Caitlin Clark, Allyson Felix, Megan Rapinoe—their names have become as common in sports conversations as their male counterparts, if not more common, signaling a major cultural shift in the way we view women’s athletics.  

The recent surge in popularity can be traced back more than 50 years ago, to when Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on gender in educational programs and activities, was signed into law, said Jill Weinberg, an associate professor of sociology.

“What we’re now seeing is the first crop of female athletes coming into coaching and leadership roles,” Weinberg said. “They’re the first generation of athletes who benefitted from Title IX, and are now in positions where they’re promoting more and more women to participate.”

A cultural shift is happening, too, with the growth in interest in women’s sports. Historically, women often played sports because of indirect benefits, like bolstering college resumes and job applications, said Weinberg, but now women are participating because there are true, direct benefits, like employable outcomes within the structure of women’s sports themselves.

“Media in general is also shaping the shift,” Weinberg added. “We’re also seeing women’s sports within the wave of increased women’s empowerment, like the #MeToo campaign on gender equity, and how it played out within the form of women’s soccer.” 

In 2022, the United States women’s soccer team, which won the 2019 World Cup and took home gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics, settled with U.S. Soccer for $24 million, among other terms, after suing the team’s bosses for sexual discrimination and pay inequality. 

“How is it that they have been performing much better than the men’s team, and yet they’re not getting paid at least the same as their male counterparts?” Weinberg asked. “A lot of women resonate with the frustration of doing better and having a reasonably better record, and yet still being undercompensated.”

Social media helps boost women’s sports by giving a face to the stories and unique experiences that these athletes face. That certainly was the case when Stanford University sports performance coach Ali Kershner posted a photo highlighting the differences between the women’s and men’s basketball training facilities at their respective NCAA tournaments. 

“In that case, social media helped spread the message and create something viral,” Weinberg said. “It raised awareness that both sets of teams and athletes achieved an invitation to the NCAA tournament, and yet you have this grand disparity when it comes to even the essential workout facilities.” 

Just a few years later, with many of the athletes who competed in that tournament having turned pro, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) boasted its most-watched regular season with 1.2 million viewers on ESPN and an average of 1.6 million who watched the finals, according to Reuters—its biggest audience in 25 years.

The accessibility and humanization of women’s athletics, through social media and interactions with fans, have also boosted popularity. 

“It’s easier for me to go to a professional women’s hockey game and try to meet a player afterward, to get an autograph or take a photo with someone, than it would be at a men’s game,” Weinberg said. “This is true with the professional sports and bigger college programs, where they still put up a wall between the fan and those athletes.” 

Being able to make those connections encourages girls and young women to envision themselves in those roles. “If you see it, you believe it,” Weinberg said.

According to the United Nations entity UN Women, 88% of people regard professional women’s athletes as impactful role models for young women. 

“Now we have an infrastructure of trailblazing female athletes in professional sports,” Weinberg noted. “You’re going to see more and more girls say, “I don’t want to be LeBron James, I want to be Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese. They have a role model they can see themselves in.” 

That wasn’t the case for many of the professional women’s athletes today, most of whom likely played their chosen sports in childhood alongside boys, Weinberg added. 

To continue improving parity in men’s and women’s sports, and to correct misconceptions about women’s sports, Weinberg recommends highlighting women’s athletic accomplishments by leading discussions with statistics—quantitative data that provides a standardized way to compare.

“I also think how we televise women’s sports is really important,” Weinberg added. “When you start to see networks say they are going to make a commitment to have a women’s game on the primetime Thursday slot, despite the fact that they know their ratings might not be as good, gives an outward signaling that men’s and women’s sports should be treated equally.”