Women athletes need greater opportunities and more fervent support – nationally and in our own community.
A recent exciting development in women’s athletics came Sept. 23, when Manitoba Bisons University kicker Maya Turner made a game-winning field goal. Turner is the first woman to play and score in a regular-season U Sports game, which is the highest level of amateur Canadian football.
A woman has never made it to the NFL in the United States, but some have made it to college level football, such as Katie Hnida in 2003 for the University of New Mexico Lobos.
During the 2020 NCAA season, Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller became the first woman to appear and score in a Power Five football game.
This season, Haley Van Voorhis, a safety for Divison-3 Shenandoah University, became the first woman non-kicker to appear in a NCAA game on Sept. 23.
This was a great victory for women in sports, proving women can also participate in a male-dominant sport, but Maya should not have had to play on a men’s team to achieve this level of recognition.
There should be a women’s football team. Whether it’s national teams or collegiate teams, there should be an opportunity for women to play and continue if they are passionate about football.
While improvements in women’s sports have been made, such as wage and bonus increases, disparities, such as fewer opportunities, still remain.
Maya, as well as many other strong and talented female-identifying athletes, should have the opportunity to play football – but women athletes should not have to struggle to find a place on a men’s football team. Powderpuff football, football games that include flag football or touch football between girls, commonly in high school, is not enough.
Women have a place on the football field, and it’s not only on a traditional football team.
A CALL TO ACTION
Women athletes do not receive nearly as much monetary support and viewership as male athletes do – and we need to change that.
For example, the NBA has only 77.8% of media coverage, while the WNBA only gets 22.2%.
There has been an increase in sponsorships for women’s teams such as Secret and Nike. Actress Gail Bean was featured in a commercial to help talk about the WNBA. In this commercial, she was “spilling the tea” with what the WNBA has to offer, such as crazy outfits. These sponsorships help lead to higher profits and overall benefit teams.
But progress has not nearly been made enough.
The WNBA finals just came to an end on Oct. 18. New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces were the two teams that made it to the finals.
The Aces won the first two games of the finals. Liberty came back and won the third game but fell short by just one point in the last game of the finals.
The WNBA finals should get more recognition and viewership due to the effort those women put in to make it there.
WNBA games can be watched on ESPN.
You can, and should, support women’s teams locally. Kent State’s women’s basketball season begins Nov. 5. This exhibition game will be against Muskingum University at 1 p.m. in the M.A.C. Center.
Some players to keep an eye out for include Katie Shumate, Corynne Hauser and Bridget Dunn.
Last season, the team made it to the WNIT, which is the women’s national college basketball tournament. Unfortunately, they fell to Syracuse in the first round. They finished the season with 21 wins, which was the most for the team since 2005-06.
A full women’s basketball schedule can be found on the team’s website.
Make sure to tune in and support the women who made it to the WNBA finals, and start cheering on our local teams!
You can help the call to action by sharing videos of these teams on social media, talking about it with friends and attending a game every once in a while!
Robyn Taylor is a reporter. Contact her [email protected].
