As another year is about to start, society as a whole will continue to have the same social issues. The main focus of the past few years, including 2018, in particular, is gender equality.
On paper, there is no denying that women have stolen the show from their male counterparts. An endless amount of “firsts,” play a big attribute to their continued success. Gender inequality, however, is not the only social issue that WWE has to consider.
Being in the main event, having their own pay-per-view, and even competing in copious amounts of male-dominated matches throughout 2018, women continue to be an unstoppable force. Although the buzz has been tremendous, what is missing? Nia Jax took to Twitter recently to speak up for people of color.
WWE posted on Twitter that the women “BROUGHT IT in 2018,” nonetheless their pictures did not depict any minorities.
Jax’s statement was very bold with very little words. With just a few emojis of different women and a hashtag “WeHereToo,’ her message was as clear as glass. In 2018, only two women of minority status received championships on the main roster.
Raw saw three women total, Alexa Bliss, Ronda Rousey, and Jax herself become champions. Jax was the only woman of color on the Red Brand that peaked this year.
Although her victory was a delight to many fans, she had the shortest reign of the three. Rousey has the highest number of days at 133 and counting, Bliss follows that up with 98, and Jax sits at the bottom of the list with only 70 days.
The SmackDown brand saw four women total as champions. This is similar to the formula Raw produced in the calendar year. Out of all the days of the year, WWE waited until day 350 to put the belt on a minority. Asuka won the SmackDown Women’s Championship just two weeks ago, at the TLC pay-per-view.
The NXT brand was the only WWE product that featured women of color as champions the entire year.
NXT had Ember Moon, Kairi Sane, and Shayna Baszler all receive success this year. Out of the three, Moon is the only one who has transitioned to the main roster full-time. Although Moon, an African American, has placed as runner-up to many high stake matches, she has still come up short. Sane and Baszler are of Asian descent.
Many people feel someone’s race, gender, sexual orientation, age, or any other human attribute should not be the focus of success and it should be one’s talent. Some fans would also dispute that not everyone should be a champion just for the sake of being one. Although this all seems ethically true, as a society stepping into 2019, WWE can do better at promoting racial equality.
With WWE hiring more women of color, it is just as important to see the focus on racial equality just as it is gender equality.
