It now seems that the gap between men and women in sport is getting smaller in terms of statistics and systems. However, many issues still remain unresolved relating to women’s sports.
Firstly, there is the fact that the participation of women in sports has always been lower than that of men’s. Traditional views of gender roles and stigmas attached to women’s abilities seem to influence the rate of participation. For example, people tend to feel negatively when mothers enjoy sports utilizing baby-sitters or child-care facilities, while this may not be the case for fathers.
Another issue is that women are under-represented in the leadership in sport. The number of women coaches, directors of sport organizations, physical education teachers and researchers is very small. In 2004, of the total eighty thousand trainers who were responsible for local sports groups, only one-fourth were women, which totalled a current amount of only twenty thousand trainers.
It is no exaggeration to say that sports experience has become an essential part of culture for women. It provides communications with other people and improves physical, mental, and emotional well-being of both man and woman. In relation towards this, I believe that women’s sport is as important as men’s sport, since sports have a significant value for the quality of both a woman’s life as well as a man’s.
In order for women’s sport to continue to grow, it is essential to examine the status of women’s sports regularly and enhance sports opportunities for women when necessary. By examining the relationship between women and sport, we cannot help reconsidering women’s roles in society at large, which eventually also leads to a healthy lifestyle for women.
It is clear that sports experience for women has been greatly enhanced in the past few years. Besides the traditionally popular men’s sports such as football and basketball, a variety of women’s sports have generated attention in the media, but not yet to that extent of which men hold today.
Many women actively participate in local sports groups or enjoy sports at local fitness centres, as do men, and yet do not hit the headlines on newspaper articles. By saying this, the media cannot say that these women are just ‘ordinary’ as not many articles on even the most professional female athletes have been printed to date.
It is urgently needed to create a society where every woman and man can play and enjoy sports regardless of gender or sex. So, therefore, I conclude my statement of which, “Women’s sport is as important as men’s sport,” as I believe that everyone should be treated as equals and that there should be no terms of inferior in regards to power, strength, and ability.
