When searching for an article I wanted to find something that interests me. I went to google to find my article and found an article on sexism occur in Japan within a sports federation, the Japanese Futbol Federation (JFA). This incident occurred just a few short months ago during the Olympics, and shows clear and decisive sexism. Japan is one of the stronger countries in the world, but lack equal men and women rights.
As many people know, and if you do not here you go, futbol, or soccer, is the most popular sport in the world. With the role sports play in our society today soccer has become an enormous international business. Even if soccer is not that big of a sport here, us as Americans need to realize that this sport is a huge part of other cultures. Other countries live and die for this. Teams have sponsors, sign players from all over the world, travel the world, etc. This incident occurred in Japan this calender year in preparation for the Olympics and during the Olympics. The Japanese Women’s National Soccer team upon preparation for the Olympics and the Olympics was signed to travel economy class to matches. This may not seem like that big of deal. Like “oh, big deal suck it up”, they are just being stuck up professional athletes, but the Japanese Men National Soccer team traveled first class to all games in preparation for the Olympics and to the Olympics.
The Women Japanese National team won the last World Cup, one of the biggest international sporting events aside from the Olympics, and beat our own USA Women National team. The president of the JFA,Junji Ogura, was quoted saying, “The players have showed brilliance of Japanese women.” But, this brilliance he described did not last long, as they were put right back below professional status. “They (the men) apparently have “professional status”, where as the women have yet to be given it or earned it.” The women are ranked third in the world, won the most prestigious soccer tournament in the world, and compete in the Olympics every 4 years. Where as the men are ranked 20th in the world, and have only made one Olympics in the last 29 years and fail to compete amongst top tier teams.
It is clear that women in Japan lack the power, strength, and status of men. It does not matter how successful they are, they will as of now always be less than men. This has been a problem for many years and is a part of the Japanese culture. A woman was quoted saying this has been a longstanding inequality and a source of contention. We tend to be naive to inequalities like this all over the world, as it is not as relevant in the US, but it needs to be known how women are treated in many other countries. With this example of women in Japan, I believe it is vital that US businesses restrict the placement of female employees, as business with females in many parts of the world is unaccepted and could greatly effect MNCs. This is extremely sad, but the awareness is the start of something to making it right.
Braswell, M.C., Olympic sexism from japan: men flew business, women flew coach to london. AllMediaNY. www.allmediany.com/news
While it is hard for Americans to believe that soccer is about as popular as the NFL in other countries, it is the truth. With that being said, it is hard to believe the difference with which men’s and women’s sports are treated. However, I think it is pretty easy to see the difference even here in the United States. For example, look at the NBA compared to the WNBA, they have to have the women’s season slightly different than the men’s so people will watch the WNBA and there are many other little differences in how both basketball teams are treated. While it is true that here in America sexism is not nearly as rampant as in other countries there are still a few instances in which women are treated with inferiority.
Also, on another note, I can’t believe that the women’s soccer team has had so much success and is treated so poorly in Japan while the men’s team is below mediocre even and yet still treated like world champs. That would have to be very hard to deal with for the Japanese women. I hope that one day soon the women are able to get the rights and treatment that they deserve, not only in Japan but all across the world.
I realize there is sexism and racism in America and all over the world, but this article right here just makes you say “what are they thinking?”. How can you even justify this very subpar team being considered professionals, yet the women, who can probably beat them, are just amateurs traveling economy class to their silly tournament.
That would be the match to watch. Look up how Billie Jean King finally got her R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
Great blog! I like the fact that you thoroughly described a specific event in which proves the prevalence of sexism in other nations. It gives readers the ability to understand real-life situations that are taking place every day. I agree with you on the fact that MNCs should restrict the placement of female employees in certain parts of the world. Hopefully someday the United States can come to a compromise with these sexist nations and provide the chance for women to be involved! It doesn’t look like it will be anytime soon though…
Great blog! I like the fact that you thoroughly described a specific example that proves the prevalence of sexism in other nations. This example gives readers the ability to understand real-life situations that are taking place every day. I agree with you on the fact that MNCs should restrict the placement of female employees in certain parts of the world. Hopefully someday the United States can come to a compromise with these sexist nations and provide the ability for women to participate more! This will probably not be anytime soon though….
Fascinating. I watched a documentary last weekend called “Dare to Dream” about US women’s soccer. Sadly enough, it was basically the same story. In fact, they had to strike before the Atlanta Olympics to get paid. Men would be paid if they got any medal, women only if they got gold. After the strike, they settled on payment for gold or silver, but nothing for bronze….