Women’s sports have long been underrepresented and underfunded, even though women’s sports have been around–historically–just as long as men’s.
The rise of the modern age brought about the normalization of women in sports; however, they typically have a smaller fanbase, receive less screen time on TV and pay their athletes less.
This is not a choice. This is a funding issue due to underrepresentation.
Women’s sports have been pushed to the sidelines due to men thinking that they aren’t worthy of a watch, aren’t extreme enough, or flat out believing that women shouldn’t play sports.
Additionally, controversy of trans women participating in women’s sports has led to not only more outrage about the sports themselves, but has also endangered women athletes.
Recently, women in sports have begun gaining more traction in the media due to outcry for more female representation.
Last year was the highest grossing year for women’s sports, hitting $2.5 billion, a 25% increase from 2024.
With this, women’s sports are also growing at a faster rate than men’s sports for the first time in history with a growth rate of 4.5%, and sponsorships are growing almost 50% faster than men’s leagues.
Despite this, women’s sports still receive less than 2% of U.S. sports funding.
Events and TV aren’t the only way for new representation.
Last year, six sports bars opened across the country dedicated solely to women’s sports; one even opened in East Liberty, Pittsburgh, called Title 9.
In print media, sports magazines have increased their female representation 15% since 2022, with a historic average of between 4-5%.
However, this representation is still not enough.
At the Winter Olympics this year, one winter sport had only a male team with no female counterpart: Nordic Combined. This alone shows that, despite the highs, representation is nothing less than an uphill battle for women.
