FEATURE
BATTLE OF THE
SEXES? By Grace Austin
U
.S. Women’s Soccer goalie Hope Solo was recently seen waltzing and shimmying on the last season of Dancing with the Stars. Tennis ace Maria Sharapovna can be seen marketing everything from Canon cameras to Cole Haan ballet flats. This summer’s Olympics will undoubtedly create more stars. So with such media attention on female athletes, it raises the question: will these stars become bigger than their male counterparts? Will men and women finally become equal on and off the playing field?
History of Women in Sports Maria Sharapovna is one of the richest female athletes in the world.
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PROFILES IN DIVERSITY JOURNAL
Of course, women’s involvement in sports is not new. During the twentieth century, societal rules relaxed opening new doors for women in previously restricted areas, including sports. Women have competed in the modern Olympic Games since 1900. May/June 2012
The former Soviet bloc, Germany, China, and the U.S. have long histories of school and state athletic programs that encourage girls to participate in sports. The passing of Title IX legislation in the early 1970s to ensure an even female/male sport ratio further popularized female athletics in the United States. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, tennis and figure skating created stars like Peggy Fleming and Chris Evert. Gymnastics produced idols in Mary Lou Retton and the 1996 U.S. Olympic team. In the 1990s, WNBA player Lisa Leslie and soccer star Mia Hamm kicked off the first trend in female team sports stars, and in doing so, changed traditional notions of female athletes. Current stars like the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova in tennis, Danica Keller in racing, and skier Lindsey Vonn are global celebrities, but famous for being individual players.