Throughout history, women have always had to overcome stereotypes and expectations, especially from men. A lot of men think sports are for them or think we aren’t good at what we do, and this is why women always feel the need to prove themselves to men. This is not a fair thing to women, and it is considered bullying, but men and haters on social media see us as weak or not good enough a lot of them take us as a joke.
In the article “Sexism in sport,” they explain that, “There’s a mental health crisis in teenage girls. Anxiety is spiraling upwards, along with self-harm and eating disorders. By the time they reach puberty, 1.3 million girls who once loved sport are disengaging.” I’ve heard this a lot growing up in a basketball environment and have experienced it myself. It is not easy being a girl playing basketball because it is a male-dominated sport, and there are a lot of men who hate on us because they don’t think we are good. I’ve had really bad anxiety because I was scared of what the boys would say about me or think about me, and it almost made me quit because I wasn’t happy
anymore. I then went to therapy and overcame my anxiety, and now I don’t care what anyone thinks about me. There are also many podcasts you can listen to about these topics, and women speaking out about these types of issues we go through. In the article “Why do we hate women in sports,” April 12, 2023, Mariyam Quaisar from The Berkeley Beacon says, “The sexism goes further than just the comment section. Women in sports—athletes, reporters, or gym enthusiasts—are degraded and disrespected as a collective. Women athletes are rarely covered by sports news outlets, news outlets rarely hire women sports reporters, all the while ‘gym bros’ see women in the gym as nothing more than eye candy.” This is exactly how I feel about this topic. I rarely see positive articles about women in sports, and I rarely see women reporters. Lots of men don’t like it when a woman is talking about the NBA because they think we don’t know anything about the NBA. I see a lot of men also sexualizing women when watching them on TV.
Women shouldn’t have to feel judged or hated while doing the things they love. You rarely hear a woman judging a man about playing a sport, so I don’t understand why they are so comfortable with making fun of women or what joy they get out of it. In the article from UCL; Why gender equal pay is so hard to achieve in sport,” March 3, 2020, they said, “Most sports were never designed for women. They were designed to fit the physical abilities of men”. I can understand why they said this because back in the old times, women were not allowed to play sports. Only men were allowed to play sports, and women were made to cook, clean, and watch over the kids.
Women’s sports teams do not get paid the same as men’s sports teams, because there are not a lot of people who pay to watch women’s sports games. Women’s basketball has changed the game. There are a lot more people who enjoy watching women’s basketball because it 
has gotten more competitive, and a lot more media coverage of their games, and people talk good about this sport. In the article “Has Caitlin Clark Changed the game between men and women’s sports?” Jan 28, 2025 Alex Abad-santos explains that “For all of Caitlin Clark’s feats on the basketball court — breaking all-time scoring records, taking the Iowa Hawkeyes to two national championships and getting the Indiana Fever to the WNBA playoffs.” This makes me so happy because men are finally taking women’s basketball more seriously and watching the games. A lot of Caitlin Clark’s games have been sold out, which means more money is going to women’s basketball players. She has been an inspiration to young athletes, especially little girls. I see a lot of little girls at her games with her jersey, so excited to watch her play. Since Caitlin got the world’s attention, people are now more interested in watching other women’s basketball teams.
Another favorite of mine is Paige Beckers she has truly inspired me because she tore the same ligament I tore playing basketball which is our ACL and Meniscus, after seeing her come back from this injury it gave me hope for my future and I trained hard and my recovery journey was quick and came back better than before. Seeing these women accomplish great things is amazing to watch as a girl who also plays the same sport as they do. According to the article “WNBA targets better salaries and benefits after media deal” Jul 26, 2024, Alexa Philippou talks about “The WNBA is experiencing unprecedented success behind shattered TV ratings and its highest attendance in 26 years, but those involved say there’s still work to be done.” This is great for these WNBA players because the more people who attend their games, the more money they will get. Thanks to these new athletes joining the WNBA, they have made the game more interesting to watch, and fans are starting to enjoy watching them, including the male audience.
Enough of basketball, now I’m going to be talking about women’s tennis. In the article “The Same Work but a Lot Less Pay for Women. Welcome to Tennis in 2023.” May 10. 2023 Matthew Futterman quotes “There is one massive difference between the two competitions, however: Men will compete for $8.5 million while the women will compete for $3.9 million.” Even though $3.9 million is still a lot of money, we can see a major difference between these two paychecks. What we can say is that Women’s tennis more more watched than a lot of women’s sports out there today and is loved by the world.
Matthew Futterman continues to say, “Men and women also get paid the same at the four Grand Slam tournaments, where men play best of five sets and the women play best of three.” There is finally a fair opportunity for women to be paid the same as a man. Even if it’s a once-a-year thing, it is still cool to see a woman being paid the same as a man would. Not only do they get paid the same it will make women feel more accomplished finally get the same treatment as a male would for this sport.
Overall, we women and men need to do better to support each other. We need to figure out a way to make men enjoy watching women’s sports without just sexualizing us. It makes our community stronger, and women feel loved and wanted. Women play and train just as hard, and people need to realize and give women their flowers for working just as hard as a man do for the sport they play.
