Gender Inequality within Sports

I thought I’d briefly share my opinion about the differences between men and women in sports that has recently caught my attention.

In no way am I trying to directly be hateful to someone or a group of people or a company, I am simply stating my opinion and by no means mean to offend anyone.

http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/photo-galleries/2013/06/05/fathers-day-gift-ideas/golf-clubs/

As some of you may know I am a golf player and play on an amateur level in a club and I often compete against other people. While I have been on holiday, my family and myself have been playing a lot of golf, which meant that balls were lost, tees were broken, clothes were sweaty and clubs were used on the daily.

Due to this, we’d been going to big sport shops or other stores that sell golf equipment and attire. Now I realize that this may be the fault of the retailers, rather than the producers, but my big issue here is: why is there so much more choice for men when it comes to golf? Why in several of these stores do they have a larger variety of clubs, clothes and other accessories for men? I know that not all stores are like this, but nonetheless, why do we have fewer options of clubs? I believe that they should be providing a standard 12 club choice from each brand at their store. This includes a P, S, 9, 8, 7, 6, 3, driver and a putter (+/- two hybrids/fairway woods). Men have all these options, why do we not? It’s not as though there were lots of women buying these clubs and that the store was at an all time low. No. This is not the case. There was a small rack designated to women’s golf. Far smaller than that of men. This is particularly limiting women from playing this sport. I understand and appreciate that there are many views on golf, you either hate it or love it. But by no means should we have less options.

http://www.foxsports.com/golf/story/players-championship-rory-mcilroy-jordan-spieth-paired-together-in-opening-two-rounds-050415

Furthermore, why is the clothing options for Girls/Women so limited and not modern. It seems to suggest that young people cannot play. Golf is not only a sport for older generations, take Jordan Spieth (22) and Rory McIllroy (27) for example. Both professional golfers, and hey, they are still young. Again, why are women given fewer choices?? Some brands don’t even offer women’s clothing! Or only make a few t-shirts. We don’t need the fancy floral shirts or the purple skirts! We’d like the dark blue water-resistant shirt and the beige shorts.

I hope to see a change soon in the market and hope that more women are not discouraged to join the sport because of the limited availability.