Female Athletes Still Battle For Respect

Forty years have come and gone since the implementation of Title IX, and female athletes are still treated as second-class citizens in the world of sports. The respect today’s female athletes receive has more in common with Rodney Dangerfield than Aretha Franklin.

In the USA, basketball star Diana Taurasi said “We're a team that's won four gold medals in a row and yet we're still fighting for respect in our own country.” The women's team has also won 33 straight games and is the favorite to win a fifth gold medal in London.

And the lack of respect extends worldwide. Japan’s female Olympic soccer team flew coach to London while its male counterparts sat in business class. The Japanese women’s team won the World Cup last year.

For years female boxing and badminton competitors have been wearing skirts to attract male views. Although female boxers fought and won to make the wearing of a skirts optional for the London games.

If only the governing bodies of male dominated sports would treat male athletes the same as women. Then maybe they could sexualize their sports by making Speedos mandatory, create penalties for not getting mani/pedi’s before games and enforce monetary fines for grabbing their crotch.