There’s basketball, and there’s “girls basketball.” There’s soccer, and there’s “girls soccer.” There’s lacrosse, and there’s “girls lacrosse.” At school, whenever I hear a sport mentioned, the female version is often given an alternative name. How did that come to be? How did that subtle inequality squeeze its way into our lives?

In society, and at school, we have become much too comfortable with the obvious lack of attendance at girls’ sports games. They simply don’t hold girls’ sports to the same value. According to The Daily Pennsylvanian, “Across America … [and] due to an inequality in marketing, 66% of United States sports fans watch more men’s sports, while only 3% prefer watching women’s sports.” This causes more problems besides just the unfortunate comfortability with misogyny — it influences female athletes into accepting that their games will never come close to the high regard that is shown for male athletes, and can negatively affect their self-perception.

Grace Udall (10), corner and running back for the JV girls flag football team (17-0), shares her experience with disproportionate game attendance.

“It makes me feel like my sport has nowhere near as much support, and therefore importance,” Udall said. “It’s very important to the amazing girls on my team and I, but I feel that the students and the school don’t really show any interest in girl’s flag [football].”

I believe Udall’s statement to be a harsh reality check, considering how much love, money and attention are poured into the school’s beloved boys football team.

How do we allow this inequality to continue when we can see the clear damaging beliefs it engraves into young girls’ minds? Male athletes have always been the focus — both in school sports and professionally. At the professional level, it’s known that female athletes are paid significantly less than male athletes. According to Adelphi University (NY), “Whether professional players receive salaries or individual prize money from competitions, male athletes in basketball, golf, soccer, baseball and tennis make anywhere from 15% to nearly 100% more than female athletes.” They also displayed the difference in pay between men and women in those sports as of 2023, with the professional basketball salary averaging $10,776,383 for men in the National Basketball Association and averaging $113,295 for women in the Women’s National Basketball Association. 

Whether that is because female athletes are believed to be less capable, or because they are not as widely known as a result of lack of game attendance, does not justify the fact that there is a blatant difference between the treatment of female and male athletes.

A lack of audience could potentially cause negative mental outcomes to become much more common. However, some argue that a larger audience at games is intimidating after being so used to no or very little viewers. Udall recognizes this.

“If there were as many people showing up for our games as there is for boys football, it would definitely make me more anxious and stressed,” Udall said.

While nerves are common in front of a larger audience, it’s disheartening to realize that female athletes would face these nerves more often than male athletes simply due to their lack of exposure to large audiences as a result of the lesser value that students and society repeatedly place on female sports.

I believe that male athletes, at the school, and at the professional level, are much too secure in their place of higher regard by society. I have never once seen a male athlete — of any age or level — advocate for equal treatment of female athletes. They would itch for the same treatment, just as female athletes have for years.

While unequal attendance at girl’s sports games is a problem with a deeper root than simply athletics, we can start to combat it right here at the school. So, show up to girls’ games. Repost the girls’ game schedule on Instagram instead of just the boys’. Call it basketball, not “girls basketball.” Be the first in the empty bleachers. Be the person who starts the change.