Is really football starting to show a difference? It’s the world of soccer showing an equality between male and female players? Why are women not represented fairly in this sport?
Those are the questions I’ve been thinking carefully during these days. But that came up with something different: Why is women’s tennis so much more popular than women’s football? Why Serena Williams and not Marta? What is the real reason behind the difference?
The truth is that women’s tennis has been around a lot longer than other women sports. In that sense, women’s football still young. That’s why is mainly dominated by men.
Women’s soccer is starting to pick up more and more attention to the world of sports, with the United States being the only respected ones by viewers at the start of the movement. But media has to pay more attention to this sport and draw the interest to the public.
Moreover, with tennis being mostly an individual sport, their players tend to get more endorsement deals and publicity as opposed to other women in other sports.
Women’s football has offered us great players like Marta but the lights went for Serena Williams, as women’s tennis is being represented fairly by audiences and televisions, who think it’s more entertaining.
Another factor of their success is the respect male have for their counterparts on the sport. Federer or Nadal are very conscious of their female contenders. Something that we haven’t seen from Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar and many others with their female counterparts.
But… If men footballers don’t support the cause, why will the audience support and start watching the women’s game? Is that why they don’t see women’s football “entertaining”? Or they think is a mainly manly sport?
Something everyone should think about. Like everything in life, the support and the help of others is the key to success, create and break barriers to a new and equal stage. We’ll need to wait to see women’s football development and if is able to succeed as women’s tennis did.
WOMEN IN FOOTBALL: THE GLASS CEILING 