Why Does Society Judge An Athlete by Gender?

 

In the past many people have had the general idea that girls are to be cheerleaders and boys are to play sports. Society has pressured a lot of female athletes into thinking that many sports like; football, boxing, wrestling, MMA, and basketball are to only be played by men. The past few decades this idea has been slowly fading from our society, but in the past women who played sports were looked at as an exception to society. According to AAUW (American Association of University Women) the number of female high school students that participate in athletics has increased nine hundred and fifty percent since 1971. At my high school we had a female wrestler that competed at the 105lbs weight class and she ranked in the top three in the state for that weight class her senior year. This same girl went on to try out for the U.S. Olympic team, and she was competing against males. Another high school in our conference had a female quarterback on their football team freshmen year. Female athletes had previously been denied the right to pursue their athletic desires. A good example of this would be from the Friday Night Lights book on page 45 "The number on the white jersey each girl wore corresponded to that of the player she had been assigned for the football season." This quote may suggest that these Pepette’s had been denied the right of individualism due to the fact that they wore jerseys that had a male football players name on and that not of their own. The link below to the statics for participation in women’s high school and college level sports participation. (Skip to page 31-33)

Title IX allows for women sports of equal opportunity for both genders but society still assumes that girls should not participate in certain sports. Women’s sports at every level have become more popular and many women athletes have the ability to perform just as well as men do. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, girls are permitted to participate in high school level boys’ sports if no equivalent girls’ team exists as long as they have equal size, strength, and skill to participate safely. There are many stories of how girls are starting to play football and ice hockey with boys even at the high school level. The link to the video below is about the first female high school quarterback in Florida, who proved to the coach that she can compete with males. Many sports do not have an equivalent girls’ team but sports that due have them have become a lot more popular in recent years. Many women’s teams have been able to draw larger crowds and a lot of media coverage. The 1999 FIFA women's World Cup attracted a larger crowd than the Rose Bowl of the year prior. Women have been participating in sports like MMA, wrestling, football, and ice hockey. Women athletes have been accepted by society, the question is, why does society still continue to judge athletes by gender?

http://juliefoudyleadership.com/jfsla_media/wsf_facts_march_2009.pdf

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7420338n

http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/girl/post/_/id/462/girls-tackling-football-across-the-country