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Sports were exclusively for men for a very long time. However, women started joining the conversation in the 70s with the passing of Title IX. There were some instances where women played (like during the World Wars) when it was accepted, and many people watched. But then, when the war ended, the men returned home, and women didn’t continue to participate in major sports like how they previously had. Dr. Bri Newland, Fundamentals of Global Sports Management contributor and NYU faculty, walks us through important times of women’s sports and its growth.
Fighting Sports Tradition
There are moments when women’s global sports rose into the forefront and being recognized for their skill and ability. Women are fighting history. Newland states that women are “fighting the tradition of what it means to be an athlete and the society’s understanding of that. The problem is that we continue to compare apples to oranges.” Women’s sports, in general, are different from men’s. It’s like taking a high-heel shoe and a running shoe and saying that they’re the same thing to get endorsements for it.
The Need For Endorsements
However, it’s not the same thing. Women and women’s sports, in particular, will improve — changes in endorsements, sponsorships, and interest will change when female athletes are allowed to showcase their skills. For example, women’s tennis is incredibly visible. A lot of people follow women’s tennis more than men’s tennis. So that’s an incredible example or model of how women’s sports could be developed and showcased to the world.
The Need For Visibility
Newland doesn’t think there’s any difference in what women do on that court versus what they do in other realms. “If we have this interest in this area of sport for women, why are we not doing it or seeing it in other areas?” she challenges. It’s about visibility. Unfortunately, it’s like the chicken and the egg. Networks don’t show more women’s programming because people don’t want to watch women’s programming. However, people don’t watch women’s programming because they’re unaware that it’s even there.
Newland proposes to raise the scale of visibility for women’s sports to what we see in women’s tennis. If other women’s sports got the visibility of women’s tennis, then viewership, interest, and sponsorship dollars would potentially come with that.
Better sports management, which starts with sports education, will be key in bringing women’s sports to the forefront. Online courses like the Fundamentals of Global Sports Management are a great entryway into understanding the path to change and providing more equity in sports.
