Although our female athletes dominated in shooting, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, judo, rowing, tennis, track, soccer, water polo, basketball, and on the beach in volleyball, they are still underrepresented on the IOC committee. There are 109 members but only 22 are female. Women won the medals but men were still the ones handing them out. This has to change too. It is not enough for women to be able to participate and to do well, they need to be empowered just as much as men do. This makes me think of the NFL's Rooney Rule and the situation regarding African-American head coaches. Those that excel should be empowered. It is like if you do well at your job, then you should get a promotion.
Another thing I found disturbing was how some of the female athletes from other countries were treated. Saudi women had to walk behind the male athletes and are considered prostitutes. Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world but their ignorance towards gender will not get them anywhere. A country cannot perform to its fullest potential if it does not utilize an entire half of its population. The Japanese men's soccer team failed to even medal but still flew business class while the women sat in coach with their silver medals.
Final thought, I hope more young females are inspired by these Olympics. We need to keep our Olympic dominance going, USA, USA, USA!
Reference:
Brennan, C. (2012, August 12). American women rule the london olympics - now what?. USA Today.
Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/london/story/2012-08-12/London-
Olympics-womens-sports-Christine-Brennan-Title-IX/57016306/1
Wesley,
ReplyDeleteIt is very shocking to see how other countries treat the female gender in their countries. I believe this could be a reason why our female athletes dominate in so many sports at the Olympics. It seems as though every Olympics I have seen, especially in basketball, our female athletes dominate their competition and go on to win gold. The only way other countries can start to compete is by creating their own laws that allow equal rights for women in sports. In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, it seems as though it will be very difficult for this to happen. Also there is one thing I would like to add to your statement about there not being enough females on the IOC. If more countries do decide to create laws like Title IX, it could potentially lead to more popularity worldwide for women’s sports. If this happened, I believe there would be more females on the IOC. As more women worldwide would become interested in competing at a high level like the Olympics, the more women would be interested in joining the IOC committee to allow for more equality for every country.
-Tyler Jester