Despite starting in 1896, the Summer Olympic Games 
only saw the debut of women in the 1900 Summer Olympics 
hosted in Paris, where only 22 out of 997 athletes were 
female. More than a century later, participation has grown 
exponentially, with the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics 
achieving the most gender balanced games ever with women 
accounting for 47 percent of the athletes. 

However, the Olympics are not the only place where 
policies have been implemented to eliminate discrimination 
within athletics. In 1972, the passing of Title IX in the 
Education Amendments of 1972 prohibited sex-based 
discrimination in federally funded education programs and 
activities within the United States; consequently, the world 
saw a surge in the participation of young female athletes. 
Today, rising stars like WNBA All-Star Caitlin Clark and 
gymnast Suni Lee have drawn attention to a spotlight on 
women’s sports and female professional athletes. Their 
impact is visible, especially at the high school level, with 
increased funding, participation, and visibility creating 
more opportunities for teenage girls to compete and lead 
within their own school communities.

Alongside this rise in participation, women’s sports have 
gained larger audiences. A recent analysis by McKinsey 
& Company shows that revenue from women’s sports has 
grown four-and-a-half times faster than that of any men’s 
sports from 2022-2024, contributing to the unprecedented 
growth professional women’s leagues have experienced, 
driven in part by the popularity of star female athletes. 
Professional basketball players, such as Paige Bueckers, 
have drawn millions of viewers, contributing to recordbreaking attendance in the WNBA. As a result, many of 
these aforementioned star athletes are also receiving more 
sponsorship opportunities as brand investment in women’s 
sports continues to grow, with over 1,000 companies 
sponsoring women’s leagues in 2024 — a 73 percent 
increase from the previous year. At the same time, media 
coverage is expanding, tripling from about five percent 
of sports coverage in 2019 to around 20 percent in 2025. 
Furthermore, with this increased visibility, female athletes 
are offered a platform to support each other.

“I love seeing that there are real prospects that 
just didn’t exist for me and my peers when I 
was in high school. It feels really good to be 
able to encourage some of our most talented 
female athletes, not just with empty words, 
but with the success of these franchises,” said 
assistant volleyball Coach Katie Dineen.

Even though laws like Title IX supposedly 
eliminate bias, sporting events remain imbalanced 
as women’s events sell less tickets and, despite 
increasing ticket sales, do not generate as much 
revenue. This disparity causes one 
of the most debated issues in 
sports: the pay gap between 
male and female professional 
athletes. On average, male 
athletes are consistently earning 
significantly more than female 
athletes, with an extreme case being 
the average NBA salary of $11.8 million compared 
to the average WNBA salary of around $120,000. 

“I feel like on the baseline, if you can say that 
‘Oh, we have the same amount of revenue, the 
same amount of views,’ then that should mean 
equal pay. I’d say that if you don’t have the same level of 
viewership and revenue, then it doesn’t make sense to be 
paid the same salary as those who have higher amounts,” 
said Lilly Ludewig ’26. 

However, female athletes demonstrate commitment to 
their sport by training daily and paying the same costs for 
equipment, coaches, and transportation as male athletes. 

“They should obviously receive the same salary for putting 
in the same amount of work, if not more,” said Nishika 
Singh ’27. “The [fewer] viewers is just because people do 
not appreciate women and have a very stigmatized view 
that sports equals masculinity.”

Ultimately, top female athletes are 
continuing to push to even out the pay 
imbalance, with American soccer player 
Megan Rapinoe leading the way for others 
by winning a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer 
Federation in 2022 to achieve an equalized split 
in salary and prize money between the women’s 
and men’s national soccer teams.

As women’s sports continue to grow 
in popularity, gender inclusivity 
in sports has greatly improved 
since women first appeared in 
public sports over 100 years ago, 
with growing organizations and 
foundations dedicated to advocating for and 
supporting female athletes. This push for increasing 
equity and representation will continue to progress 
alongside the appearance of new generations of young 
athletes.

Rena Yu's Work