Have you ever been denied the option to play a sport because you are a female? Thanks to the efforts of women from previous generations who have fought for equal rights in the realm of sports, the majority of high school girls in America today would say “no.” However, the fight for sports equality is not ancient history, in the United States and especially in other countries across the globe.
In the United States, the 1972 Education Amendments, Title IX, declared that women’s sports in colleges, universities, and other institutions should receive as much funding as men’s sports. This decision laid the foundation for equality in the sporting realm: we build the bricks for a better tomorrow every time a girl kicks a soccer ball or dunks a basketball. But laws like Title IX do not pertain to countries in other parts of the world, countries in which a woman holding a basketball is as rare and ludicrous as a woman holding a job in public office.
In recent news, Saudi Arabia almost lost its ticket to the 2012 Olympic Games in London due to the country’s ban of women’s athletic participation. Tessa Jowell, the former culture secretary and Olympics minister, now a member of the Olympic Board, said the Saudi Arabians were “clearly breaking the spirit of the Olympic Charter’s pledge to equality.” The debate over whether or not Saudi Arabia should be allowed to participate in the 2012 Olympics echoes the 2000 Olympic debate involving Afghanistan’s discrimination against women under the Taliban regime. The Afghanistan debate ultimately resulted in the country being banned from that year’s Olympic ceremony in Sydney, Australia. But will history repeat itself?
There are other examples we can look at that contradict the Olympic Committee’s decision to ban Afghanistan, however. Countries like Quatar, Brunei, and Saudi Arabia have never had females athletes at the Olympics. But all three countries have participated in past Olympic Games. So now the question becomes–which history will repeat itself? Quatar, Afghanistan, and Brunei have finally lifted their bans against female participation, so only the question of Saudi Arabia’s participation remains. The Olympic Committee stands firmly by its claim that the Olympics do not discriminate against women. But will they uphold this commitment to equality and deny Saudi Arabia the opportunity to enter the competition? Or will they once again let the country’s discriminatory behavior slide?
Although this topic seems foreign to most Americans, the issue of unequal rights for men and women in sports is still quite prevalent right here in the United States. In many cases, women do not receive proper recognition for their talents and, as a result, they sometimes do not receive the opportunities to join specific sports sectors. Just recently, British newspaper The Guardian wrote a story about the ban on women members at Augusta National Golf Club, a golf club that will be sponsoring this year’s Masters Tournament. Women may play golf as a guest of a male member, but they cannot apply to join the private club. According to The Daily Caller, even our very own president is disgusted with the club’s biased practice.
Although this one golf club is far below the Olympic Committee’s radar, the issues revolving around the golf club are the same–should the club be allowed to represent an internationally renowned competition given its exclusionary practices? In my opinion, the answer is no. On the playing field, everyone is equal. Everyone has an equal chance of winning, losing, becoming a medalist, and representing his or her country. So why should the president have more sporting rights than the first lady? He shouldn’t. Moreover, the Olympic Committee (and the Masters Tournament) should not send the message that anything other than this belief is acceptable. As far as I’m considered, if Saudi Arabia is unwilling to allow women to represent them in the Olympics, the Olympic Committee should not allow Saudi Arabia to represent itself in the Olympic competition altogether.