“You hit like a girl.”

“You kick like a girl.”

“You punch like a girl.”

“You throw like a girl.”

Thankfully, such sexist comments are more frowned upon in today’s society than they might have been as recently as a decade ago.

And, bizarrely in some circles, because of the strides made worldwide by the fairer sex in sports that hitherto had been the sole domain of men, such a put-down could be interpreted even as a form of compliment.

Wouldn’t the Bermuda men’s football team be proud if someone said that they passed it so well that it was just like watching Japan?

Yes, Japan. At the Under-17 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica in March and April. What a team!

Only one goal conceded on the way to winning the title, and that in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, having already built a 4-0 lead over Venezuela in the semi-finals.

Passing, movement, pressing, teamwork, commitment; they have it all.

Who would have thought that after, in an iconic moment for women’s sport, a wildly excited Brandi Chastain threw away her top to reveal a sports bra as the United States won the 1999 Women’s World Cup, a handful of Japanese teenagers could make the women’s game even sexier? And for all the right reasons?

Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid coach, is famed for his “We are in a good moment” quotes. Women’s football is in a good moment, too, and the same can be said of many other sports where to have women in competition was previously not the done thing.

We in Bermuda have been slow traditionally to catch on — and then catch up. Behind the curve, if you will.

We have had exceptional athletes over the generations, but they have come in fits and starts, Today, however, we could be on the cusp of something special. If not breeding a nation of winners, then a host of competitors to make the Island proud.

Think Flora Duffy. Think Teresa Perozzi. Think Kyrah Scraders. Think Emma Harvey. Think Zoenique Williams and Gabriella Arnold. And in a few years’ time, we may be thinking and talking a whole lot about Jade Johnston, only 10 now but a future star in the making.

Naquita Robinson’s Bermuda team added last week to the growing cast list of girls and women who have excelled in 2014. While their success in Turks & Caicos represented only a start in the quest to leave their mark on the Women’s Caribbean Cup, it was a step in the right direction and vindication of the Bermuda Football Association’s decision belatedly to enter the inaugural competition. The BFA did not enter a team in the corresponding men’s tournament that began last week, which tells its own story.

For far too long, men have hogged the limelight in the sporting arena. This is not an attempt to right any perceived wrongs of times past, but to acknowledge that more can be done to promote girls and women as they strive to make their way.

We in the media are as guilty as any for thumbing down women’s sport in favour of the male equivalent, whether it be in the build-up to the events or after the fact. There may never be a level playing field in terms of coverage because we are governed by the demands of the community. But we can do our bit to help to change the perceptions of women in sport so that they become a part of the conversation, if not an equal part.

After all, it is very possible that Bermuda’s chances of international success may soon become greater there — especially in the team events.

A woman can play football, a woman can play cricket, a woman can box, a woman can play rugby.

I crave a utopia where a sexist put-down could become a term of endearment so that, in social media-speak no less, the trending craze would be “You win like a girl.”