports are played, it is a disadvantage to women, not giving them the same opportunities or audiences as men’s sports are given. That being said, single sex sports can be beneficial in allowing players to feel more comfortable with their teammates and possibly even their skill

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