Women’s hockey, in both the Olympics and the PWHL, is a strong force that brings many victories to the US. Yet, like all other women’s sports, it is often disregarded and invalidated. Most recently, even the President of the United States didn’t take it seriously.
While both the men and women US hockey teams won gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics, this was the first time the men had won since 1980. Instead of being congratulated, the women’s accomplishments were diminished to a punchline by the president.
After the men’s gold win, President Trump called to congratulate the team while they were celebrating in the locker room. He extended an invitation to his State of the Union address, eliciting cheers from the victorious players. He could have left it at that, but instead he took a swing at the women’s win.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring in the women’s team, you do know that?” President Trump said. “I do believe I’d probably be impeached.”
This “joke” was received with more laughter from the men.
To act as though the women’s US Olympic victory was just an afterthought, and their victory didn’t have the same merit as the men’s, is simply ridiculous. Time and time again US women’s hockey teams have proven that they are a force to be reckoned with. Since the inauguration of women’s hockey in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, the women’s team has been on the podium for all 8 Winter Olympic games, winning gold three times (1998, 2018, and 2026). They have proven they are just as capable as the men, if not more.
While the joke isn’t exactly egregious in itself, it is the mindset behind it that is upsetting. This joke stems from the fact that women’s sports as a whole are still not considered to be legitimate like men’s sports. Men’s teams still dominate sports culture and are the standard. Women’s sports are seen as less important and less impressive. Because apparently it’s cute when women play sports professionally, but accomplished when men go professional.
Many would think, after centuries of women fighting for equality, that women would finally be equal to men. Women’s basketball experienced a large viewership increase in the past few years, and the women’s rugby’s bronze win at the 2024 Paris Olympics have brought great recognition to female athletes.
Despite the first women’s hockey game being documented in Barrie, Ontario, in 1892 (just 17 years after the first recorded men’s hockey game), most advancements for women’s sports are rather recent. Before 1972 and the passage of Title IX which legally recognized and protected women’s sports, they were recreational and informal. Women were discouraged from physical activity in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with doctors weaponizing science in order to create false discoveries on women’s autonomy. Still, women fought to play competitively. Women’s activism in the Civil Rights Movement fueled the feminist movement and the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave them and minorities stronger footing than before.
Even after all of this effort, women’s sports are still brushed aside. As with other occupations, a large pay gap remains in sports, with women earning between 80 – 84% of what men make, according to Adelphi University. Even with the rise in viewership for women’s basketball, men’s sports tyrannize media coverage. The first ever nationally televised PWHL game hasn’t even happened yet– it’s set to play on March 28th between the New York Sirens and the Montréal Victoire at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, broadcasting on ION.
While it isn’t surprising that President Trump made this “joke,” it is disappointing. He is the face of our country, the supposed land of the free that is equal for all. To have a president that not only believes in these backward ideas, but perpetuates them feels like we’ve taken one step forward and now 100 back.
