Redefining Equality: A Critique of Separate Gender Competitions

Seperate Still Isn’t Equal

I saw, recently, a (female) esport pro rock a “EQUALESPORTS” hashtag next to a title “[…] FEMALE TEAM.” Why do I take issue in this? Why am I just not happy that there are all-female esport teams competing separately? Why does Equal Esports Cup (quoting Leaguepedia “The 2023 Equal Esports Cup (“EEC 2023”) is a League of Legends tournament hosted by Deutsche Telekom for all women and non-binary players.” ) isn’t equal?

Modern day history of the west is the story of struggles of marginalized groups against the opressing majority. Think of Suffragettes, Martin Luther King, Labour Unions. In no way, the struggle seems to be complete, too. Women are perhaps the biggest minority nowadays (even though they are often the majority). They are discriminated against on almost every step, with wage gap, rape culture, and more, acting against them. In sports, even when it does not matter, women compete against women, while men compete only against men. While in box, MMA, weightlifting, football, basketball, volleyball it does make sense, in the vast majority of sedentary sports, it doesn’t. In esports, it does not make sense either.

Nobody has yet given a good reason why women don’t compete with men. Of course, in the past, there were some attempts, such as launching an all-female team in the Russian LoL league (SLAVA UKRAINI) in 2019, however you can’t really treat it seriously. Sure, they lost all of their games, and were eventually removed from the competition, but what else do you expect when you field a team full of players not playing their roles, from fairly low ranks?

It is time to break down the barriers that separate men and women in sports wherever we can and truly strive for equality. Let’s redefine what it means to compete and create a level playing field for all players, regardless of gender. Only then can we truly say that esports is a space where everyone is equal.