I have no trouble treating women athletes on par with men athletes. 

My wife is a highly decorated bowler who finished her last season with a 232 average before taking a year off to have our first child.  You might get a fat lip if you tell her she can't compete with the men.

The Luci Bonneau Mixed Doubles Tournament was held in Houston this past weekend.  The field for this tournament is a who's-who of bowling with the top male pros along with the top female pros and amateurs.  After the 12 games of matchplay to determine the champion, Shannon O'Keefe out paced the best in the game including (and it wasn't even close):
Bill O'Neil
Marshall Kent
Rick Steelsmith
Sean Rash
DJ Archer
Chris Barnes
Jesse Buss
Patrick Allen
Brett Wolfe among others.

Even with all that said, I feel the real reason women are viewed differently, especially in bowling, is because women (and USBC) market women as different.  We have separate women events even though there aren't any USBC sponsored men's events.  The bowling community should embrace the fact that women and men CAN compete on the same playing field and the sport should be marketed as such.  Eliminate the women's events and have true open events.  But until the old guard of the the old WIBC are gone, this will not happen.

I agree that women in bowling CAN compete with men.

Years ago there were league defined MEN and WOMEN only but honestly I haven't seen that in years!

In the Pros I don't think there are a LOT of women that will out bowl men but there certainly are a few! Is it fair to have women bowl against men to make a living? I'm not sure!

There is no mixed scratch leagues at that bowling alley, so the only way to bowl in a scratch league is to bowl in the mens league.

I agree that women in bowling CAN compete with men.

Years ago there were league defined MEN and WOMEN only but honestly I haven't seen that in years!

In the Pros I don't think there are a LOT of women that will out bowl men but there certainly are a few! Is it fair to have women bowl against men to make a living? I'm not sure!

Your last statement is the reason so many people get frustrated with the " women should be equal" debate. So so many of them will stand up and say they should be treated equally, but then when asked to do something or compete equally with men then that's " not fair ".

I deal with it at work all the time. The women make the exact same money as the men, but so many times I hear or get told " That's a mans job I shouldn't have to do that " or " I'm a woman, I can't do that ". When you come back with " well if you are going to do half the work you shouldn't get paid as much as I do" they get offended.

Obviously its just my opinion, but if you want to be treated equally, whether it be bowling or a job, stop setting up restrictions based on your gender ( or any other reason for that matter) whenever things are tough.

I agree that women in bowling CAN compete with men.

Years ago there were league defined MEN and WOMEN only but honestly I haven't seen that in years!

In the Pros I don't think there are a LOT of women that will out bowl men but there certainly are a few! Is it fair to have women bowl against men to make a living? I'm not sure!

I tend to think about it this way, and it's more along the lines of Jack Jurek. They are all there to work their butts off, and make money to pay the bills and keep roofs over their families' heads. With the alley and tournaments being their 'workplace', I would call it fair across the board.

For those that don't, especially those mentioned in the article about not wanting to bowl with a girl in the league, they just need to get over their own self-esteem and (lack of) confidence issues.

Heh.. in fact, for them, bowling is the least of their worries, especially if as of now, women now occupy the majority of the workplace over men, at 51% to 49%.

BL.

I've always looked at it as bowling against another bowler, an average, doesn't matter if man, woman or child.  Use handicap to make it more level and draw more bowlers or have scratch to let the skill prevail but probably fewer teams.

Years ago, while they still had the ABC Mens Open Championships and women were threatening to sue to be allowed to bowl in the men's only tournament, I had a discussion with a couple of good women bowlers.  I asked why do you want to bowl in the mens tournament?  More money to win in the mens tournament (more entries than the WIBC womens tournament).  Well, if you are allowed to bowl in the mens tournament, will you quit bowling in the womens tournaments?  No, that is almost guaranteed cashing (for them because of their higher skill level).  How about letting men bowl in the womens tournament?  That would be unfair because men are stronger than women.  How about just letting lower average men bowl against the women, like 160 or lower?  No, still unfair because men are stronger and they could sandbag.

I guess I have had a different experience.

Every since the ABC opened up leagues women, the leagues I bowl in have had at least a couple of women in them.

We have had all women teams a several times in scratch leagues. These generally consist of Wichita State women's team member.