Sports: Equality. - Is it an even Playing field for all?

Equality with the Genders has seen opportunities and rewards have subject of debate for many years.
Be it through allowing entrance and participation or parity in pay and reward for achievements, there has been debate, arguments and indeed unjustifiable
I will try an post some references of, and historical events for due review and comment
- Feel free to post your opinion/s

 

Equal Prize money between the genders has been an issue, and even in the 'enlightened times' - the battle for parity continues.
Gender pay gap in sports - Wikipedia
There are frequent explanations of why the gender pay gap in sports exists, and why it is so large
- Men's sports receive vastly more media coverage, television licenses, and sponsorship deals, which contribute to higher revenue.

- In most mainstream team sports where players are under salary contract, female athletes are paid significantly lower than their male counterparts.
This is generally due to the lower amount of spectator interest in the women's leagues.

is this a fair assessment?
The Gender Equality Debate: A Boost for Women in Sport | Athlete Assessments

 

Billie Jean King: (Pioneer)
In 1973, she lobbied for equal prize money for men and women at the U.S. Open, and as a result of her efforts, a sponsor was found to level the playing field. As a result of her advocacy, the U.S. Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money to both sexes.



Women’s Equal Rights in Sports | Billie Jean King

 

Megan Rapinoe (A Modern day Rebel):



Megan Rapinoe's fight for equality - BBC News

 

And Rapinoe is not alone:



The Fight for Equal Pay in Women’s Sports - Women's Sports Foundation (womenssportsfoundation.org)

 

I think the pay should be more based on the income the team brings in and paid out relative to that. How much money does the market bring? I believe ALL athletes are paid entirely too much right off the bat. However, if a hypothetic womens basketball market is bringing in a profit margin that is, say, 30% less than the mens market, the pay would obviously have to reflect that, as its what the team would be able to afford. On the other hand, if a womens sports market makes more than the mens, well what comes around goes around.

As far as having them compete together, or the new era we're in when athletes that started off as male and now identify as female.... Thats a weird subject. I dont think that males and females should be competing together in high contact sports such as hockey and football. There's just obviouslu too great a risk of injury. However, what about sports such as golf? I guess technically if you take a man and a woman who are in all accounts equal in skill, the muscle mass may still give the man an unfair advantage. However, I know when I'm golfing (casual skill level here), I do tend to hit the ball straighter and typically farther when I swing easier and dont try to crush it. Does that mean maybe at a high school level the playing field would be closer? Studies would be needed to tell.

Now with the fine line subject, how about that high school wrestler that started off as a man, but then chose to identify as a woman? They let that kid wrestle all those girls, and he went to dominate. Is that fair? I think not.

 

I feel like the micro focus is the wrong approach; sort of in the same vein as this idea that oppression must end for equality to be achieved. But it isn't black and white: ending oppression isn't going to stop the perception that men or women are this or that or the other... You have to train people, and in my humble opinion that just isn't going to happen.

So without the school of thought going away... I think that the best way to make everyone comfortable in their own skin is by enabling the media (not just the news media) and everything and everyone to embrace the ideas around equality - the gay rights, the gender issues... all of that continuing this way is going to foster the kind of growth that at least allows people room to backwalk their backward opinion, or establish a new attitude about everything - including women and their rights in sports, society, the workplace, or whatever else.

Women are cool! Not just this novelty "cool"... Like they're really cool.

 

Sports Equality Foundations:
Women in Sport: -.
Home - Women In Sport



Culture Must Change for Equality in Sport to Thrive - Women In Sport

 

StandUp Foundation:



Sports Equality Foundation launches to support LGBT people coming out & being out in sports - Outsports

 

Active for Life:



active-life-97e.pdf (local.gov.uk)

 

A 'U.S. point of view

Players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team urged a federal appeals court to reinstate their equal pay lawsuit, saying their greater success than the American men was not taken into account by a trial court judge who dismissed their case.

https://trib.al/9dP2Y5A
(Sadly 'us' in the UK/Europe cannot access the Link)

 

I definitely agree.

 

A Witty view:
(Sorry, I can never resist a good pun)

 

Is it an even Playing field for all?

Not if you ask the Island Nation of Samoa whose female weightlifting champion Feagaiga Stowers, was defeated in 2019 by transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard from New Zealand

Hubbard will be eyeing a gold medal victory at this year's Tokyo Olympics as long as he/she can keep their testosterone levels below 10 nanomoles per litre

 

Just glanced at this article, (Laurel Hubbard: Transgender weightlifter is set to compete in women's event at Tokyo Olympics - but does she have unfair advantage?) I'll read it properly later (post work) It'd be interesting to get a Trans view on this

 

Swaddle: Article:

All The Arguments Why It's Fair for Trans, Intersex Athletes to Compete | The Swaddle

WRITTEN BY PALLAVI PRASAD

 

The Conversation: Article:

Striking a balance between fairness in competition and the rights of transgender athletes (theconversation.com)

Author: Chris W. Surprenant (Professor of Ethics, Strategy, and Public Policy, University of New Orleans)