by Colleen Yates ’18

“Girls over here, guys on the other side.”

This sentence is used almost every time a teacher picks teams in a general P.E. class. The need for equal and fair teams is understandable; However, the blind assumption that most girls are not as capable of catching, throwing, passing, or shooting is an extremely sexist generalization that makes girls feel as if they are inferior to their male classmates.

Often during P.E. – football lessons in particular – teachers will make rules such as, “If a girl catches the ball her team gets a first down.” As a female athlete I take great offense to these remarks, as well as ones such as, “If a play is completed with a girl involved, her team gets extra points.” One can argue that such rules try to address the problem of male students not passing to girls, but it comes across as if girls are less capable of catching a ball than boys are.

The bias that led to the creation of these rules causes problems for female students in physical education courses. When regarded as less capable than boys, girls cannot thrive and demonstrate their ability in class. Because expectations of girls are so low in P.E. classes, they find it unnecessary to actually try and do well. When teachers address girls as weak and assume that they are not athletic, the students in that class begin to believe it is true. Furthermore, making rules that mandate passing to girls does not allow for the students to observe on their own and see who excels in a certain sport or has athletic talent.

By rewarding a female for doing something as simple as catching or throwing a football, teachers give the impression that they are surprised that a girl is capable of doing an easy task. The rules create an unwelcoming environment where male students and teachers do not expect female students to do well. This setting does not allow for equal participation from students of both genders because it creates the false assumption that girls are not as strong as boys are in sports.

Rather than deciding who is or is not athletically oriented based on the gender of the students, teachers should actually look around and observe who excels in certain sports and who does not. Then they can make rules or adjustments based on who is having trouble with participation.

As it stands, P.E. rules that are based on gender promote sexist beliefs that women are not as athletically skilled as men. Such beliefs are unfortunately very common in our society. We should be teaching this generation that both genders can and should be treated equally, not that girls have less talent or ability than boys do.