It is rarely an easy breezy time to be both a woman and a fan of male-dominated sports without you having to overlook certain parts of that world.
Recently, it has been particularly difficult. It is getting harder to ignore how little male-dominated sports as institutions value women – whether they are fans or involved on the periphery of the sport. It’s getting exponentially difficult to justify supporting the athletes and organisations that don’t seem to care about the messages they are sending regarding the treatment of women. The NFL has rightly been under the microscope in the past few weeks relating to its handling of domestic violence incidents, and has attracted a lot of criticism for its fumbling the response.
However, this isn’t the only problem the NFL has had with demonstrating that they value the safety and wellbeing of women. It is demonstrated with how the NFL treats the women who are actually involved in its game. It is demonstrated in its treatment of the talented female dancers and athletes who spend countless hours practicing, travelling to and working at games and community events. That's women who raise up to a million dollars (per team) in revenue through promotions and merchandising, while earning the equivalent of $5 per hour.
Instead of only supporting men who are paid huge amounts of money, and institutions that don’t care about women in the least (not even if women make up half of their fan base), support female athletes.
NFL cheerleaders across the league have begun filing lawsuits against their teams and the NFL, claiming infractions to do with improper working conditions and payments below minimum wage. The NFL have distanced themselves from the claims, arguing that they are “…immune from all state Labor Code provisions”. This month, the Oakland Raiders settled its lawsuits with their cheerleaders, resulting in current squad members finally earning minimum wage – $9 per hour, plus overtime. Comparatively, stadium contractors pay concession workers $12 to $18 per hour. Team mascots make up to $65,000 per year.
The NFL is the most popular and powerful league in America, with $9.7 billion in annual revenue. The teams and the NFL are taking advantage of committed athletes who are advocates of the game, who are excited to be involved, and who happen to all be women. While the NFL may be able to extricate itself from responsibility through the courts, it reveals yet another example of a sports association using women for their own gain when it suits them, without taking on the responsibility for treating women with care or morality.
The NFL has also avoided taking responsibility when faced with punishing players involved in domestic violence incidents. In the last few weeks their inaction has shown us exactly where the treatment of women lies on their priority list. And it is far below profit. When league executives saw the video of Ray Rice dragging his unconscious girlfriend from an elevator, and knew the police report claimed he had knocked her out, Commissioner Roger Goodell responded by suspending him for two games. Only when the full video of the horrific incident was leaked, and outrage ensued, did they suspend him indefinitely, claiming to not have seen the entire video before that point (not that it’s relevant - most abuse isn’t caught on camera), even though a law official says he sent it to them five months ago.
Only when the full video was released to the public have they acted at all in the manner they absolutely should have from the first moment. The NFL, and many other sporting organisations, have shown time and time again that at the end of the day, women do not matter as much as a game, as much as profit. I would hope that most normal, decent people would have had a visceral reaction to seeing or hearing what happened in that video, and following from that, would feel sickened and angry at how this institution has dismissed women’s safety as a matter of any import.
Besides boycotting sports, a practical and positive way to turn your anger and revulsion into something constructive is to take some of the time, energy and money you spend supporting male-dominated sports (where these kinds of incidents happen on a far too-regular basis) and start supporting women in sport instead or as well. Instead of only supporting men who are paid huge amounts of money, and institutions that don’t care about women in the least (not even if women make up half of their fan base), support female athletes.
Give your time and money to women who are dedicated to their sport, who love it so much that they are willing to work as hard as men, and be injured as much as men, while receiving a tiny percentage of the monetary and societal support and accolades men do. Support athletes who are rarely involved in incidents where they harm others. Support athletes who are generally wonderful role models. Take your sons and daughters (sons especially) to watch a W-League game (the season has just started) or another sport.
Show them that women are powerful, that women are talented athletes in their own right, and that they do not exist solely to be WAGs or exploited cheerleaders, sexual conquests to impress teammates, or domestic violence victims to be ignored.
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