{"id":24782,"date":"2021-03-24T00:16:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T00:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=24782"},"modified":"2021-03-25T03:22:43","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T03:22:43","slug":"unequal-treatment-for-college-womens-basketball-players-has-deep-historical-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/unequal-treatment-for-college-womens-basketball-players-has-deep-historical-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"Unequal treatment for college women’s basketball players has deep historical roots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lindsey Darvin<\/a>, State University of New York College at Cortland <\/a><\/em>; Anita M. Moorman<\/a>, University of Louisville<\/a><\/em>, and Ann Pegoraro<\/a>, University of Guelph<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When college women basketball players began to post photos<\/a> and videos<\/a> of how they got less food<\/a>, less accurate COVID-19 testing<\/a> and less exercise equipment<\/a> in the NCAA March Madness Tournament bubbles<\/a> than their male counterparts, a sense of collective outrage ensued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, tweeted out: \u201cThis is outrageous \u2013 but it\u2019s not just about the weight room. From their facilities, to their food, to giving them less reliable COVID tests, the women\u2019s NCAA basketball teams are being shortchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sabrina Ionescu<\/a>, the star Women\u2019s National Basketball Association player with the New York Liberty, added<\/a>: \u201cWomen\u2019s @NCAA bubble weight room vs Men\u2019s weight room\u2026 thought this was a joke. WTF is this?!? To all the women playing in the @marchmadness tournament, keep grinding!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natasha Cloud, a WNBA star with the Washington Mystics, was equally outraged<\/a>, having tweeted: \u201cDon\u2019t worry @ncaawbb @marchmadness @NCAA we see what and who yall value. Title 9.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan Gavitt, NCAA vice president for basketball, has apologized<\/a>, but several college women\u2019s basketball coaches say<\/a> the situation is part of a long-standing pattern of unfair treatment for college women athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As researchers<\/a> who study inequities in college sports<\/a> and Title IX<\/a> \u2013 the federal law meant to, among other things, curtail such inequities \u2013 we, too, believe that the March Madness debacle is just the latest episode in what at times seems like an entrenched culture of unfair treatment for women athletes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Muffet McGraw, former University of Notre Dame women\u2019s head basketball coach, tweeted<\/a>, \u201cthe fact that there\u2019s a huge disparity between men\u2019s and women\u2019s sports is hardly breaking news. We have been fighting this battle for years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the fight for equity throughout women\u2019s sport has been a battle for decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long-standing problem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Previous research demonstrates how the NCAA leadership routinely provides women with fewer resources. Men\u2019s sports<\/a>, athletes<\/a>, coaches<\/a> and events<\/a> have always been the association\u2019s priority<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, female athletes were not provided consistent opportunities to participate in sports until the passage of Title IX in 1972<\/a>. Among other things, the landmark legislation<\/a> prohibits sex-based discrimination in extracurricular activities within schools that receive federal funding. Once women did receive competitive opportunities, they still faced discrimination<\/a>, sexism<\/a> and stereotyping<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men outnumber women<\/a> throughout sport leadership positions<\/a>. Consequently, the decision-making processes are mostly controlled by men. Walter Beyers<\/a>, the first executive director<\/a> of the NCAA, fought to get intercollegiate sports exempted<\/a> from Title IX regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe NCAA became concerned by what it perceived to be the potential weakening of its position as the dominant and controlling body of intercollegiate athletics,\u201d Richard C. Bell wrote in article about the history of women in college sports<\/a> before Title IX. \u201cIf Title IX was to apply to intercollegiate sports at all levels and women were to be elevated to a status equal to the men, its financial assets and political power were threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Across social media, some questioned why Title IX does not apply to the NCAA and the March Madness disparities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court held in NCAA v. Smith<\/a> that the NCAA was not subject to Title IX because it was not a direct recipient of federal financial assistance. Title IX applies only to educational programs that receive federal financial assistance. As the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the unanimous court, stated in the decision: \u201cDues payments from recipients of federal funds \u2026 do not suffice to render the dues recipient subject to Title IX.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the NCAA is not subject to Title IX, that does not let schools off the hook<\/a>. Therefore, once schools were made aware of the disparities between amenities and services provided by the NCAA, they had a legal obligation to determine whether this disparity was justified under Title IX<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[You\u2019re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation\u2019s authors and editors.<\/em> You can get our highlights each weekend<\/a>.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, institutions and teams were made aware of the facility and equipment disparities within the women\u2019s bubble via the NCAA Tournament Manual<\/a>. The NCAA did not plan to provide the women\u2019s teams with a full weight room until the Sweet Sixteen, which is set to take place on March 27<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University of Georgia women\u2019s basketball head coach Joni Taylor confirmed this in her statement to the media<\/a> revealing that their staff had to make their own arrangements for workouts and meals before arriving at the tournament bubble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So while the disparities for female athletes are not new or shocking, perhaps, in the words of Dawn Staley, a storied player and the current coach of the 2017 NCAA Women\u2019s Basketball Champions South Carolina, it is time \u201cfor the NCAA to reevaluate the value they place on women<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindsey Darvin<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Sport Management, State University of New York College at Cortland <\/a><\/em>; Anita M. Moorman<\/a>, Professor of Sport Administration, University of Louisville<\/a><\/em>, and Ann Pegoraro<\/a>, Lang Chair in Sport Management, Lang School of Business and Economics, University of Guelph<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lindsey Darvin, State University of New York College at Cortland ; Anita M. Moorman, University of Louisville, and Ann Pegoraro, University of Guelph When college women basketball players began to post photos and videos of how they got less food, less accurate COVID-19 testing and less exercise equipment in the NCAA March Madness Tournament bubbles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":24783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292],"tags":[3081,6145,6826,4183,4186,5506],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24784,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24782\/revisions\/24784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}