Challenges faced by female sportspersons
The society is still stuck in the era when it was normal for men to work, play sport and for women to handle the household, manage the family relations, etc. It’s not that women did not play back then, or refrained themselves from being included in such pro-men tasks. In fact, women did. It’s just that we never really took them into consideration seriously. The society never did. Opposite to that, in the current time in which we’re all struggling towards gaining equality for the genders and lifting women up to the same strata as that of men, women do play a lot of sport. Mind you, women do not only play, but have proved to be the best in their field too. Yet again, female athletes and sportspersons face a lot of challenges too, first of the challenges being, stereotypes. Stereotypes have long been hindering women’s lives and goals. In the field of sports, not everyone has yet become accustomed to the idea of girls into sports, which makes them think there is almost ‘no scope for girls in sports.’ Many athletes who wish to take up sports as a career have to literally beg their parents and family members for support, despite which they do not get the support and help they require.
Another issue is gender discrimination in the field of sports. We all know about every tiny detail of male cricketers, tennis players, football players, etc. Who cares to even bother about female stars? Nobody. Have you ever come across any house watching women’s cricket? No, because they just do not. Another problem is the pay scale of females being much lower as compared to men’s. Females are doing the same amount of hard work and putting in even harder efforts to overcome the societal stereotypes to play, but they’re looked down upon by the society still. They are not even paid enough for the efforts they put in. Even by their own sport’s fraternity members, they’re at times underestimated, looked down upon, and discriminated against, as they focus more on the male players and overlook the needs and requirements of women. We must now, at least in the 21st century, adapt to the changing and developing situations and come to acceptance with the fact that women can, and will do whatever suits them. Let us break stereotypes and let many more Sanias, Sainas, P.V.s, Apurvis, Geeta-Babitas, Mithalis, etc. arise out of the nation and make us all proud. It’s high time we realized it’s no more a pro-men era.
A female athlete myself,
Shubhangini Shaktawat