Last month, members of the Team USA men’s hockey team received heavy backlash from their reaction to a joke made by President Donald Trump as the team was celebrating their gold victory over Canada at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Trump invited the team to his State of the Union address later that month via phone call, where he joked that he would “have” to invite the women’s team as well or else he would “probably would be impeached.”
But what is so funny about women’s sports that makes them the punchline of jokes ranging from their own counterparts to the President himself?
Men’s and women’s hockey are ironically both trending right now, but for completely different reasons. Men’s hockey has seen a huge increase in popularity following the show “Heated Rivalry,” a romance featuring two male hockey players, while women’s hockey is trending after being brushed off by their own country as insignificant, even after they took home the Olympic gold medal. What makes this even more ironic is the significant role women played in the show’s popularity because of its primarily female fanbase.
Growing up, my knowledge pertaining to sports came from women’s sports. My sister was a soccer player during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which in turn sparked my interest in the sport. What I noticed while observing the game, however, was a stark contrast between the women’s and men’s teams; women were doing significantly better while somehow getting acknowledged significantly less.
That year, the U.S. Women’s National Team took home the FIFA World Cup, while the year prior, the Team USA men’s soccer did not even qualify to compete. Yet, people continue to ignore and even ridicule women’s sports, no matter how big an accomplishment they achieve.
This conditioning to view women, specifically female athletes, as weak and not built for sports starts young. From the idea of “girl pushups” to teachers asking for a “strong boy” to help them move something, girls are taught from a young age that their presence in sports is not as valuable as that of their male peers.
This Women’s History Month, it is more important than ever to highlight the incredible female athletes representing the U.S. over a wide variety of sports.
For example, Alysa Liu, arguably the most discussed Olympian from the 2026 Winter Games, is not only a two-time figure skating gold medalist, but an inspiration to young female athletes everywhere. After quitting the sport a few years back due to complications, Liu came back on her own terms, inspiring young athletes to advocate for themselves within their sport.
Women belong in sports as much as they belong everywhere else. From professional hockey players to young girls just getting involved in sports, we, as a country, need to make a greater effort to recognize and celebrate the incredible women who represent the talent of Americans.
