A concern for society as a whole is how women are treated in comparison to men. There are ongoing fights for women's benefits in social environments, the workplace, and within sports.
These issues are mostly overlooked, getting swept under the rug to maintaining a positive image. Recently, however, NCAA has been getting called out by women athletes due to the incredible disparity between the way the women were being treated versus the way the men were being treated.
Women's Basketball
Many people know about the big controversy that happened during the most recent NCAA tournament for women's basketball. It began when photos were being posted about the difference in the gym space they were provided in March 2o21.
People finally began to pay attention to what these athletes faced every year. This became even bigger when a popular Tiktok creator, Sedona Prince (@sedonerrr), made a video calling this inequality out.
She provided a behind the scenes look of how different the women's basketball athletes were treated versus the men's. Pictures began to circulate of the gyms. For the women's teams the gym was a simple 3 tier rack of dumbbells. They had a wide-open area for much more equipment, however, they were only provided with those dumbbells.
On the other hand, the men's teams got a complex, multi-machine training area utilizing all of their free space. This angered a lot of athletes and got more comparison photos spread around. Women would get one option for dinner while the men would have a buffet style feast to choose from.
It even went to the details of the NCAA goody bags, men could fill up a twin bed with their gifts while women had nowhere near the amount of goodies.
The argument gained traction and began to allow athletes from other sports to speak up about their experiences with sexism in their respective sports.
Women's Volleyball
After the NCAA failed the basketball women's athletes the women's volleyball tournament proved that it wasn't a one time thing. After being forced to make adjustments to the tournament date, they organized it so it would be played in a convention hall.
When player's checked out the hall they noticed that the 8 courts they were provided were very dangerous. They were simply sport court flooring laid on top of concrete. This setup is very risky for the players, an unforgiving flooring can cause career ending injuries.
Already agitated, the players and coaches felt as though they were being brushed off after it was announced that their first two rounds of the tournament would not be commentated while it was streamed.
Many coaches began to voice that it made the tournament seem much less professional. John Cook, the Nebraska coach, commented that it felt a lot like a high school club tournament.
This is incredibly disheartening to these collegiate level athletes who have worked hard to get to where they are. All of that work seemed to be unappreciated because of the lack of effort made to ensure they have collegiate grade resources.
These are just two examples of the most obvious differences in how women athletes are treated at the collegiate level. The NCAA has shown the way they treat men versus women and it has brought a lot of attention toward women's athletics.
Opening up these healthy lines of criticism is a step in the right direction to ensure that collegiate sports are safe and accessible for women and men.
