Member-only story
His devotion gave women much promotion.
The late Kobe Bryant was many things — a father, a husband, an Academy Award winner, a basketball icon, and so on. Nevertheless, one aspect of Bryant’s life that ought to be more widely recognized is his support for women’s sports. In an era where women as a collective are looking to make greater strides in US politics — specifically the presidency, combating sexual harassment, and fighting for fair reproductive rights, backing female athletes helps further the goal of women gaining equal access to certain opportunities as well as better treatment for this demographic.
Currently, many female athletes in various professional sports have been fighting for higher wages, greater marketing, and more promotion. Extra pay could mean access to the appropriate services needed for these athletes, such as private traveling options or better medical staff, whereas greater marketing and more promotion could lead to increased game attendance from fans and onlookers and better merchandise sales — which, in theory, should amount to higher wages for female athletes. Additionally, public opinion about women’s sports, more specifically professional women’s sports, has often been negative. Merida (2019) purported that many men often dismiss women’s sports by saying they are not as “athletic” as men’s sports. In other scenarios professional…
