How many members of the US Men’s Soccer Team can you name? I can guarantee that many were unable to think of a single player. How many members of the US Women’s Soccer Team can you name? That was probably a bit easier.
With how successful the US Women’s Team has been, it’s no surprise that many of their past and present players have become household names. Names like Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn or Rose Lavelle are some that come to my mind. In recent years, these athletes have finally begun to receive the recognition that they deserve.
Athletes like Caitlin Clark are taking the world by storm, bringing some much needed awareness to women’s sports as a whole. I feel this transition has been long overdue because women’s sports in general are largely overlooked and underappreciated, especially in sports that are traditionally masculine.
It’s hard to ignore the fact that men’s and women’s sports are very different games, with men competing at a more intense level, but that doesn’t excuse the blatant disregard that these athletes receive on the daily. Female athletes are often viewed as lesser athletes because we don’t compete like the men, but that’s the thing, we aren’t men. What’s sad is even when our women’s teams are more successful than men’s, the stands are barren.
This isn’t just happening in professional level sports, the same goes for the collegiate level and we can see it with our very own Lady Mavs. In comparison to our male teams and club sports, our women’s teams get far less support showing up even when they are doing incredible. It seems fans can cheer for men’s teams during their worst games and their worst seasons, but even when the women’s teams are winning it seems hard for fans to turn up at all.
Winning five Olympic gold medals and four FIFA World Cups, there is no doubt that the US women’s soccer team is a force to be reckoned with. With that in mind, it’s shameful that only within the last two years have they been promised equal pay and better working conditions.
By comparison, the US men’s soccer team has not once won a single medal in the modern Olympic era, with their closest success being a fourth place title during the 2000 Sydney Olympics. They have very little to show for their success, yet got paid ridiculously more than the women’s team before the recent lawsuits for equal pay.
In 2016, before the recent lawsuits, if the men qualified for a World Cup match they would get paid $2.5 million, the women would only get paid $345,000. If the men finished in third place they would be awarded $1.25 million, the women would only be awarded $480,000. Keep in mind that the closest our men’s team has ever been to winning the world cup was in 1930 when they made it to the semifinals.
It can be easy to dwell on this issue, but I feel it’s also important to appreciate the recent improvement. With the people now realizing how talented and incredible these athletes have always been, the support has been overwhelming. It was especially easy to see during the Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
Athletes like Simone Biles, Ilona Maher and Sha’Carri Richardson were seen taking over social media with people celebrating their strength and accomplishments. Americans posted things like ‘nothing makes me feel more patriotic than Simone Biles doing a floor routine’. This includes the Paralympics with athletes like Sarah Adam, the first woman to play for the US wheelchair rugby team, who took home silver.
Showing her feats in a male dominated sport, making crucial decisions and plays to help get the US team to victory, athletes like Sarah Adam are trailblazers in their sport. This move toward equitable representation for all athletes isn’t just happening in the US, it is a worldwide phenomenon.
In China, women athletes are receiving much needed recognition as well, one being Li Wenwen. China is notorious for having incredibly strict beauty standards, so when Li Wenwen (a plus sized woman) took home the gold in the 81kg weight lifting category, it was heartwarming to see people on Chinese social media reacting so positively to her success. Some even calling Wenwen a Tang Dynasty beauty when she posed in Hanfu for pictures.
I think that it’s about damn time that female athletes from all levels of play get the respect that they deserve. It is a welcome sight to finally witness these tough, strong and talented women be taken seriously. They deserve to be seen as athletes, and not just as a woman playing a sport.
