Women’s sports history is short, but rich in history. The battle for pioneers in women’s sports to be taken seriously and be heard were unimaginable efforts by courageous women and men. Jumping through hoops to change the narrative of women’s sports is a challenge that is still being fought but has come a long way. Nineteenth-century America posed sports as a threat to elite females’ fertility, this being a prime example of the double standard that stood long after slavery was abolished. Elite women did not physically exert themselves because there was no need for them to. They had servants who would do that work for them. Physical exertion for women then grew to have quite a stigma around it. Thus, making sports not even in the scope of what was acceptable for women to be a part of. Of course, if they were women of class. But lucky for the women of the Gilded Age, there were a couple of sports acceptable for ladies. Low-impact sports such as tennis, croquet, archery, and let’s not forget the swimming at the racially restricted lakes and beaches! The notion that women competing in sports is unhealthy can be dated back to the age of Aristotle, stating that women are essentially controlled by their reproductive systems and that too much exertion can be dangerous for their fertility. There were even campaigns to prevent women from partaking in active sports to keep themselves fertile. This and more are reasons that women in sports are so influential today. The pioneers who pushed past those societal limits are the reason that athletes such as Caitlin Clark can break and set new records, and be a figure for young athletes to look up to.
Caitlin Clark, a senior on the Iowa Women’s basketball team, has made headlines setting the all-time scoring record in the NCAA Tournament and becoming unanimously named 2022-23 Big Ten player of the year. Nike signed Clark to become one of the first NIL basketball players, meaning that Nike will be able to sell official Iowa Hawkeyes jerseys with her name on them, which was not allowed before the implementation of NIL deals. In the 2024 WNBA draft Clark was selected as the number one pick by the Indiana Fever. She made her professional debut on May 14, 2024.
“We are thrilled to add Caitlin Clark to our roster. This is a great day for the Indiana Fever and all of Pacers Sports & Entertainment. l am confident she will have an immediate impact on our team and the league,” Fever General Manager Lin Dunn said.
The beginning of Clark’s career started with facing challenges any rookie would face but some would argue to a different degree. Challenges such as veteran players not welcoming her with open arms and getting roughed up more than needed in games. Despite facing these adversities, in press conferences, Clark remained positive and chose to focus on her performance. Clark became the WNBA single-season assists record holder (337), an accomplishment which included a league-record 19 assists in one game. Her 8.4 assists per game average is also a WNBA record. Clark then became the first-ever rookie to record a triple-double and holds the record for most three-pointers made (122) by a rookie in league history.
The Iowa native also had a historic college career where she made headlines wherever the name Iowa was mentioned. Her incredible college career has been decorated with awards and achievements such as being Iowa’s all-time leading scorer, achieving the most 30-point games by any man or woman in Division I in the past 25 seasons, and achieving the most three-pointers in a single season by any male or female Division I player. She has also broken numerous records. She has broken the Big Ten all-time scoring record, Iowa’s single-game scoring record, and even the men’s and women’s scoring records for a single NCAA tournament. Clark has taken the women’s basketball world by storm, and she continues to prove that she is a force to be reckoned with, and she won’t be ignored. Breaking the barriers in a male-dominated sport is not easily done, but she has done it. She has broken NCAA records, which were previously held by all-star male basketball players such as “Pistol” Pete Maravich, who totaled 3,667 points. Clark beat that with a total of 3,900 points at this point in her career.
Clark is an inspiration to any athlete, not only in basketball but also for young girls. She is also an inspiration to young teenage boys as well because of her work ethic and breathtaking records. Women’s sports in general have skyrocketed in recent years as it has gained popularity. Viewership for the 2024-25 NCAA Women’s Basketball campaign finished 3% above the historic 2023-24 regular season with a whopping 41% increase over 2022-23. In all, the 87 women’s games across ESPN platforms averaged 280,000 viewers
Clark has quickly become what most call the greatest of all time, and she has yet to begin her professional career. Exciting to see what else she will do with the power she wields in women’s sports.
