Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Tampa chapter.

National Girls and Women in Sports Day was recently celebrated in the month of February. Having a day dedicated to girls and women in sports is empowering and important for all current and future female athletes, but it doesn’t negate the challenges that women are still facing in the realm of sports today. 

For example, eating disorders (EDs) are unfortunately all too familiar for many female athletes. While male athletes are still affected by this illness, according to Mass General Brigham, a nonprofit healthcare organization, female athletes are disproportionately at risk for developing eating disorders. As a young girl participating in high-risk sports for developing EDs, there was a distinct lack of education about them when I was competing and practicing. I didn’t understand the dangers they pose physically or mentally to female athletes. Now, after learning more about the topic, this is something I firmly believe needs to be discussed more. Being a young girl trying to find her confidence in a world of sports, which can be painted as “for boys,” is hard, and EDs are a serious threat that needs to be brought to light. This leads me to another challenge – too often, sports are depicted without women.

Why aren’t women’s sports covered as much as men’s?

Media coverage of professional sports portrays a narrative of men. According to a Forbes article, in 2022, the media coverage for women’s sports was only 15%. While this is a huge increase compared to years prior, which is something to be commended, it is still shocking that men’s sports dominate media coverage at a whopping 85%. How are we supposed to inspire the next generation of Women’s National Basketball Association or United States Women’s National Soccer Team players if young girls barely see them on TV or in the news? We definitely have some work to do. 

This once again leads me to my next point. Why aren’t women’s sports covered as much as men’s? I asked two friends of mine what they had to think about this. Both are college athletes and said the same thing: people underestimate women’s sports. While men’s sports are cut-throat and no doubt extremely difficult, I think women have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously in many sports. This could be because of something like a lack of media coverage, so they feel like they have to work harder to be seen, or even longstanding misogyny. Either way, it’s a big issue. We should be uplifting girls for participating in sports, but instead, we can leave them feeling ridiculed and frustrated. This has to change. 

I think I speak for many girls and women out there who have or are currently participating in sports when I say I appreciate National Girls and Women in Sports Day for celebrating women’s accomplishments and acknowledging female athletes, but we still have a long way to go!

Jacqueline Sibila, a native of Maryland (and consequently a crab enthusiast), writes articles for the Her Campus at Tampa chapter. She has a wide variety of topics she likes to cover in her articles including but not limited to traveling and wellness. Beyond Her Campus, Jacqueline is a sophomore at the University of Tampa where she is a member of the honors college and majors in environmental science. Jacqueline previously has worked as an editor-in-chief for the Dulaney Griffin Newspaper at Dulaney High School where, while not editing articles, she focused on writing opinions columns. Jacqueline is an avid hiker, camper and traveler in her free time. Her favorite places she's traveled to have been Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State and Arenal Volcano National Park in Costa Rica. When she isn't enjoying the outdoors, Jacqueline also loves watching National Geographic documentaries and reading novels.