Women’s Athletics
Babe Didrikson Zaharias set three world records in the 1932 Olympics when she threw a javelin 43.69 meters, ran the 80-meter hurdle in 11.9 seconds, and completed a 1.657-meter high jump. Also, apparently, she could type eighty-six words a minute [1]. Katie Ledecky held the 400-meter freestyle world record and currently holds the 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle world records [2]. Alexandra Trusova is the first female skater recorded to land a quad flip, a quad lutz, a quadruple jump in a combination quad toe loop, land two and then three ratified quads in a free skate, and complete five quads in a single free skate [3]. Among many others, these women are truly wonders to watch at their craft.
However, a widespread belief is that women are bad at sports. Why is that? Does it hold any validity? When considering women’s sports, it’s essential to examine how girls’ physical health at the earliest ages is addressed, the media coverage of women’s athletics, and society’s broader attitudes towards female athletes.
Women’s Athletics at the Grass-Root Level
What many people fail to realize about women’s sports is that girls are disadvantaged before they even reach kindergarten. Male infants and toddlers are encouraged to be more active and allowed to fall and roughhouse more than female infants and toddlers. The UK Parliament [4] notes that, by the time they reach kindergarten, “there is a real gap in fundamental skills between boys and girls.” Baz Moffat [5] observed that in parks, “Boys are doing rough and tumble and playing around. They are learning how to move their bodies, but girls are just not moving as much.”
These challenges only grow as female athletes reach their juvenile and teen years. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation [6], “As girls grow up, the quality level of their sports experience may decline. The facilities are not as good as the boys’ venues, and the playing times may not be optimal. The availability of quality, trained coaches may be limited in their community, or these coaches may be more focused on boys’ programs that have more funding for training. Equipment, and even uniforms, aren’t funded for many girls’ programs at the same 0levels as boys, so their ability to grow and enjoy the sport is diminished.”
It’s no surprise, then, that by age 14, girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys. All of this happens before these girls even reach college, so by adulthood, only 20% of women participate in sports compared to 47% of men [7]. This begs the question: do girls drop out of sports because of their “crazy hormones” and supposed physical inability to play, or because the world has told them in every way that they are not cut out for it?
Media and General Perception
Even when women are one of the best at their sport, nobody cares—because nobody knows. The media coverage gap between men’s and women’s athletics has been debated endlessly, and yes, women’s sports do generate less attention. But why is that? Many sport-bros argue that women are simply less entertaining to watch because they tend to be neither as strong nor as fast.
In that case, Stephen Curry is not the tallest, Tom Brady is not the most athletic, and Lionel Messi is far from the fastest. Yet all of these men are world-renowned. Additionally, if it were purely about physical feats, why do people watch college sports, vintage matches, or their local teams? If it were just about raw physical ability, the only sports people would watch would be track and weightlifting—yet those are among the least watched.
People watch sports for the stories, rivalries, emotion, and skill. They watch because of the drama, not the data. People don’t ignore women’s sports because they’re “less interesting”—they ignore them because they either don’t know about them or they subscribe to the misogynistic idea that women don’t belong in sports and can’t stand seeing a woman thrive in what they wanted to be.
Moving Forward
Whether it’s not having access to sports, not being encouraged, not wanting to be perceived as masculine, not being recognized for their talent, or not having faith in themselves, many incredible athletes aren’t on the field right now. How many Cristiano Ronaldos are unable to access proper fields? How many LeBron Jameses are being overlooked—all because they’re female?
There have been, and are, many sensational athletes who happen to be women, yet they remain unrecognized—either due to lack of exposure or outright misogyny. Times are changing, though. Now, more than ever, people are tuning in. Just last year, the women’s NCAA tournament outperformed the men’s by around 4 million viewers [8].
If you are a girl or woman reading this and you have an interest in any sport or physical activity—pursue it. You don’t have to reach the professional level. Do it for yourself, and for all the women who have been held back. Push your body, perfect your craft. In the end, the only person you should be training against is yourself.
Citations
“ Mildred ‘Babe’ Didrikson Zaharias.” National Women’s History Museum, womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mildred-zaharias. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025. National Women’s History Museum
“Katie Ledecky | Biography, Olympic Medals, Records, & Facts.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 30 Sept. 2025, britannica.com/biography/Katie-Ledecky. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025. Encyclopedia Britannica
“Alexandra Trusova.” Wikipedia, 23 June 2004 (birth date), en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Trusova. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025. Wikipedia
“Health barriers for girls and women in sport.” House of Commons Women & Equalities Committee, 5 Mar. 2024, publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5804/cmselect/cmwomeq/130/report.html. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025. UK Parliament+1
Moffat, Baz. “About – The Well HQ.” The Well HQ, thewell-hq.com/about/baz-moffat/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025. The Well+1
Staurowsky, E. J., et al. Chasing Equity: The Triumphs, Challenges, and Opportunities in Sports for Girls and Women. Women’s Sports Foundation, Jan. 2020. Women’s Sports Foundation
Herbert, Tim. “Only 1 in 5 women play grassroots sport, survey finds.” Women’s Sport Daily, 25 Aug. 2022, womensportdaily.co.uk/article/2022/08/06/only-1-5-women-play-grassroots-sport-survey-finds. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025. Women’s Sport Daily
Romo, Vanessa. “Women’s NCAA Championship TV Ratings Crush the Men’s Competition.” NPR, 10 Apr. 2024, www.npr.org/2024/04/10/1237894567/womens-ncaa-championship-tv-ratings-crush-the-mens-competition. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.
