Ordinary World Essay

Hope Solo, a goalie for the United States Women’s National Team, as well as the Seattle Reign FC in the National Women’s Soccer League, is widely regarded as the best goalkeeper the women’s game has ever seen. With over 100 career shutouts on the international level, and numerous individual and team awards including two FIFA Golden Glove awards and a World Cup, it’s hard to deny her prowess. Solo has been on the national stage for over a decade now, and while heralded as a world class player, her career has been fraught with controversy. Solo: A Memoir of Hope was published in August 2012 and provides a unique look into the major events in Hope Solo’s life through her own eyes.

“A League of Their Own” is a very impacting movie that depicts the impact of women in sports throughout the 1940s. During this era, men were away in World War II, leaving the women to take their spots in many of their duties. Baseball had been a very well known sport throughout the country. Women playing baseball was unordinary, however it quickly grew to be very popular which led to the inauguration of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. This was a way for the women to get out, have fun, and relax with other females. The film presents several traditional gender stereotypes and female limitations in sports, some which still exist today.

Look back at the pictures of all the young faces on that 1991 team, awash with smiles, the glow of a world championship, and athletic glory in its purest form, and it becomes obvious why we play.” (“Hamm, Mariel (Mia) Margaret”). Mai was nonplused that year based on the lack of zeal from the sports world. She did not allow this to lower her morale or affection for the game. She remained focused and steadfast and continued to promote women’s participation in the sport.

They are not given the same amount of support to pursue an athletic career as men. Moreover, according to Kelsey Clark she has stated in her blog that “The very highest paid female soccer athletes, including the United States’ Alex Morgan, make only around a half million playing soccer. The highest paid men, in contrast, can earn more than $50 million for their salary and other winnings”. This demonstrates that women athletes are being paid low which is not fair at all and women are back off they are not treated equally as they deserve more than what they get and have more talent but it 's hidden because of the inequality.

The team has qualified and competed in every Olympic woman’s soccer tournament to date (Reiher). Overall the team has won four Olympic gold medals and one silver medal. The men, on the other hand, have failed to even qualify for the 2004, 2012, and 2016 games. They have also only managed to get to fourth place out of any of the Olympic games they participated in, not even winning any type of medal (Reiher).

When it comes to sports men and women are rarely given equal opportunities to excel. This is the case in soccer specifically, as many individuals over look women’s soccer. Women are having to play on turf fields which is causing more injuries compared to men playing on natural grass. Men also make more money per match and they receive money if they lose, whereas the women do not receive any money if they lose a match. While women are becoming more successful, the men’s team has been around longer and bring in more media coverage and endorsements for the league. Despite the discrepancies found in media coverage of both teams, the US soccer federation and Federation International Football Association should provide equal opportunities for both men’s and women’s soccer teams.

The All American Girl’s Professional Baseball League both challenged and reinforced traditional women’s roles. The AAGPBL only lasted for eleven years, but its effects are not forgotten. Towards the beginnings of the lead, along with the influential leaders, the players were the ones to make it famous. The AAGPBL made women athletics a possibility today and helped America to emerge to why women athletes are necessary. After the men returned from war, the league began to decline and the women were eventually forced back into being housewives and back into the households.

From a young age, children are conditioned to always think about what they want to be when they grow up. Many of them dream to be a ballerina, firefighter, or an astronaut. With age comes maturity, and those aspirations pass, but simultaneously new, more realistic ones arise. To reach these new goals, these children work toward their dream through dedication, which can be seen in the studying or training they do. In today’s society females have more opportunity to do what they dream. There are young women who are assiduously working to get a college degree and a steady job. Then, there are also women who are training to become a professional athlete, with the aspiration of becoming a member of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT). In today’s society, women can pursue their goals, however, if compared to men’s sports, there can be differences seen that keep women from reaching full potential, equality, and their dreams.

Before we told our daughters that they could be anyone, or anything they wanted to be, we told them that they could only be what was acceptable for women to be, and that they could only do things that were considered "ladylike." It was at this time, when the nation was frenzied with the business of war, that the women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League decided that they could do and be whatever it was that they chose. These women broke free of the limitations that their family and society had set for them, and publicly broke into what had been an exclusively male sport up until that time.

The latter conquest generated an unseen excitement about Women's sport in the general public. These events moved soccer from the back pages of a few big city newspapers to the covers of Newsweek, Time, People, and front of cereal boxes. Forty million people tuned in to Women's soccer team win the World Cup. This expansion of the U.S. soccer audience benefited not just the women, but the men's national team and Major League Soccer, too. These women showed great skill and determination even when they had not given obsession like Men's Team. The reward for their efforts was a gold medal victory with the winning goal.

During the 19th century, women’s teams at six different colleges as well as other outside sources began playing baseball. Baseball was a chance for these women to step out side of their comfort zone almost and gain a freedom that they otherwise did not have before. Martha Brady states it best with her quote from article “Creating Safe Spaces and Building Social Assets for Young Women in the Developing World” When she says, “To a degree, being involved in sports appears to work against the repressive effects of conformity and femininity and allows girls access to the more action-oriented realm of adolescence that is typically enjoyed by boys (Brady, 42). During this time a couple women stood out and began to

In every country, soccer stars are celebrated, they are young children’s’ heroes, and they inspire nations. Soccer is played in small villages in Africa, suburbs in America, and the arctic tundra of Russia, it can be played anytime, anywhere. It is the only sport that serves as a universal language, citizens in every country know the basics of soccer. Anyone, of any age, can play. It serves as a common connection for humanity and the players set examples for most of the world. If women are not being paid equally on the only platform that has the ability to reach the entire planet, it is no wonder that so many countries do not believe in women’s rights. However, if they were paid the same as men, they would be setting an example for the entire world. Many countries would begin to better understand that women are equal. After all, so many of life’s lessons are taught to children through games, especially games like soccer. This sport is a very rare, if not the only, opportunity to teach the entire world that women are just as equal as men, and not just on the soccer field. Women’s soccer could serve as the messenger to the world, and “kickoff” a new attitude for the equal treatment of women and really get the ball rolling on equal pay for women. This sport has the unique opportunity to use its influence to change attitudes that will seep

Through the movies viewed in this course this semester, we saw women who were able to play against men and still keep their femininity. Nothing is lost when playing sports not traditionally meant for a particular race or gender. Society must become more understanding when it comes to the sports different types of people play and hinder from stereotyping anyone when they participate and perform well in that sport.

By turning women away from playing certain sports, we are influenced to believe that they are not as qualified to play, compared to men. (Creedon, 1994). Ironically, women on the field seem to have to act tougher than the men. If an

In the last one hundred years women have made tremendous inroads in many facets of life. Of that there can be little doubt. Women may now hold jobs, own property and participate in professional sports. Today women can compete in sports, once a vestige of male domination; there is now room for women in that arena. But even today women in sports are not portrayed in the same light as their male counterparts. To a large degree this is because of today's cultural ideal of women.