Wrestling has been a popular sport for decades, but a new change has been controversial among many wrestlers and spectators. Traditionally, men have been the ones to wrestle and prove their strength, but many women want to partake in this action-packed sport. 

With the rise of changing and challenging gender norms, women want to participate in many activities that were originally men’s roles. Women today want to gain muscle and compete with their bodies more than ever before. Powerlifting, bodybuilding, and even simple lifting at the gym have become more socially accepted than ever before, so why not wrestling? Women's interest in wrestling has grown, as well as the debate that accompanies it. 

Women’s wrestling is becoming more popular in high school and women’s interest has grown. Steinert High School has a wrestling team that currently has two female competitors, but they are not the first female wrestlers to compete for Steinert’s team.  Steinert is not unusual for having female members on its wrestling team. 

However, there are not enough girls to justify creating a separate girls team for high school, so they often compete with boys. There is pushback from many people who say that girls competing against boys is inappropriate, but is it better to not allow girls to compete at all? Gender equality is a world-wide issue that many are striving to solve, yet it is controversy like this that puts question marks in the air. 

Besides spectators not wanting girls to interact with boys in this way, many boys do not want to compete with girls. Is it a moral conflict or just fear of being beaten by a girl? While some masculine opponents have genuine ethical concerns, others just don’t see their feminine opponents as legitimate. Many female wrestlers are commonly faced with laughs and are not taken seriously. Many schools do not allow female wrestlers to compete and coaches may not recognize females who want to be involved. Female wrestlers are pushing to be seen as important figures in the sport. 

So is this really a debate over traditional gender roles or is it true moral concern? Is it better to exclude women altogether from wrestling even though women have been making milestones in other traditional “men’s” sports? 

Women have been fighting for their place in many areas that were traditionally run by men, such as in businesses, the gym, and holding office, and have been exceeding expectations. So why put a halt on wrestling? Women’s fight for recognition in wrestling is as important as the fight in other sports. Women have received praise in other areas for which they have fought to be legitimized, and wrestling should be no different.