Posted On: 2024-03-22 10:29:47
Historically, women’s sports have been looked down upon with mockery and disdain. The founder of the International Olympic Committee, Pierre de Coubertin, said: “As to the admission of women to the Games, I remain strongly against it. It was against my will that they were admitted to a growing number of competitions”.
Kathrine Switzer had to enter the 1967 Boston Marathon wearing a hoodie to conceal her identity. However, when her hood slipped, people realized that a woman was participating, which prompted Jock Semple, the co-director of the race, to intervene. Semple ran at her and tried to rip Katherine’s race number off to prevent her from competing.
However, despite all the resistance by female athletes, misogyny still persisted in the minds of members, which compelled and encouraged mockery of female athletes.
Professor in Business and Computing, Mariann Hardey collaborated alongside the University of Stirling Management School, Chester Business School, Bournemouth University and the University of Manchester to study gender-based violence and toxic fan behaviour on mainstream social media platforms.
The results published showcased four major themes of gender-based comments:
However, a debate persists about whether this is just a vocal minority who feel threatened by women’s sports or whether this reflects the thought process of the majority of the population.
One thing which provides us hope is the viewership and attendance when it comes to women’s sports in recent years. The Women’s Premier League was one of the hottest topics on social media in 2024 so far. It was advertised on a large scale.
Major entrepreneurs sponsored the teams, with Katrina Kaif’s Kay Beauty being one of them. The opening ceremony had stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Kartik Aaryan, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra and Tiger Shroff performing.
With great marketing came great results and the stadiums were completely packed to see female cricketers in action. Cricketers like Ellyse Perry, Smriti Mandhana and Shreyanka Patil became household names. Virat Kohli himself joined the celebrations when Royal Challengers Bangalore picked up the trophy for the first time.
Similar growth in viewership has been observed in other sports as well. Women’s World Cup saw historic numbers. To highlight women’s capabilities in football, Marcel, a French ad agency, created the Bleues’ Highlights ad. The ad begins with showcasing the excellent physical prowess of male athletes, only to later reveal that the viewers were tricked and they were watching female players all along. Through deep fakes and special effects, male athletes were pasted on female athletes to trick the viewers.
According to the agency, the ad was viewed over 15 million times, generated 50 articles and was mentioned during prime-time TV news. It was also shared on social media by the French Minister of Sports and World Cup-winning athletes.
We can conclude that female athletes need our support more than ever and through financial backing they can easily become successful players.
Filaantro salutes female athletes all over the world who are making efforts to bridge the gender gap in sports. With its Gender Equality Program, Filaantro has helped 53,426 people.
Thank you for reading this article. Make sure to share it with all your friends and family members.
AUTHOR: Adil Sayyad
Ready to Start a Fundraiser ?