By Casey Wanatick
Unfortunately, nothing came about improving the gender disparity within collegiate sports. There were apologies by the NCAA for good standing press reasons, but there were minimal concrete steps taken prevent these forms of discrimination from occurring going forward.
What happened during the 2021 NCAA basketball tournament is just a microcosm of the worldwide gender disparity within sports. There are some countries that severely limit female participation in sport, and some countries that straight up do not even allow it.
In an article by Forbes, they list ways how the NCAA could have created more gender equality within collegiate sports. The article reflects on how gender equality in the rest of the world of sports continues to exist despite Title IX legislation. The article also emphasizes the importance of both male and female athletes using their platforms to call out these forms of discrimination. Big names such as Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu played a big role in making this controversy go viral by calling out the NCAA on social media.
In what other ways can famous athletes and influences as well as fans use social platforms to promote gender inequality and why do you think the use of these platforms is so effective in bringing issues of inequality to light?
Sources:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceceliatownes/2021/03/19/where-is-title-ix-in-the-ncaa-weight-rooms/
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaw/2021/08/03/ncaa-significantly-undervalues-womens-basketball-investigation-gender-disparity/5469623001/#:~:text=The%20controversy%20around%20the%20different,had%20several%20areas%20for%20lifting.
https://aublr.org/2022/04/ncaas-gender-discrimination/
I think that the harsh reality of the gender disparities within sports is relevant in nearly every example of athletics across the globe. Women are not treated with the same amount of respect as their male counterparts. I remember seeing the viral videos from the NCAA basketball tournament that you discussed here. The female athletes were given a fraction of the resources of the men staying in Indianapolis. The men were given over the top gear and gifts, and had ridiculous accommodations. The women's teams were not treated as athletes on the same level as the men were. While men's sports do often get more publicity than women's, I do not think that warrants this discrepancy within the treatment of the athletes. Pouring in the same resources and funding to women's teams would be a way to garner more awareness and support for their teams, therefore working to even the playing field for female athletes.
ReplyDeleteHi Maddie, I had the same thoughts when I saw the viral videos of the women's resources for the NCAA tournament compared to the mens. It was appalling to say the least. Unfortunately, that wasn't even the worst for gender disparity among sports, as it just brought the situation more to light. This is a global issue that needs more awareness.
DeleteI think that there is a wide variety of factors that play into the disparity of men and women's sports, with the main ones being disparity in investments across the two sports and disparity in lack of public engagement (often due to gender differences and lack of proper marketing for women's sports). If we want to see an improvement in conditions and pay for female athletes which would mark a profound step towards equality across genders in sports, it is essential that investments are actively made in marketing women's sports (which would require an initial cash influx from an interested third party investor) and increasing its public image in order to better engage viewers and drive profit margins up (because after all sports is a business and money is the currency that drives the sport forward).
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that their are several factors that play into gender disparity within sports. One of the main factors is stakeholders investing more money and resources into mens sports. There is not enough money and resources going into women's sports. You are right, step one should be allocating more money towards marketing for women's sports, so it can build up their public image.
DeleteI completely agree with you and Maddie that women should not be facing this extreme discrimination in the sporting industry. In a perfect world, both the men's and women's teams should have the same resources, luxuries, and treatment. However, this is extremely hard to counteract because it is ingrained so deeply in our society that men sports are better. It doesn't matter if the women's team is the best in the country, people still will pay money to watch a male team lose. Many of these women's teams simply don't have the same amount of fans or funding as men's teams and that is because we don't put enough focus on women's sports. I think everyone falls victim to this. Why do we all buy season tickets for men's basketball and not women's? Why is it more common for the entire human population to attend men's sporting events and not women's? Until we, as a human population, stop valuing men's sports as superior (if we realize it or not), women's sports will never receive the recognization and support that they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that this ties back into the lack of attention paid to women's sports and the lack of funding their teams receive. It makes me wonder if women's teams are even unlocking their full potential, since they are clearly not receiving the same amenities. I believe that fans paying the same attention to women's sports that we pay to men's is a crucial step to eliminating forms of gender disparity such as this one.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you Maddie on the fact that women should not be facing this type of discrimination nowadays. There are a ridiculous amount of countries that limit the the ability of sport for women. It is hard for organizations to provide the same amount of resources and treatment because of the investment gap between men and women's sports. I am not sure if that will ever change and it is unfortunate for that to be the case. Certain women athletes' have been helping a tremendous amount regarding the investment aspect. For example, Caitlyn Clark. She has been all over social media and been a tremendous push for women's athletics.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of how this problem can change going forward, I believe more females working in leadership positions in the sports industry is especially necessary. While the fact that no one batted an eye about the lack of amenities given to these female athletes is extremely disappointing, it is also somewhat unsurprising to me considering that organizers of the NCAA and its governing body is made up primarily of men.
DeleteI also agree with what Maddie said above and do not think women should be facing this discrimination. The sports world has always been a male dominated world but in recent years we have seen the rise of both star women athletes as well as women off the field working in sports. There are many fingers to point on who is to blame about the discrimination. An obvious one is the lack of funding in women's sports and the disparity that exists with their pay. Another huge factor is the lack of media time for women's sports. Women's sports would never get the prime time game unless it is maybe the USWNT and thats because many people have their implicit biases against women's sports. I do think that the gender disparity in sports is continuing to improve but I think there's a lot of work that still needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that media time plays a significant role in this problem. In fact, this controversy only really went viral because famous male athletes began speaking out about it, exhibiting how much more of a platform male athletes have due to their higher media coverage.
DeleteThe gender disparity in sports, highlighted by the stark differences in resources and treatment between the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments in 2021, is a glaring issue that extends beyond collegiate athletics. This incident served as a reminder of the systemic inequalities faced by female athletes worldwide.
ReplyDeleteAddressing gender disparity in sports requires effort from all stakeholders, including sports organizations, policymakers, and the broader community. It is imperative to advocate for greater representation and support for female athletes, ensuring they have equal access to resources, opportunities, and recognition. Over the last decade, we have seen prominent women athletes do a great job by promoting the next generation of women athletes to stand up and have a voice. By promoting gender equality in sports, we can create a more inclusive and equitable athletic environment for all.
Great comment! Yes, stakeholders are a key in fixing gender disparity within sports. They are the ones that decide where the funds go. It is up to them to allocate the resources properly for both mens and women's sports. Also, as sports fans, it is up to us to take a stand and advocate for more equality in sports.
DeleteZach Lichtman - I did not realize how terrible this situation was in 2021 during the NCAA basketball tournament for women. The men were able to be held in luxury and had a lot of resources, and the women were given much less and it went viral for how bad they were treated. This blog opened my eyes to the gender disparity in sports and the systematic inequalities in athletics. I think that the terrible conditions for the women during the pandemic is something that cannot be overlooked because it was also during a time where resources were needed, and there shouldn´t have been a difference between the woman and mens´s conditions for the same tournament. It is neccesary for leaders of the NCAA to make a change because there is no reason for inequality, especially with the high increase of womens sports in the world. As sports fans, it is unexeptable to sit and watch as the same sport is treated differently for different genders, and there needs to be a change.
ReplyDeleteYes, unfortunately the situation with gender disparity is pretty bad in sports worldwide. The issue is that it is not talked about enough, and almost just pushed under the rug. That's what happened with the NCAA tournament. In 2021 though, the issues were finally brought to light.
DeleteI remember reading about this when March Madness was going on. One of my friends plays in Women's college basketball and we were speaking about this together. She mentioned this in not the first disparity she has noticed firsthand, and she is sure it will not be the last. The disparity between women's and men's sports is very prevalent, and within the NCAA it is as well. Athletes within the NCAA and in the professional world need to be starting more conversations through social media, or interviews. With a huge platform, it is a waste not to use it.
ReplyDeleteI also remember when this was going on and I agree with most of these comments saying that there are many reasons for this disparity between mens and womens sports. I am interested to see how this will continue to play out with womens college basketball having a huge surge of interest right because of Caitlin Clark, and how that will impact the situation. Also, a sport like volleyball, which is predominately women, is starting to form professional leagues with very big investment backing. I am curious to see how the conversations will arise surrounding a primarily women sport and if the comparisons to mens sports will continue.
ReplyDeleteThis is a major issue in college sports that is often neglected by the public. It is one thing for professional sports to have differences between mens and women's leagues due to revenue bring in, but colleges main sources of revenue are tuition and fees. They barely make any money off of sports ticket sales or viewership so why give women worse facilities than men? At the end of the day everyone is paying the same amount to be able to go to college and it is sad to see the discrepancies between mens and woman's college sports.
ReplyDelete-TylerB