Thursday, October 27, 2005

Equality is a two edged sword

Looks like after fighting for years for equal rights some women in the golf world may be about to find out that equal rights apply to men as well as to women. Shocking. :-)

Male Golfer Jean van de Velde has followed the example of players like Michelle Wie and applied for entry to the Women's British Open.

Fair play to him. It may seem a silly thing to do, but he has a point, either we have mixed sports or we don't. You cant have one gender with its own league and the other forbidden from having an exclusive league. Golf club membership should be open to all, thats not in question, but if women want to take part in mens golf tournaments it has more to do with money than a burning desire for equal rights. There is simply more money in mens golf than in womens, and thats true for most sport.

The solution isn't to mix genders, its for the organisers to improve the sponsorship and profile of ladies golf. Then everyone will be happy. Until then I suppose people will have to continue making silly stands to get their message across.

3 comments:

Siel said...

Hmmm -- I don't know enough about golf to weigh in on this -- I mean, are there women golfers who can give the men golfers a run for their money, so to speak? Or is this sorta like tennis, where if the genders were not given separate prizes and stuff, men would be winning everything?

Actually -- The real reason I'm commenting is cuz you have an issue with your "Sub Bloglines" button -- Looks like you accidentally put in an extra space somewhere. I managed to get subscribed, but less bloglines-familiar people might get discouraged --

Declan said...

Thanks siel, I'll have a look at that. From what I hear Michelle Wie has the potential to give most male golfers a run for their money in a few years, But I think in general golf is still a male dominated sport, though I cant really think of a reason why a female golfer shouldnt be able to win the big competitions.

Declan said...

Yep, rogue extra space. Fixed now. Thanks.