American National Women’s Soccer team member Megan Rapinoe has called out English soccer for their lack of investment in women’s soccer, despite having the Women’s Super League for almost a decade now. Most notably, Rapinoe was shocked that Manchester United only recently started investing in women’s soccer, their team only starting in the 2018-2019 season.  

This statement is backed by clear evidence that sports leagues are not investing as much time or effort into women’s sport, exemplified by discriminations such as the gender wage gap in sport and the portrayal of female athletes in the media. Women have only been allowed to compete in organized sports for the last few decades, and continue to face inequalities in the sporting world. These types of discrimination and inequalities are exemplified by the online comments posted on Fox News’ article on the issue, where people saying that women’s sport doesn’t deserve the attention, and that she should just switch to a men’s team, are among the more tame comments made. Without female changemakers such as Rapinoe standing up for women’s rights to equality in all parts of life, there would be no hope in fighting back against these attitudes that seem to be very prevalent in the sporting world. 

It has been discussed previously that women’s soccer is a great avenue for the development and increase in women’s participation in sport. Thus far, it has had some developments, but there is still a lot of room for improvement, although with passionate advocates like Rapinoe, women’s sport is sure to find its way to equality eventually. 

OliviaCrw 

Featured Image: Megan Rapinoe in the 2019 Women’s World Cup quarter-final match against France (Source: Franck Fife via Getty Images)