When I was in school we once had a 'debate' on whether men and women were equal. Then, one of my classmates made the point that women only play 3 sets in Tennis and men play 5. Little surprise that when Wimbledon (amongst other tennis tournaments) has decided to make prize money equal for men and women, that this argument arises again.
What I'm not sure about is, are women uncapable of playing 5 sets? Is that it? Or is it just that in the good old days of tennis, when people did other stuff apart from playing tennis, stamina was lower. For instance, nowadays, sportspeople train every single day. So I think a woman tennis player would be able to play a 5 set match. Whether it would have the same power and intensity as a men's game is different.
There were also arguments about advertising revenue, men's matches bring in more. Another argument was that women players also play doubles and make more money but all these are specious in this day an age.
Interestingly, none of the women players offered to play a 5 set match... is this because they don't want to or because they don't think they need to? They play by the rules and entertain the audiences as thoroughly as the men do... you have to agree if you've seen the 'Steffi will you marry me' video.
More interestingly in the world of Golf, Annika Sorensen tried to play in the PGA as opposed to the LPGA and gave up. She actually admitted defeat. So does that mean that differential prize money in Golf is fine but not in Tennis?
Strangely, I'm wracking my brain to think of another game that men and women play where the women are as famous as the men... maybe like Badminton, Squash, Table Tennis etc... Help?
2 comments:
Hmmm..very pertinent question! Most of these games are still being played under rather archaic rules, do't you think!?
Women atheletes used to be quite popular, so were the gymnasts! I don't watch sports that much...thus not very helpful here I'm afraid! :-(
Hey Nautilus,
Thanks for the comment... I've still not come up with something concrete but I do remember that in Horse Riding, men and women compete on an equal footing. In that, there are no separate men's events and women's events. That's something what?
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