Podcast 4 Scrip

Hi folks! Welcome to Something Insightful, I am your host Ella Fingado, and I am so glad to

have you here. We’re going to dive right into it today but I would like to note that information on

me and my project can be found on my project website, severnfellows22e ngado.weebly.com. 

So with the Olympics going on as we speak, I thought it would be a good time to discuss

discrimination in sports. Now, there are 5 types of sports discrimination, these being gender,

racial, religious, disability, and LGBTQ+ discrimination. These can all play out in a multitude of

ways, but rst, we’re going to look speci cally at how women are treated differently than men in

athletic settings. I’m sure it isn’t surprising to most people that women at the very least, aren’t

treated equally to men when it comes to sports. For an in-depth explanation behind those

reasons, I recommend you listen to my previous podcast about rape culture, where we dig into

the societal institutions that hurt women. But for a quick summary, we live in a world where

most things that women do are looked at from the male gaze, which is a term that describes when

women are depicted for the pleasure of heterosexual men, therefore in objectifying or demeaning

manners. We mainly see this play out in TV shows or social media, but truly, we can see it

anywhere where men are in charge of creating rules or standards for women. 

To illustrate this point, we’re going to take a quick trip to Norway. Just recently, Norway’s

women’s beach handball team was ned a total of $1,700 by the European Handball Federation

for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms in the Euro tournament. Now, these weren’t like long

or baggy shorts, they were still short, elastic shorts, basically like Spandex. Mind you, the men's

teams are required to wear shorts. NPR reports that the rules state quote “Female athletes must
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 wear bikini bottoms with a close t and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg, the

side width must be of a maximum of 10 centimeters”. So why is there such a discrepancy

between the rules for men and women? And how is it ok that we live in a world where

simultaneously, women are punished for wearing more not enough clothes? NPR also reports

that of cials from the International Handball Federation made a statement that reads quote “all

efforts will be taken to further promote the sport. This includes the ideal presentation of the sport

and, by that, includes the out t of the players”. Let me repeat, that they are prioritizing the “ideal

presentation of the sport” but, shouldn’t a uniform be created to complement the sport and the

actions the players have to do during it? And this is a sport where women are diving into the sand

and frankly, a bikini bottom is not conducive to that. I trained in classical ballet for most of my

life and had to wear tights and a leotard but that makes sense because the purpose of the art form

is to see the lines of the body. But it would be ridiculous if I walked onto the lacrosse eld in my

leotard. Obviously, someone could argue that these are the rules and that these women knew the

rules and the likely consequence, but shouldn’t we be protesting these rules if the best expiation

that can be given for them is for an “ideal presentation” because now we have to ask, who is it an

ideal presentation for

And it isn’t only uniforms that create space for discrimination- women on national teams are

often paid less than the men's national teams, even when the women are performing better. We

see this playing out for the US women’s soccer team who have been ghting for years to earn

equal pay to the men's soccer team. NPR states that quote, “Per regular-season game, players on

the women's team earn 89 cents to their male counterparts' dollar, and the men make almost

double in bonuses for World Cup appearances”. This is despite the women’s team currently
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 playing in the Olympics when the men's team didn’t even qualify. On top of that, the women’s

team has won 4 world cups titles and 4 Olympic gold medals. Players on the team have pursued

this issue legally, suing the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2019 under the Equal Pay Act and Title 7

of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They asked for $66 million in damages but under the decision of

Robert Gary Klausner, a US District Judge, the case was dismissed. The women then appealed to

the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule the decision. We will just have to wait and see

what the outcome of the situation will be. But this unequal pay goes beyond just the US, the

Associated Press states that quote "FIFA awarded $400 million in prize money for the 32 teams

at the 2018 men’s World Cup, including $38 million to champion France. It awarded $30 million

for the 24 teams at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, including $4 million to the U.S. after the

Americans won their second straight title”. This comparison of $400 million to $30 million is

truly unfair and puts female soccer players in situations where they struggle to afford to support

their families and keep up with the sport

A more recent issue that sparked outrage online a few weeks ago was when the international

governing body for swimming, FINA, banned the use of swim caps meant speci cally to protect

black swimmer’s hair at the Olympics. FINA’s justi cation was due to the caps not tting to the

head shape completely. BBC states that quote, “Soul Cap makes swimming caps to t over and

protect dreadlocks, afros, weaves, hair extensions, braids, and thick and curly hair”. A 17-year-

old Kejai Terrelonge spoke to BBC news saying, “Using the smaller swimming caps that

everyone else would use - it would t on my head but because I put protective oil in my hair,

when I was swimming it would just keep sliding off and my hair would get wet”. But not all


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 hope is lost as the International Swimming Federation said that they intend on revising the

previous decision. The organization stated that quote, “FINA expects to make its consideration of

'Soul Cap' and similar products part of wider initiatives aimed at ensuring there are no barriers to

participation in swimming, which is both a sport and a vital life skill”. But, words are easier than

actions, and without actual change young people may be discouraged from participating in a

sport if they don’t feel welcome. So many of the rules and regulations of the Olympic sport were

made for white people and without the consideration of people of color, and it’s time for that to

change

Now if you don’t play sports or if you aren’t in a group of people that are affected by these

issues, it might be hard for you to empathize with the matters at hand. But the thing is, that

everyone, no matter their gender or race, should feel comfortable playing the sports they’re

passionate about. And they should be treated equally in all regards while doing so. If you see

discrimination on the eld, whether it be from parents, coaches, or other players, say something

about it. And on an executive level, hire more women and people of color so that way the people

making the rules about the sports represent the people playing the sports. Creating a space for

inclusion, where if someone feels mistreated they know they can speak up is so incredibly

important.

If you’d like to see my bibliographies and personal recommendations, all of this information can

be found on my project website, severnfellows22e ngado.weebly.com. I look forward to our

journey together of becoming better humans. I hope you learned a little here today, and I’ll see

you next time on Something Insightful

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