Ever since women started to participate in sports, gender discrimination has been a controversial topic. The founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, recognized this issue in 1896 when he said, "No matter how toughened a sportswoman may be, her organism is not cut out to sustain certain shocks."
Statistics may show that gender equality in sports has come a long way, including UNESCO recognizing sports and physical activity as a human right in 1978, but there are still some cases that make women cringe in disbelief before anger takes over.
The latest of these incidents involved the Japanese national women's soccer team and the Australian basketball women's team. Both are bound for the 2012 London Olympics and are very successful compared to their male counterparts.
The Japanese defeated the U.S. in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup Final in a penalty shootout, becoming the first Asian team to win the FIFA Women's World Cup .The Aussies, on the other hand, have won silver medals at the last three Olympics.
Despite the success of both teams, they were assigned seats in premium economy while their male counterparts are comfortably pampered in the business class. Except for those who were able to pay and upgrade their seats, such as WNBA player, Liz Cambage, the women had to endure long hours of flight to their destination. The Japanese were on their way to Paris, while the Australian flew to London.
As expected, flimsy excuse were given by the respective sports bodies of Japan and Australia. The Japan Football Association said the men fly business class to the Olympics because they are professionals.
Basketball Australia acting chief executive Scott Derwin said the "policy around budgets for each national team gives the leadership group of those teams some discretion over how their funds are spent - and that includes travel arrangements. What did he say? How will these explain the discrimination in plane seating?
Hopefully, with the incident being reported worldwide, a review of existing policies will be made and corrections are made in their return flights back home.
Incoming basketball Australia executive Kristina Keneally, said that, "In this day and age, there's just no excuse for men's and women's sporting teams to be treated differently when they both compete at the same world-class level. The disparity is even more glaring when you consider that our women's basketball team is one of the best in the world."
