This petition is so important because of the different ways that women and men are represented in sports. Women need to get more coverage in the sports media because only 4% of the media involves women and in sports women only get one half to 1% of sponsorship in the UK.

This is where the gender pay gap in sports comes in. As women aren't represented as much in sports they have a much smaller chance of getting sponsorship and so more equal pay. A clear example is in the 2018 football world cup. The french men's team who won received $38 million as their prize, yet the winners of the women's football world cup (japan) won $4 million. England's female football captain earned £65,000 a year or 0.4% of her male counterpart who earned over £15 million.

So why can't women get the same amount of money as men? Women's tennis coverage and prize money is one of the exceptions that is ahead of most sports. In the 1970's women's prize money was only 50% of men's. By the 1980's the gap had closed to 90% and by 2007 prize money was the same after decades of argument by world leading tennis players.

It is not right that women and girls are put down because they are assumed to be less interested or able in sports because of their gender.

Encouragement, training, support, reward, coverage and sponsorship should be based on skill and talent just as it is for men. 75% of girls have had negative comments about their ability to be considered, trained or excel in sports while it is often coaches, teachers, peers and parents as much as the media who have often put them down.

There are all too often inconsistent and inaccurate stories regarding women's sports which make it harder for society to get involved, follow or support much of women's sport. Coverage often focuses on clothing, make up, relationships and only secondarily in their sporting ability or success. Words often associated with sportswomen are 'older', 'pregnant', 'married', 'aged' while for men the adjectives are more likely to be 'fastest' 'strong', 'big', 'real', 'great'. Men make most of the decisions in sporting governing bodies and also allocate the majority of funding.

As a teenager, I want this petition to succeed because I want to stop the gender gulf which lessens the opportunities, sponsorship and coverage of men and women in sport.

No matter what your gender - if you want to participate in physical activities and sports there shouldn't be a wall or discrimination to stop or limit the level of support you get, the coverage you receive or the amount of money you get paid. There are more female than males in the population and everyone should have the potential for amazing sporting talents if the playing field was more equal. It is time to change.

#womenworthwatching  #likeAgirl