“Men Have Been the Norm” – New Study Reveals Shocking Reasons Ranging From Boots to Kits ‘Designed for Men’ Pulling Women’s Soccer Players Back

In every second household, someone is watching a soccer game on their television every night. Such is the popularity of soccer. From the poorest of slums to the most elite of businessmen, soccer as a sport does hold its ground firmly.

Soccer as a sport is also catching up with the other regular sports that an American watches. While men’s soccer is universally recognized and admired, so is women’s soccer. The United States Soccer Federation has given equal importance to both genders playing the game. Keeping aside all the claims, the amount of scientific research that has been conducted comparing both versions of the game is tremendous and those results will shock you.

Who conducted this study on soccer?

Scientific American recently did a study comparing the quality of everything involved in both versions of soccer. Earlier this year, the U. S. soccer set out an example for the rest of the world by declaring that every player playing in America would get the same amount of money, whether it’s appearance fees or prize money.

However, it’s widely known that men’s soccer deserves much more recognition than women’s soccer. Apart from that, the study reveals that enough research has not been done on women’s soccer. Almost every piece of sports equipment used is not fully optimized for a woman to use.

The author of this case study, Katrine Okholm Kryger says, “Men have been the norm. They’ve been the norm in sports. They’ve been the norm in medical research”

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Where do the main issues lie?

The first issue brought up in the case study is the color of both jerseys. In most cases, the women’s team is required to wear the same jersey color as the men’s team. The problem there starts when the color of the jerseys is too light. In the past, quite a few female players have raised the flag about menstrual leakage and light-colored shorts. They’ve complained, saying that having such an issue to worry about is really distracting while playing the game.

Concerns were also raised regarding the size of the shorts. Some soccer entities have flagged this issue as stereotyping while comparing to the ‘bikini’ shorts which are used in volleyball. Boots are also an area of concern for the women’s game. Most boot and cleat companies have their equipment designed to optimally function on a man’s foot. The study claims that most of the boots do not fit a woman’s foot properly. And factors such as shape, size, and traction of the foot are huge factors in this case.

While the modern generation is trying their level best to give equal importance to both versions of the game, studies like this one raise big questions in one’s mind about whether female soccer players are really comfortable while playing or not.

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How soon do you think we will see improvements made to the woman’s side of soccer? Let us know in the comments below.