Women in sport face many challenges. Women weren't allowed to participate in professional sports leagues and compete at the highest levels of competition. They were too weak to compete in high impact sports and were too busy at home. There were only three professions that women could choose from in sports: teaching, secretarial, or crossing guard.
Fewer opportunities
High school sports are often less accessible to women than for their male counterparts. This is often due to the stigma that female athletes face. This stigma does not only affect certain geographic areas or conferences. It can also reflect the fact that girls in low income communities often lack opportunities and resources to play sports.
Media attention is less
Even though female athletes make up over two-fifths in professional athletes, media attention is still much lower than for their male counterparts. Despite the fact that female athletes are just as hardworking as their male counterparts, this is still a significant problem. Female sports tend to receive less media attention than male sports. More emphasis is placed on talent and appearance, rather than individual accomplishments.
Less expectations
A variety of factors may influence women's participation. Female athletes have a lower threshold for entry to sports that are often dominated by male athletes. These differences could be due biological differences or to the different socialization of boys & girls.
Transgender girls compete in sports
Since the IOC introduced trans policies more than two decades back, lawmakers have tried to ban transgender males from engaging in recreational sports. But transgender women face disproportionate amounts of discrimination, harassment, and violence, and attempts to bar them are not only transphobic and dangerous, but also undermine their cause.
Title IX
Title IX is a federal statute that protects women’s rights in sports. The legislation has not been as beneficial to women from historically underrepresented backgrounds as it should. The Women's Sports Foundation has found that girls from predominantly black schools have only 67% of the athletic opportunities available to them, as opposed to 82% in predominantly white schools.
Flo's support for female sports stars
Flo McLean was the seventh of eleven children. She grew up in Los Angeles. At an early stage, her parents told her that she needed speed to get what she wanted. After her parents split, she moved with the mother to Watts, a densely populated and under-resourced neighborhood. She eventually found her way to Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation. This foundation provided youth with athletic opportunities.