Women Sports Essay, Research Paper

Women and women’s sports have made great strides since the mid 70’s. Although,

gender inequality in sports is still common in most sports today. Prior to the

early 1970 women did not have teams or similar programs that the males had. In

1972 the government finally stepped in and passed Title IX of the Educational

Amendments. Today women are given many opportunities to participate in sports.

While opportunities have increased for women, the equal rights of men and

women’s athletics are still heavily favoring men’s athletics’. Many sports

played by women are still seen as inferior to men sports. Men can make a wealth

profession from playing professional sports. Women have little to no options, as

there are few professional women’s team. The NBA and the WNBA are examples of a

professional sport that both men and women have there own league. The biggest

difference in the leagues is that the NBA players make extremely larger salary

than the women of the WNBA. Main reason for the salary difference is that people

are willing to pay a larger amount to see a NBA game. Also the NBA has spent

millions in advertisements. In most cases, women’s athletics programs are

seriously lacking the funds as compared to men’s programs. In most universities

men’s programs have the better gym, the nicer facilities, the newest equipment,

and the top notch coaching staff. While the women’s teams are not subjected to

the same luxuries as the men’s teams. This is due to the bonuses schools have by

having a excellent men’s athletic program. Football teams like Nebraska, Texas,

and Michigan rely heavily on their football teams. When there football team has

a good year they will participate in a big time bowl, such as the ‘Sugar Bowl’.

Half of the money generated from the bowl is given to the school. This money

usually ends up being a lot of money. Every year these schools depend on their

football team to keep them financially sound. These schools can afford to pay a

coach a large salary or build a new football stadium. These schools may have

excellent programs for women’s sports, but no female sport team can create the

money that a big time football program can. Social equality of Men and Women’s

athletics has come a long way since 1970. Today women have some professional

teams and have many sports opportunities in school. Racial discrimination in

sports has existed since the beginning of sports. Much of all sports now are

heavily desegregated, but racial discrimination has not disappeared. In the

1980’s color was an issue as two black members of a golf team were not allow to

play due to blacks not being allow to play on the course. Even with professional

athletes, color has been an issue. Arthur Ashe was a professional tennis player

who couldn’t play tennis in some places in the United States. In 1986 black

players of the Boston Red Sox were not allow to attend some clubs in spring

training. Owners of professional teams could not afford to turn their heads on

black athletes, as black athletes became their meal ticket to a successful

franchise. While many black athletes are awarded with large financial contracts

the owners are ones who are making more money. Without desegregation in some

sports, owners would have been missing out on a golden opportunity. Some sports

have been slow in the process of desegregation. Hockey for example is a sport

that is mainly populated with white males. Players like Anson Carter of the

Boston Bruins and Mike Grier of the Edmonton Oilers are example of black hockey

player. Main reason that the NHL has few black hockey players is that many

hockey players are from Canada and the northern States of the US. Place that are

scarcly populated with black hockey players. Other reasons are that hockey is an

expensive game to play and is mostly played in a cold weather area. Anson Carter

is a product of his environment. He grew playing hockey as a child in Toronto,

Ontario, a hockey city. While other friends quit hockey he stayed with it and

now is a profession hockey player. Carter has received racial slurs from other

hockey players. Carter continues to play all-star type hockey for the Boston

Bruins.