Grow up and face equality

I REFER to the letter “SA sportswomen deserve actual support” (The Star, August 19) by Cheryl Roberts.

I couldn’t agree with her more that woman athletes are shoved aside by their male counterparts. It is time this stopped. Grab a copy of Eat Sweat Play: How Sport Can Change Our Lives by Anna Kessel which pinpoints all the ways in which woman athletes (sport is so unfeminine) have been shoved aside worldwide, from being ignored to being paid less than their male counterparts.

It’s a real eye-opener and should be rammed under the noses of all the male so-called sports bosses (who probably couldn’t run 500m if their lives depended on it). And on that point, is there a single woman sports boss anywhere in South Africa? I think not!

Caster Semenya is a case in point. Suddenly, as an Olympic gold medal winner, she’s top of the SA sports bosses’ tops. But what did she have to go through to get there? Let’s be blunt, how many other sportswomen have, in the past, exhibited remarkably male-like muscle development? Think about Martina Navratilova. And what about the Williams sisters? Has anyone put them under the spotlight for extra testosterone?

Almost certainly not because they are better known than Caster, and could probably call up a raft of lawyers.

Grow up guys and accept that woman athletes are as good at their job as any man – and in some cases, better. Rose Chinery