November 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 48

SPORTS EQUITY

divergent events or rules for each sex.
In track and field, women compete in
the heptathlon, while men compete
in the decathlon. We often see softball teams provided for young women, but not baseball.
At the highest international level of
sport, we have seen incredible progress - in the Olympics, women began competing in 1900 and were only
allowed to participate in five sports:
tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian and
golf. The Olympics has gradually progressed to add more women's sports
programming almost every cycle, including the most recent Olympic competition, when women competed in ski

jumping for the first time. Today at the
Olympic level, we have almost reached
equal opportunities and all new sports
added to Olympic programing must
include women's events. As bright a
mark as this is, there is still progress to
be made in order to increase participation, whether in toddler T-ball or senior
programming for women.
Changing Attitudes
The second component involves the
culture of women in sports and how
we view and treat girls and women.
This point is to highlight prejudices
in society that underlie why opportunities and participation are not equal.

Most Frequent Physical Activities (Girls)
Physical activity

% participation

GIRLS
Dancing

Swimming/diving

Basketball

Jogging/running

Volleyball

Bowling

Soccer

Baseball/softball

In-line skating

Camping/hiking

Ultimate Frisbee

BOYS
Basketball

Football

Soccer

Jogging/running

Swimming/diving

Baseball/softball

Bowling

Weight training

Bowling

Weight training

Cycling/mountain biking

Skateboarding

Ultimate Frisbee

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We have all heard the following " insult " hurled at both men and women: " You run like a girl! " When did
it become a negative to simply run
as a young woman? Or, some may
remember in 2007 when radio talk
show host Don Imus called the Rutgers University women's basketball
team, a winning NCAA program,
" nappy-headed hoes. " The reaction
was strong because the sexism and
racism of the remark offended many
people - unfortunately, there are far
too many of these public examples
that persist in disparaging women
in sport. What in our modern society is still lacking that these types of
attitudes prevail? Are girls not participating in sports because of these attitudes, and if so, how can we change
this? We should be allowing girls to
be proud of their athletic achievements so they can take their abilities
and talents to the highest levels.
The visibility of positive female role
models at high levels of sport surely
plays a role. While the opportunities for female professionals in sports
are slowly improving, again we have
gains to make. The current number of
coaching and officiating opportunities
to which girls can aspire is small. A
common argument is that there is not
enough demand for women's sports,
and thus attendance and ticket sales
are low. This may be true, but what we
need to look at is why do we not have
enough support for women in all levels
of sports and how can we change this?
Part of the answer may lie in the fact
that the culture of women in sports is
affected by those who run women's
sports - the coaches, athletic directors
and owners. With mostly male-run
programs, we are missing an important
voice. Sadly we have actually seen a
decline in female coaches of women's
teams at the collegiate level since Title
IX passed. In 1972, more than 90 percent of the people coaching women's

November 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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