Women in the MLB | Teen Ink

Women in the MLB

March 2, 2015
By Elizabeth Bernius BRONZE, Plano, Texas
Elizabeth Bernius BRONZE, Plano, Texas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

“We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters,” said by Gloria Steinem. Women in society have been discriminated against in all of history. I believe women not being able to play professional baseball in the MLB is unjust because gender should not limit ability to be successful, and for women and girls to be restricted of their dreams.


As I was growing up, my whole family was a huge Texas Rangers fan. Since I was little my brother and I both played tee ball and baseball. My love for baseball outshined everything else in my life, until I reached the sad age of 10. The day I went to sign up they told me that girls my age were no longer able to play baseball, and that they could sign me up for softball instead. I could never understand why I wasn’t allowed to play baseball anymore. This also applies to professional league baseball. I realized very quickly that this limit was not due to skill level, which had been my only explanation. “The question, then, isn’t when women will earn a spot on the diamond next to men. They have been earning those spots for over 100 years. The question is when men barring the gates will finally stand aside and let them in”, by baseball expert Jack Moore.


In 1974, Julie Croteau filed a lawsuit about women getting their own national baseball team that is eligible to play against other countries in the Women’s World Cup of National Baseball. She won the lawsuit but stated that she was “disappointed that they placed women to different expectations than the men.”  Although women were given an opportunity to play, they were still separated women from playing in the same league as men.


Some people would say that this is not a big deal because this is how all sports work. Usually sports are divided because of skill level. Baseball however, is seen as an even playing field for anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort to be successful in the sport. People argue that sports “de-feminise women and is not a traditional act for women to be participating in”. I believe it is unjust for women to be thought of this way.


Restricting girls of their dreams and telling women they couldn’t rank within a league of men is a pure form of injustice. Discrimination happens with all types of people all around the entire world. To make a change, stand up for what you believe in and fight for what you dream of. Don’t let laws and rules get in your way of victory and success.



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