The Influence of the Battle of the Sexes Match

 The big question revolving around the Battle of the Sexes Tennis Match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King was: Is it worth it? Should we be investing in the advancement of women’s sports or is it a waste of time and money? This was a question that had long gone unanswered which is why the match drew so much attention. Jean went into the match with the weight of the world, well, the world for women, on her shoulders. She knew that if she lost it would be detrimental to the advancements of women’s sports. 

Now, the answer to this big question should be yes, women’s sports are worth investing in, but it wasn’t quite that simple. The answer varied depending on who you asked. For those fighting for equality in women’s sports, Billie Jean King’s win wasn’t just on the tennis court, but also a win in the fight for their cause. A woman can beat a man in sports. However, when asking those who did not support the advancement of women’s sports, they argued that Bobby Riggs was a 55 year old man and King was in her prime, so of course she beat him. Yet, age aside, King beat Riggs. A woman beat a man and that was a fact.

This win did influence not just advancements for women’s sports, but women in general. For example, one year later in 1974, girls were allowed to play Little League for the first time, and two years later in 1975, Utah reversed its law regarding the age for which male vs female children stop getting paid child support. Previously, girls stopped getting paid at age 18, with the expectation of getting married and having the support of a husband, while boys stopped getting paid at age 21 with the expectation that they would go to college. Yet, Newton’s Third Law of Motion holds true not just in physics, but in society. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and thus as many steps as we took forward in advancing women’s rights, there were equal steps taken backwards. For as many people in society fighting for women’s rights, there were an equal amount of people fighting against it. The backlash that women faced back in the 70s may have diminished to an extent, but it is certainly not gone completely. 

This backlash is even evident here at Govs. Many female athletes here have pointed out how the boys get preferential practice times in the ice rink and basketball gym, and how boys soccer has had two different practice jerseys in the past four years while the girls soccer team has never gotten practice jerseys. Nearly 50 years after the Battle of the Sexes Match, a new question has arisen: Is this fair? Is it fair that boys get preferential treatment in sports, even if they are better due to biological physical advantages? If the answer to that question is no, it’s not fair, what are the next steps we need to take to change it?