Don’t abandon women’s sports

.................................. kgaston@pjstar.com

I would never call myself a “sports person,” and I’m not athletically gifted.

I’m too short, too bow-legged and too awkward. I don’t get excited about the Olympics and spent my college years at the University of North Carolina missing basketball games by working instead. I hear they have a good team.

Recently, however, my attitude toward sports has changed. Like most good things in my life, that’s thanks to women.

I’m one of the casual fans who has been swept up in the frenzy over women’s basketball, fed in part by Caitlin Clark’s ascent to household name. I’m also from the South and felt it was my duty to cheer on South Carolina when my friends and I squeezed into a Brooklyn one-bedroom to watch them win the women’s basketball national championship on April 7.

I couldn’t tell you the most interesting plays of the game, but I could tell you what I felt watching as South Carolina coach Dawn Staley broke down on camera, surrounded by the team that helped her get a third national title as head coach after an undefeated season. It was the feeling I had been waiting for, the feeling that keeps sports in our collective conscience and keeps fans coming back, year after year.

WNBA, women’s sports are having a moment

This feeling – I think it’s called being a fan – has continued into the month as I’ve watched respective moments from both Clark and Staley. I watched Clark take on “Saturday Night Live” “Weekend Update” host Michael Che for his misogynist jokes at the expense of female athletes, where she took time to uplift other basketball players who paved the way – including the Gamecocks coach. I heard Staley praise Clark, now an Indiana Fever player, for elevating the game and growing viewership numbers.

It’s actions like that, to me, that make this moment so special.

There’s a reason why tickets to the women’s Final Four games cost more than the men’s side. There’s a reason that viewership for the women’s basketball championship surpassed the men’s final with 18.9 million viewers to their 14.8 million.

There’s a reason you can’t go online without seeing Clark’s face or hearing mention of the WNBA draft, whose 2023 season also saw a spike in viewership.

The reason is Clark, but it doesn’t change the fact that the entire sport should have been getting more recognition for years.

The fact that women’s sports have been treated as secondary to the men’s teams for so long is thanks to generations of misogyny. It shouldn’t take an uncomfortable comment from a sports journalist or a player opening up about their working conditions for the rest of us to realize that women still aren’t receiving the respect they deserve.

This lack of support affects game attendance, which in turn affects the working conditions of the players.

New attention comes after years of advocacy

It’s why the United States women’s national soccer team had to go to court to earn salaries comparable to their male counterparts despite winning four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals.

It’s why WNBA players have spoken up about the conditions they travel and play under, and it’s why Clark, arguably the most talked about basketball player of the past two years, is starting in the league making a fraction of what the first pick in the men’s draft will receive.

It is not fair that female professionals in their field are not being paid comparably to men. It shouldn’t matter that it’s occurring outside of what we consider a “typical” profession.

I hope we all continue to care about athletes

Women’s sports don’t have to be a niche community – I’m happy to be here and want other people to hop on the bandwagon.

These games can be for everyone, they just need the support of the sports media landscape and the advertisers. We’ve already seen how this can create household names.

Everyone deserves to be able to watch a team they care about, with people they care about. I’ve realized it’s good for the soul, regardless of what gender is wearing the jerseys.

Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X: @sara__pequeno and Facebook facebook.com/PequenoWrites.