Equal Rights and Attention

Earl Warren quotes “The sports page records people’s accomplishments; the front page usually reveals man’s failure”. I would have to say that the sports page does not record people’s accomplishments when only men are featured on the front page. Rarely are women athletes found on the front page. Women are playing the same kind of sports and are playing just as well; why can’t they be receiving the same kind of publicity? Even in the winter you see more articles and news about the MLB than you see about the WNBA which is in season. Football dominates the fall season leaving little space for women’s soccer. Every time I step up to the plate, or take a step outside, I ask myself what would women’s sports be like if they got the same kind of recognition as men’s sports receive.

One day I walked over to Lee Field and saw a softball game going on. I remember seeing only one other fan in the stands. I looked over to the fan who was sitting on the cold metal bleachers looking down as if thinking “why am I here, no one else is sitting here cheering for a sport that barely gets any attention?” and I suddenly heard a loud noise of cheers, looking for the source of sound; it was the baseball field. A crowd was filling the stands, and over flowing onto the grass nearby. It made me upset that there were so many supporters for a boy’s game almost equivalent to girl’s softball.

Wellesley recently put in a lot of money into a fund to redo a Little League field. Every time I walk by it I look at the brick dugouts with lights, cubbies to store helmets, an on deck circle separate from the field, an announcers booth, and an electronic score board and much more. Right next to the brand new field is an old multi- purpose field with ditches and dirt and a home plate which is falling apart little by little. A chain link fence separates the field from the metal bench they call a dugout. There is a pitcher’s mound which isn’t even the correct distance from the plate. This is the girl’s softball field. My dad used to play on this field growing up; the same tree is still there. Why give special treatment to the boys, why not fix our field?

I spent a lot of time growing up around sports, so they are a big part of my life. I spent most of my summers going to sports camps refusing to go to any other camps which involved something other than sports. As I think about my future and the future of other girls, I only wish that that people could answer these questions about which genders sports deserves more attention? Does either? Why not give it equal respect to both and it wouldn’t be a concern.