Now, About That Women’s Movement . . .

Women’s sports are fading from view in this country. So what are we going to do about it?

When is the last time a women’s sporting event packed a stadium by itself, or was prime-time televised or nationally publicized, without being in conjunction with a men’s event that was running simultaneously? Think of tennis, or major running events, or Olympic spectacles. When do women ever get a spotlight for themselves and themselves alone? When will women stop being treated like second-class athletic citizens?

Women have never been in better shape, physically. They pump iron. They aerobicize. They marathon. They triathlon. They play basketball better than ever before. They bowl better, golf better, swim farther and faster. They have their own pro wrestling federation. A girl finally got into the Little League World Series.

But what has become of women in sports? What strides have they made?

Women’s professional leagues haven’t caught on. Women’s golf is lagging behind both the men’s tour and the senior men’s tour, publicity-wise and pay-wise. Women’s tennis is suffering, interest-wise and ratings-wise, because Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are beyond their prime and Steffi Graf’s personality remains unknown to most Americans. And Sports Illustrated still only puts a woman on its cover a couple of times a year, tops, including that one annual occasion when the woman is half dressed.

Men still own Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Women have turned up from time to time in football and baseball, but never professionally. Women such as Cheryl Miller, Nancy Lieberman and Ann Meyers spend much of their childhoods preparing for a future in the game of basketball, only to end up discovering, quite sadly and unfairly, that they cannot make much of a living playing the game at which they excel.

Are we going to see any women playing baseball in the major leagues before the turn of the century?

Pam Postema cannot even persuade that exclusive men’s club to permit her to work as an umpire in the majors, even though she is eminently qualified. You would think the powers that be would promote her even as a gesture of good faith, and as an invitation to much younger girls to consider baseball as a possible career. That’s what the Army and Navy now do.

Hey, women buy a lot of tickets to baseball games, buy a lot of peanuts and Cracker Jack. Women even own teams, although Joan Kroc is selling hers and Marge Schott probably should. Baseball should be doing everything it can to keep women’s interest. Besides, we’ve seen some of the men who umpire in the majors, and there is no way Postema could be any worse.

We always thought that by the end of the 1980s, women would have put down roots in American sports’ society. We had high hopes for the women’s college basketball national championships, for the women’s U.S. Open golf. We thought there might be a major women’s marathon, where the winning woman did not have to be clogged somewhere in a pack of men, but could be right at the front of the field, where she belonged.

Even now, though, we view women-only sporting events only by switching to a cable-TV channel at 2 a.m. to see a pro bowling event or a game of beach volleyball. We turn to a major network and rarely hear a female voice, except for the occasional Gayle Gardener. We pick up the Sunday sports pages and can barely locate a feminine name, unless maybe it’s Dee Dowis or Dominique Wilkins.

The old Catch-22 holds that women won’t get publicity until they fill the arena, and won’t fill the arena until they get publicity.

There are successful women who remain such a minority in their chosen fields--jockey, auto racer, sled-dog driver--that even when they win, they must wonder if whatever attention they get is from winning or from being women. The Iditarod race in Alaska sure did attract twice the attention once a woman started dominating it.

Then there is the matter of personal appearance. What person in his or her right mind prefers to deliberately de-emphasize good looks to be taken seriously?

Jan Stephenson didn’t want the other golfers to resent her, but she could make a fortune if she posed for pin-up calendars and did “Love Boat” guest shots. Loree Jon Jones likes being known for her pool playing, but doesn’t intend to make herself more dowdy, just so she can remain a billiards champion cult figure rather than a more prominent, prosperous person.

The principal problem for women is how to generate excitement for team sports.

Schoolgirls thrive in team competition, in everything from basketball and volleyball to sports with almost no pro potential, such as badminton and field hockey.

Should they continue to play sports strictly for fun, or should they concentrate on endeavors that could bring them college scholarships? Should they concentrate on individual-achievement sports, such as ice skating or gymnastics? Should a girl spend every waking hour of her teens working on her basketball if she knows that she must give up the sport for good at 22?

Where are women going in the 1990s, and how are they going to get there? We thought this was at least worth a thought, in the middle of all these damned football games.