When you approach someone and prepare to ask them a question about sport, a commonly asked question is, "who do you think is the greatest..." Now, to finish that question a person typically asks either; basketball player, football player, baseball player, hockey player. With and exception to football and baseball the other two sports could be used in terms of either men or women, the typical answer someone will say is a list of men, why? This is a question that is easy to answer, women sports are a forgotten history. Women don't get nearly the praise that men get, not even close. They may receive a mere pat on the back but nothing of significance to give them a more social status. In this post we're going to explore what it means to be a women in sport and how one of the best female athletes of all time has gone with somewhat being forgotten.
"There is a leader inside every single one of us, that dares to lead, you have to almost dare yourself to lead, and expect, expect, success." - Billie Jean King ("Why we honor," 2010)
Title IX was established in 1972 to disallow discrimination in the provision of curriculum, counseling, academic support, or general educational opportunities; this includes interscholastic or school-sponsored sports (Coakley, 2009). Strong women challenge the prevailing gender ideology that influences the norms, legal definitions, and opportunity structures that frame people's lives, relationships, and identities (Coakley, 2009). Women who excel in sports are looked at very differently then women who do not and choose different life paths. A common phrase for women would be tom-boy. Women were never and still aren't viewed equally in sport, no matter who comes along or who does something to shut up all the critics nothing has changed. Nancy Lopez (youngest woman on LPGA HOF), Anne Meyers (first woman to sign a NBA contract), Martina Navratilova (most consecutive Wimbledon singles titles 8 in a row), Billie Jean King (most Wimbledon wins). These women have clearly been dominant in some way or another and yet still have not gained any respect.
"Woman play sports, but they are not as good as men and people want to see the best."(Laurendeau, 2004; 2008; Vincent, 2004).
Billie Jean King left tennis in 1984 winning 39 titles between, singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. She also holds an astonishing record of 20 Wimbledon titles. She single handily dominated the sport of tennis. She fought for equal woman's pay, and even founded the WTA (Women's Tennis Association) and was its first president. King, was an activist for bettering woman's sport every where so woman could rise up and feel that they could be just as dominant as any man that step foot onto a playing field. Billie Jean felt as though not only that she was equal but she was better then most men, her dominance spoke for its self.
If we as a sport society don't recall these moments, and give woman the respect they do deserve we are going to lose out on a huge part of sport history. There are plenty of women out there not getting the recognition they deserve and there are women out there that I would take against a lot of guys who play the same sport. The point is if we don't start to recognize the Billie Jean Kings of sport then we are slowly going to decay woman's sport, which has been a huge boost for moral and equality stemming from where this country once was. This could lead to several other parts of life becoming more developed, such as CEO's, or business owners, or even as the President of the United States. Sports have been a huge boost into other things for men and has shaped our society, the same needs to be done with woman.
Why we honor her. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.womensconference.org/billie-jean-king-2/
Coakley, J. (2009). Sports in society. New York, New York: McGraw Hill.
No comments:
Post a Comment