Alex Bonser, a sophomore field hockey player at Dickinson College, has been active in sports since she was 5 to 6 years old. Bonser noticed the disparities between male sports and female sports starting in seventh grade.
“I would definitely say that more people would go to our school’s football games instead of the field hockey games, just because field hockey is not as simple as football, rule wise,” she said.
Bonser’s team this year went all the way to the conference semifinals championship and was awarded with fourth place. Last year, the team was ranked in the top 20 in the country for division three schools.
“I appreciate being in division three, as I have more opportunities to succeed,” Bonser said. Although Bonser’s team has shown in the last two years great success, only a certain amount of people know about it.
“Usually, parents and our friends and our friend’s friends show up for the games and not random fans,” she explained. We have no random fan base like the school’s football team or men’s lacrosse team.”
Bonser is not alone in her concern. The United States Women’s soccer team has filed a federal equal pay complaint against the U.S Soccer Federation. As reported by ESPN, five star players filed this complaint because the USSF’s 2015 financial report says that even though the women’s team generated nearly $20 million more revenue last year than the U.S Men’s team, the women were paid about a quarter of what the men earned. The former World Cup Champions realized that they were paid far less than their male counterparts.
The website, Feminist.org’s mission is to create and to develop bold new strategies and programs to advance women’s equality in all aspects of life, to empower women and girls in all sectors of society. On the website, Title IX is stated as an enforcer of equity for female athletes. Title IX states that no person in the United States shall, on basis of sex, be excluded form participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be discriminated under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Femist.org also states most cases involving Title IX, have been resolved in favor of women athletes and coaches.
Despite the lawsuits being in favor of women, this is an expensive and time consuming avenue to gender equity. Feminist.org states that the opposition in gender equity in sports comes from the football coaches who fear that putting more resources into women’s programs will mean taking money away from football.
In 1995, the American Football Coaches Association wanted to revisit Title IX and called upon Congress because the association believed that the act was hurting the funding for football. Also, in addition to the lawsuits, these coaches believed Title IX is taking away opportunities for men to play sports. According to Feminist.org, this is inaccurate, for as more female athletes have entered athletics, they have not displaced men; instead, the total number of athletes has increased.
The U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) explains the equal pay act requires men and women in the same workplace to be given equal pay for equal work. The jobs need to be identical and they must be substantially equal.
According to a financial statement from the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2015, the U.S. men’s soccer team expenses were a total of $31,116,527 million in 2015 and $18,725, 425 million in 2014. Compared to the men, the women’s expenses were $10,307,142 million in 2015 and $8,267,453 million in 2014.
That is a difference of $20,809,385 million in 2015 and $10,458, 000 million in 2014. Recently, the EEOC told NPR that U.S. Soccer pays top-tier female players $72,000 thousand a year to play in a minimum of 20 friendly games per year. While the women get a bonus of $1,350 thousand only if they win a friendly, the men are guaranteed $5,000 million no matter the outcome.
Since the high profile lawsuits, Thinkprogress.org, a website that is editorially independent, progressive, and committed to accuracy, as a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, explains how women are mistreated through the lawsuit. The website has reported that players home addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses were released which created issues of privacy, hacking, and stalkers. Furthermore, executive director of the U.S. Women’s National team has stated that the U.S. Soccer Federation has treated the women’s national team like “second- class citizens.”
As for Bonser, she has felt the discrimination through her career as a field hockey player, just like the U.S. Women’s National Team. “It is annoying that people don’t respect my sport, as field hockey is looked upon, and has a stereotype of being stupid and being a lesbian sport,” she said. “It personally hurts that people don’t like the sport a lot.”
Bonser continues to play field hockey at Dickinson College as her team gears up to start their spring season with a tournament at Messiah College in Harrisburg.
“No matter the doubters, we will continue to do what we have been doing to be successful and I fully support the U.S. women’s soccer team on their pursuit for equality,” she said.
Photo Credited: https://www.google.com/search?q=female+athletes+vs+male+athletes&biw=1600&bih=731&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwiNnR68_MAhWIaT4KHa6kAa8Q_AUIBygC#imgrc=dezlFUBfTAadoM%3A
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