Women’s sports has always had the negative stigma surrounding women being biologically weaker than men. “This isn’t the best we have.” “Men would trounce these women.” “Nobody would watch this junk,” people would say or think.
People who claim others only want to watch the best of the best bother me because there are such large audiences for every level of sport. College sports have an astounding number of people; they aren’t the best of the best. Even the little leagues have audiences of parents that love to watch.
There’s been rapid progress in women’s sports visibility, with an estimated 73% of people watching women’s sports at least a few times a year; from 2019 to 2022, women’s sports coverage has tripled from 5% to 16%. Most importantly, women now make up 44% of all athletes compared to just 15% in the 1970s.
With a larger audience and coverage, naturally there are more sponsors; with more sponsors comes more money. Women’s athletes’ revenue grew exponentially from 2022 to 2024.
With more coverage and visibility came more discussion over this negative stigma and how to work against it.
Unfortunately, in 2025, this growth came to an end as major events such as the Women’s Rugby World Cup and the Women’s Cricket World Cup concluded. A lot of this coverage was new, so new leagues formed and fought for this newfound but limited attention.
The stigma against women’s sports still exists, since there are billions of people who watch sports, there are tons of people who hate women’s sports, and there are tons of people who love it. Each sport and each level of sport has its own audience.
We live in a culture that loves to point out and tackle problems in modern day, and the misogynistic stigma against women’s sports not getting treated equally like men’s sports is one of the biggest problems in sports entertainment today.
I hope we can resume making massive strides in progress like we did in the early 2020s. It’s unfair that you are treated differently as an athlete based on what gender you are. I have faith that people will continue to spark conversations about this issue, and I hope the stigma goes away with time.
