Page 8 - Gender Inequality in Sports: From Title IX to World Titles

• Streaming service Disney+ released a show in April 2021 called Big
Shot. The show stars John Stamos, and Stamos said, “I play a hot
headed basketball coach who gets kicked out of the NCAA. On
his road to redemption, he is forced to coach at an all girls private
high school in Laguna.” The poster for the show shows Stamos
surrounded by two adult women and five girls. One of the women
is Black, and at least three of the girls are girls of color.

Sports writer Lindsay Gibbs says, “Disney is really using a girls’
basketball team, made up primarily of girls of color, to tell the story of
a white man. Disney is really treating women’s sports as punishment.
Disney is really pushing a redemption arc on a ‘hot headed’ (read: abusive)
coach. Disney is really using WOMEN’S SPORTS as the setting for a
white man’s redemption story. WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?”

WHAT ARE SEXISM AND FEMINISM?
A web search for the word sexism offers many definitions, but basically,
sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on gender. Though the definition
applies to people of any gender, sexism usually means men are valued more
than women—and given more power, based on that value. For this book,
the power of sexism means sports decision makers (team owners, athletic
directors, powerful players, media, and fans) value men’s sports, players, and
coaches more than they value women’s sports, players, and coaches.
Sexism affects and harms all humans, not just women. Men are
harmed by sexism because it sets a narrow boundary for men’s thoughts
and behaviors, and it often asks men to devalue women to be “one of the
guys.” One of the worst insults a male athlete could hear? “You play like
a girl.” If being like a girl or woman is an insult (implying less strength,
usually), why would we think girls’ or women’s sports would be valued?
In the United States, and many countries around the world, sexism
is systemic—it affects all parts of our lives. Women and girls often report
being devalued in medicine, education, the workforce, and domestic life.

8 GENDER INEqUAlITy IN SPORTS