Typically, when the conversation of sports comes up, people tend to default to the same few topics. They will think of the NFL, NBA, or any other category of male dominated professional sports. Women’s sports tend to become overlooked in these situations and regarded as largely unimportant in the sports community. However, data from the last several years indicates that the inequality between male and female sports viewership is beginning to change. According to reports from the financial and consulting firm Deloitte, in 2025, women’s sports are projected to reach $2.35 billion dollars. A 25% increase from the $1.88 billion produced in 2024. 

In fact, viewership across several types of women’s sports has increased significantly over the last several years. There have been tons of records broken and accomplishments achieved such as the Nebraska Huskers Women’s Volleyball match reaching over 92,000 live fans in their arena; an all-time record for a women’s sporting event in the United States. 2024 was also an incredibly productive year for women’s basketball and the NCAA. The NCAA Final Four Women’s basketball game last year between Iowa and South Carolina set the record for ESPN’s most watched college basketball game of all time peaking at around 24 million viewers. Similar patterns can be seen across all diverse types of sports and activities ranging from The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) to female participation and viewership in the 2024 Summer Olympics and beyond. 

Many have attributed this huge uptick in support for women’s sports to what some sports analysts and experts are calling the “Caitlin Clark Effect.” Though over the last few years many female athletes have risen to fame for their exceptional talent such as swimmer/9x Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky, or gymnast/2x Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee, one has risen above the rest and captured the full attention and hearts of the United States. This title belongs to female basketball star Caitlin Clark. From her junior and senior year playing basketball at the University of Iowa, Clark is credited with single handedly increasing Iowa’s state GDP over $52 million. Now, as she heads for the WNBA playing with Indiana fever, she is bringing a whole new realm of excitement for the organization along with adoring fans who now are credited with buying 1 and 6 WNBA tickets. In fact, not only has Clark stirred excitement in Iowa and Indiana, but recent studies show that even away games that Clark stars in have a larger attendance and a spike in viewership by a large margin.  

 Economically, Clark has also had a lasting impact on the WNBA and affiliated franchises. The WNBA has recently signed several new deals and contracts with companies such as Disney, Amazon, and Delta Airlines. Caitlin Clark has had not only a lasting impact on the NCAA and WNBA, but also on female representation in sports. By inspiring the younger generation to believe in their dreams and advocate for their own representation in sports/the media, young girls have been able to advocate for social change and a higher value to be placed on female sports/athletes. 

Recently, to gain more support for the growing movement to increase representation for women’s sports, there have been several initiatives that have amassed thousands of supporters including one that took over the women’s events at the Paris Summer Olympics and the WNBA. Started by several nationally regarded female athletes including Sue Bird, Alex Morgan, Simone Manuel, and Chloe Kim, the movement is referred to as “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” and uses this quote on their products. In partnership with the athleisure brand Together, the athletes have successfully promoted and sold $45 T-shirts containing their staple quote. The quote is a response to the commonly used phrase in the sports realm “Nobody watches women’s sports.”  

Since the release of the brand in 2021, the movement has certainly lived up to what it claims on its products. The shirts can commonly be seen on social media, courtside at many WNBA games, and have even been translated into several different languages including French for the Summer Olympics. They have even begun to branch out from simple black T-shirts and have partnered with several WNBA teams to create hoodies and tote bags available in many colors. Cofounder and Chief content officer at Together has stated, “I think there is something to be said for changing the narrative, but it was not the intention. The intention was to create a product that felt like a unifier that accurately represented the women’s sports fan base that exists and to celebrate these incredible athletes.” On their website the brand also includes a lengthy list of female sports accomplishments since the founding of the company in 2021. 

Locally, the topic of representation in female sports remains incredibly relevant following the state championship victory of the Hingham High Girls Hockey Team that took place on March 17th with a game that was incredibly well attended by the Hingham community. Tri-sport varsity athlete, and sophomore at Hingham High Kylie McAloon has also stated her thoughts on the growing support for women’s sports locally and globally expressing, “Yeah, I think the movement needs to be more popularized and women need to have a larger presence.” In addition, athlete Sally Egan has also expressed, “I think that representation in sports is really good because as a woman who plays sports, I love to see more people get involved.” At Hingham High School, there are many opportunities for students to join a sport and get involved in the movement and there are also several clubs and student-led organizations such as the Female Empowerment club that are dedicated to helping women overcome barriers and advocate for change as a student body. 

Despite the large gains the women’s sports industry has seen in the last few years, there is still more work to be done. There is still a large discrepancy between the amount of money male athletes are paid every year versus female athletes who put in the same if not more amounts of training. While top paid male athletes can make hundreds of millions of dollars per season, the top paid female athletes in the world last year only made a little bit under $10 million. Though there is so much room for the improvement in the representation of women in the sports industry, the growth in the past few years has had a tremendous impact on the athletes and sports community to provide for a more diverse and productive future.