OPINION: For everyone out there who says it's unfair that men's sport is given too much attention, that it's sexist, it's mean, it's intentional, it's the old boys club keeping the gals down - I've got the solution.
Why don't we do away with binary gendered sport altogether? Teams would pick athletes based on skill and merit, not gender.
Marathons at the Olympics would be a free-for-all. The person would win. Not the best man, not the best woman. The best person. There'd be no room for discrimination. No room for sexism.
What's the problem with this? The problem is that women, in most sports, wouldn't win. They'd be way down the field of runners. They would never be selected for the All Blacks. It would be fair, but unequal.
You see, men and women ARE different. Men are, by and large, stronger than women. They run faster, lift heavier and go farther.
Perhaps it is really this fact - not sexism, not misogyny, not the old boys club - that keeps women's sport from the headlines, that keeps women from being paid as much as men.
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Let's face it - since the days of gladiators sport has been about watching the finest physical specimens compete and do battle. It's entertaining, it's adrenaline-inducing, it's human nature.
Perhaps this is why women's sport isn't as popular as men's.
Ryan Bridge is co-host of The AM Show.
