The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup is highlighting the importance of female athletes in television.
Head coach of the Mustangs women’s soccer team, Martin Painter, says it is easier for young children to pursue their dreams when they have someone to look up to
“When young girls get to see role models on TV playing in front of big crowds, they start seeing that they could be in those shoes down the road. I think building that positive role model for young female athletes is very, very positive.”
However, Painter says it is unfortunate that women are not dominating sport’s spectatorship.
“Most professional soccer organizations do not even bother running women’s teams. It is a challenge, and I think the university programs are the most progressive in terms of building women’s sports so that we are not always looking at male athletes on TV and hopefully one day we will be looking at female athletes.”
He adds that years of cultural discrimination against female athletes may have led to the previous decrease of women’s sports spectatorship.
Nonetheless, viewers will grow as women’s sports continue to be recognized on a global scale.
