Charlotte Cantonwine

Imam Subkhan

ENGL 298

25 May 2024

Gender Disparities in Sports

It’s no secret that women in sports are often viewed as “less-than” in comparison to their male counterparts. Many people hold the opinion that women, and others who were assigned female at birth, are not as strong or as fast as men, making them less athletic. Women and females in sports are often awarded the short end of the proverbial stick when this mental distinction manifests itself in the way society values them monetarily and perceptually.

Historically, sports have taken longer to welcome women into their spaces, and the long lead time allowed men to establish themselves as the default. This is highly apparent in the world of professional sports, for example: Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) and the National Women’s Rugby League (NRLW). The NRL was founded in 1998, while the NRLW didn’t see its first season until 2018. The need to distinguish newly founded sports leagues as being for women, without also labeling their predecessors as the men’s leagues enforces the assumption that they are not on par with one another.

Viewing men as the standard and allowing them to play on for so long without the presence of females in sports, has primed them to receive higher recognition and benefits. It is reported that in the 2023 season, the NRL’s maximum salary cap was set at $12.1 million, while the highest salary for the NRLW was set at $884,000. Clearly, there are major discrepancies between the pay for male and female professional athletes, but this is not the only way in which resource allocation differs.

The high school I attended has seven outdoor sports fields (four of which are intended for rugby), situated around a building called the Derek Hyde-Lay Pavilion. Three of the rugby fields, including the primary one, called the Canada Field, are directly beside the Pavilion which was built in partnership and recognition of the school’s relationship with Canada’s national rugby program. The fourth rugby field is atop another hill, separate from the rest, and until a few years ago, was used exclusively by the school’s female rugby team. The boy’s First XV team was given priority use of the Canada field because of its perceived value, while the equivalent girl’s was allocated the less desirable space.  

A similar occurrence even took place at the professional level. The World Rugby SVNS is an annual series of tournaments held in several countries and played by national rugby sevens teams. The Canadian leg is hosted at the BC Place Stadium in Vancouver; however, prior to the 2024 SVNS series, the women's teams did not play in the same stadium as the men. From the time that Canada joined HSCB SVNS, through to 2022, the Canada Women's SVNS took place at the much smaller Starlight Stadium on Vancouver Island.

 Placing the Women’s SVNS on Vancouver Island, rather than on the mainland with the men, makes it harder to access for the majority of fans who would need to take a ferry or plane trip to the island. Gaffney and Bale claim that a stadium’s appearance is a reflection of how it fits into the world. By separating Mens SVNS and Female SVNS, it sends the message that whoever plays in the larger, “better” stadium is somehow superior, i.e., the men.

The way that women’s sports are undervalued both in mentality and in practice, comes as a result of historical, societal biases. These biases acted as justification of the sex-segregation in sports that allowed men to establish themselves as the default. From the professional level, all the way down to high schoolers, male teams are assigned higher value resources and perception.

Works Cited

Bale, John, and Patricia Vertinsky. Sites of Sport : Space, Place and Experience. Taylor & Francis Group, 2004.

Cantonwine, Charlotte. N/A
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Hiscock, Geoff. "Sports Pay Highlights Glaring Gender Disparity in Australia.", October 7, 2023, https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Life/Sports-pay-highlights-glaring-gender-disparity-in-Australia.

Trumbo, Anthony. Girls Rugby
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Zopf, Stephen. New BC Place
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