“My Coach said that I run like a girl, I said that if he ran a little faster he could too.”-Mia Hamm
Women are undermined by men, especially in sports. Men biologically are stronger than women, what society has conferred from this is that since men will be stronger than women, men and women shouldn’t have equal rights in sports.
A girl has to work twice as hard to get to the level that a man is playing on. However, this isn’t physical, it is also mental. Men have more opportunities than women. Yet, how can society correct its wrong and change the gender inequality in sports?
Gender equality in soccer has come a long way from Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm. However, it is still far from equal. In the world cup, the winning men’s team gets paid $38 million, as the women’s team gets only paid $3 million. Many people think this is unfair and that women should get rewarded the same amount of money as men.
Yet, other people understand differently. The men’s world cup gets 3.7 Billion viewers, as the women’s world cup gets a meek 31% of that number. Furthermore, the difference in pay is 12.6% percent. Therefore, many people think that the women’s reward is already unethical and that they should be grateful that they get so much money. However, the total pool of the men’s world cup is 200 Million dollars and increasing every year. Shouldn’t FIFA be able to reserve money for the women’s world cup?
From a different viewpoint, 35 Million dollars is a lot of money and the women’s world cup is heavily dominated by the American women’s team. Moreover, 5% of the men’s pool is all we need for gender equality. What is the price of gender equality? What is the price of supporting the women of the next generation?
“Unfortunately it was the concept of paying us equally. We never even got past that.”-Christin Press
It is estimated that in 42 years soccer will reach equal gender payment. This means that girls will have to wait 42 years to even get economically considered as equals. Yet, in 42 years women will still have to experience unfairness due to their gender. It is time we put a price on equality it is time we sacrifice ourselves for the hope of equality. It is time we make a change.