Women in student sports continue to speak out against the NCAA’s gender disparity in college sports-THE elephant in the room. Portland State Vanguard interviewed Viking student athletes to find out their opinions on inequality.
During the 2020-2021 season, University of Oregon forward Sedona Prince called out the NCAA for the infamous “weight room incident.” The women’s team had only a small rack of 12 dumbbells at the annual March Madness basketball tournament, but the men’s tournament team did not experience the same problem.
Basketball player Savannah Dhaliwal wasn’t surprised when Prince reported the situation to the NCAA. “Everyone was talking about it on social media, but for me, I know how women are treated because I’m a college athlete myself so it wasn’t new,” Dhaliwal said. “The only reason there was so much media coverage about it was because they had something to compare it to, because the men were playing in the same tournament at the same time.”
Women’s basketball team players Jenna Kilty and Morgan Baird commented on how the media accessed the story. “(Prince) is someone who has a really huge platform, so she was able to reach a lot of people when she posted that video,” Kilty said. “Anyone who saw a side by side comparison of the men’s and women’s (sic) NCAA tournament and the weight rooms, food and gifts they received, would be shocked at how different they were.”
“(Prince) is using her voice to help improve the current situation in the NCAA and to improve the systems for future female athletes,” Baird said. “The Portland State SAAC recently completed a campaign focused on equity and social justice topics, including equity in NCAA women’s sports. Projects like this raise awareness about important topics that affect many people.
For the softball team, their tournament lasted less than a week, with several teams having to play double-headers; the Florida State Seminoles played 7 games in 6 days (including one game that ended at 2:18). The baseball tournament, however, lasts almost two weeks.
Softball player Olivia Gray said “it’s a slap in the face” to see the difference in treatment between baseball and softball. “Recovery times should be equal regardless of sport or time,” Gray said. “For softball pitchers as well, this puts them at an even greater disadvantage because of the lack of relief between games.”
Her softball teammate Emily Johansen agreed; “Recovery is just as important as the performance itself, and men have the opportunity to recover, so why don’t women do it?
Kilty sympathized with the softball team’s similar circumstances. “You play back-to-back games in AAU or other summer leagues,” Kilty said. “But college athletes work so hard and with conditioning and the weight room and all the other demands that come with being an athlete, you get tired. I can’t imagine playing more than one match a day.
According to Grey, some women’s teams are forced to play in the middle of the night because of the brackets and timing, although she says revenue from the Women’s College World Series skyrockets every year.
“The NCAA cannot continue to attribute funding to lack of time,” Gray continued. “The favoritism toward men’s sports over women’s sports is so obvious.”
Johansen is concerned about the accessibility of games. “The (Women’s College World Series) championship game was played at 3 p.m. on a Thursday,” Johansen said. “It’s just a really inconvenient time to watch any game, any sport, because if you watch the (Men’s College World Series) Series), the final game is scheduled to be played at 7 p.m. Now I I’m going to ask you, which game do you think people would choose between given time constraints?
Many players have expressed their difficulties with the NCAA. Johansen calls this a “lack of support” in “behind-the-scenes activities”: inconvenient game times for fans to show their support, lack of opportunities to decompress after stressful situations for some athletes juggling the stress of the game, outside judgment on social media, not to mention the demands of school on top of all that.
According to Baird, the NCAA women’s basketball tournament isn’t even able to use “March Madness” in the media.—because it’s just “March Madness” for men. Gray expressed concern that money and profit stood in the way of “protect and ensure that athletes’ collegiate experience is the best possible.
Players also had suggestions for things the NCAA could do better to support women’s sports, such as greater representation.
“I think the NCAA can do a better job of promoting women’s sports and sharing their stories, just like they do for men,” Dhaliwal said. “Whether it’s posters of female athletes in schools or in the media, I think we are still underrepresented. I think overall, people are becoming more aware of the disparities between men’s and women’s sports, especially at the college level. »
Portland State helps lead that charge with a head women’s basketball coach in Coach Chelsey Gregg and an athletic director in Valerie Cleary. Baird suggested that wWomen’s sports need to have an equal focus, and the NCAA can improve its systems by hiring more women in leadership positions, such as coaches or athletic directors.
“It’s truly inspiring to see women in these leadership positions who can use their voices to promote change,” Baird said.
“Things need to change and quickly,” Johansen said, “for the mental and physical well-being of all collegiate athletes who will compete over the next several years.”
