The top female baseball players in the United States fight for equality, recognition, and acceptance in a sport that continues to exclude women and girls.
Not to my surprise, in 2019 women are still fighting for inclusion and recognition in the sport of baseball. Females have always been discouraged to participate in anything associated with masculinity from wearing pants, short hairstyles or manual labor jobs. Just when you thought those times were long gone, you look into the world of sports where women are breaking records in tennis, track and field and golf but when it comes to baseball, they are discouraged at a certain age from even trying, made fun of by males and discriminated against.
Encouraged to play softball instead, fear tactics began spreading to keep women out of the game. Some of them include the assumption that women have softer bones that could break during a game or if hit in the chest they could develop breast cancer; none followed with medical facts. Little girls play until grade school level and then are forced into softball which is a completely different game. Despite the scrutiny received from men for wanting to play at a professional level, women have always played baseball even back in the ’40s. They would play while their husbands were away at war, they even had an all American girl’s baseball league which inspire the film “A League of Their Own.”
In 2004, the first Women’s Baseball World Cup was held, giving women an opportunity to play the sport at a high level and in 2015 Women’s Baseball was included in the Pan American Games. The athletes speak about having to work harder to prove their abilities, having to tolerate the media attacking them and making big deal out of women playing the sport, something men don’t have todeal with. As women’s baseball begins to get more media coverage, the United States is behind other countries like Australia and Japan who have already broken boundaries creating opportunities for female baseball players on a professional level.
The question remains, will the United States ever become more accepting of female professional baseball players? An even bigger question is why do men get to define what athleticism means and why does society disempower women when it comes to sports? As someone who’s played sports since the age of 13, I know how empowering participating on a team can be as a young woman. To constantly be told you are not good enough just based on your sex is despicable, humiliating and lowers your self-esteem. I truly hope we get to a place where women are not just seen as weak and incapable, especially in sports where we have proven for decades that we are just as good. Great documentary!
Available on iTunes & Digital VOD platforms September 24th
