25th Anniversary of “A League of Their Own”

This year marks the 25th anniversary of “A League of their Own” starring Geena Davis, Madonna and Chabot College’s very own Tom Hanks. The movie takes place during World War II.

The movie is loosely based on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) active from 1943-1954. The Rockford Peaches, Kalamazoo Lassies, and the Racine Belles are some of the famous teams in this film.

The movie tackled the issue of sexism in sports. During and after this league’s existence it did not get a lot of attention coverage like the MLB (Major League Baseball) did, because they were women.

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is another example of sexism in sports. The WNBA doesn’t get as many viewers or attendees as the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 2015 the average attendance for WNBA games was 7,318.

The average viewership of an NBA game is 1.5 million, and the number gets higher (over 3.5 million) during the playoffs and the finals. “I don’t necessarily have a preference I think both of the WNBA & NBA are just as athletic as the other. People don’t watch the WNBA because they don’t like to watch girls play basketball. We need more recognition for how hard the woman players go out there and play. I played basketball in High School so from my perspective girls are just as good as guys.” says Chabot student Jada Moses.

According to The Washington Post, about 40 percent of American athletes are female, but media coverage of female athletics makes up only 4 percent. “The WNBA doesn’t get a lot of attention like the NBA does which I understand because the media focus more on men than women. Nobody that I know watches the WNBA” says Chabot student Shavonee Porter.

Female athletes are only paid a fraction of what male athletes are getting paid. For example, the US Women’s soccer team split $2 million for winning the World Cup. Last year the US Men’s soccer team only split $8 million for losing. The average salary for a WNBA player is $72,000, while the medium for an average NBA player is 2.2 million. Same goes for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of that season. Sylvia Fowles the Center for the Minnesota Lynx, and 2017 WNBA MVP. Is only being paid $109,200. While Russell Westbrook 2017 NBA MVP plays Point Guard for Oklahoma City Thunder is being paid $26.54 million.

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