A recent article featured in the Wall Street Journal made me think quite a bit about this issue posed in my headline.
Let me get this straight - after much discrimination in the field of running, women are now saying "no" to men by sponsoring running events "for women only"? Yes, I know there are a number of distance running events that are geared toward women, but what's the big deal with men participating in the events as well?
Running has come such a long way as a sport that truly integrates gender in my mind. How many times do you see a group of people running where there are participants of BOTH genders? How many times do you see so many men and women running together at events?
If event organizers want to market to women with female-specific races, I'm fine with that, but I don't see a problem with men being allowed to participate too. I see this Wall Street Journal article by Kevin Helliker inspired many comments. Let's hear from you - what are your thoughts on this issue?
While you post some great comments on this issue, I'm going to take some time off to enjoy travel for the Thanksgiving holiday.
1 comment:
I just had a conversation with one of those 700 men who ran the Nike Women's Marathon. He trained all season with women and wanted to continue to support them on the run. He isn't competitive like the guys featured in the article though. I think men should be allowed to enter such races but not be eligible for prizes, much like the fastest runners in Nike cannot outright win the race if they do not register as elites (another issue that cropped up a couple of years ago at the Nike race).
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