By Neto Baptiste
Former national athletes, Karen Joseph and Sonia Williams wants more attention to be paid to the achievement of females in sports.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Joseph, who played netball at the international level and Williams, a former national sprinter and Carifta gold medallist, both agreed that the achievement of men in sports are heralded above their female counterparts who would have achieved similar feats.
Joseph, who was once ranked the number one goal shot in the world, said this has been her contention for many years.
“I have reached the point in my life where I’ve realised that, in Antigua, it’s just a case where women’s power is not as recognised as the males and I have a serious problem with it and I’ve said that before. For me, all these young ladies like Sonia Williams, Heather Samuel Daley, Nolia Hodge Elvin and all these ladies who have made significant contributions to sports in Antigua and Barbuda have not been recognized as they should,” she said.
Williams echoed Joseph’s sentiment, adding that in today’s world, she expected more equality in sports.
“Even at this generation, we are still behind and we still do not get the recognition we deserve. We are in the 20th century and if a female does something extraordinary you may hear about it one or two times and then that’s it but if it’s a male it [the news] may run for about two months. We would be wondering, didn’t a female just do something that’s out of ordinary and then you hear about it one or two times. Just for a female to go to a higher level, we have to work even harder, triple times than the males do,” the former sprinter said.
Williams won gold in both sprint distances for the girls’ under-17 in 1995, when she clocked 11:76 seconds in the 100 meters and 23:99 seconds in the 200 meters event.