#28 For Those Who Question the Women’s Game
I have heard a lot of repeating arguments as to why women’s players earn less. They typically are:
People don’t watch women’s rugby
The quality of play isn’t as high as men’s
Men’s players bring in more money
That’s the market
Let’s do a quick little check 1 2 on the situation, men’s teams are more likely to:
have proper strength and conditioning coaching and training
have higher quality facilities and resources (fields, gym, research data and high performance tools and analysis)
have access to quality physios and trainers
have more media coverage and more convenient media coverage times for viewers
be seen positively socially and culturally for participation in more aggressive sports like rugby
From a young age we see examples of professional athletes on TV, social media, the news, and commercials. I remember football days were always one of my favorite days because I got to chill on the couch with my family and a huge bowl of my dad’s freaking phenomenal chili. I was exposed to sports early, both my parents and sister were athletes. Not going to lie, I was a home run hitter on the wildcats DAA softball league. Then at 12 years old I found rugby, and she quickly became my #1. But as I got older I continued to hear comments like,
“I don’t know about that top, your shoulders look so broad.”
“Look at you skinny mini! You look so good!”
“Be careful with all that lifting you’re doing, you don’t want to look too manly.”
“Isn’t rugby an aggressive sport? Girls shouldn’t be playing that.”
“Don’t only ugly lesbians play rugby?”
“Why are you training so much? You’ll never make any money doing that anyways.” And at the time, how could I tell them they were wrong? The only examples of professional athletes I had really been exposed to were men. Little boys get to see themselves in those examples. To be a professional male athlete is COOL; it’s well advertised that you have LOTS of money and some major social clout. Your muscles are hot. Your drive is respected and admired. Generally speaking, people support you in your pursuit of your sport. Meanwhile, girls like myself are socially and culturally conditioned to believe that the athlete career path is for men. Studies have even shown that big brands like Nike reenforce gender stereotypes in sport. And the research shows that when Nike does show female athletes, they typically portray them in a visually appealing way rather than showcasing their strength and power like they do for male athletes.
By the way, I’m not saying that hegemonic masculinity is a good or easy thing for male athletes, but it has a powerful impact on society’s view of women in sports which leads to greater barriers in our pursuit of professionalism.
I literally could not name one fully professional financially abundant women’s rugby player. Is that because she doesn’t bring in as much money as a male rugby player? Or is that because she doesn’t have the same money, effort, social support, and resources as the male player, so there’s greater return on investment?
I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve had someone say, “I didn’t even know women could play rugby.” So when you question the amount of people watching women’s rugby and when you question the quality of play… Remember that just like men’s rugby, women’s rugby is an investment. And the better resources, the more advertising, and the more people are exposed to women’s rugby, the higher our level of play, the more fans in the stadium, the more T shirts bought, and the more we will grow.
Do not question women’s ability to play - question your thinking around it.