Opinion: Disrespect Between Men’s and Women’s Sports

We’ve all heard the saying, “you’re good at sports, for a girl.” 

Well, that’s a sexist thing to say to us/a woman. Women can do anything a man can do, including being good at sports. And yes, most people should know this by now, but there are many that just don’t seem to understand the simple concept of it.

The difference in respect shown to women and men is clear from how differently we treat women’s and men’s sports.

At school, we have all different types of sports, including girls’ and boys’ teams, but unfortunately, Men’s sports have more support than women’s. Afterall, the headlining game for school events like Homecoming are never women’s sports.

In basketball season, there was a boys’ and girls’ team, and more people went to the boys’ games, whether they were home games or away games.

A freshman/sophomore at Timnath stated, “I feel like it’s unfair that more people go to men’s sports games than women’s, just because they would be “more entertaining.”

The same goes when it was volleyball season, an exclusively female sport at Timnath and across the district. Some of our high school volleyball players stated that barely any students would show up for their games; that there would be less than 10 students on a good night, but in football season, more students would go. The stands would be full of students cheering on their football boys.

“Volleyball is incredibly fun to watch,” stated Ms. Halboth, an English teacher who worked the high school volleyball games so she would have the chance to watch and cheer on the team. “It’s fast-paced, quick-scoring, teamwork-filled action. Watching football is really boring. You wait three minutes for a ref to call another penalty then wait three more minutes before there’s another play. It’s just so slow. Plus, it lasts forever. It just can’t keep my attention like volleyball can.”

Where was the support and cheering for the volleyball girls? C’mon, Cubs, they deserve every piece of support and cheering as the boys.

So, what’s the difference?

What makes the boys more interesting than the girls if they’re literally doing the same thing? Why aren’t they both equal?

Really, it all comes down to the perception that boys will be more aggressive, more serious, and more competitive than girls, when female athletes work just as hard, if not harder. Boys may physically jump higher, but female athletes often have stronger technique without as much poor sportsmanship. 

This isn’t the 18th century anymore. It’s 2023, and the skills of our female athletes deserve the same amount of support as any other team, including recognition during important weeks like homecoming.