Unfair Treatment of Women in the NCAA

Now that March Madness has ended I feel we have time to reflect on the treatment of women in the NCAA. For a while now people have questioned if the treatment towards the mens and womens’ teams are equal. 

Many examples that would be used to back this up were usually debated, and/or ignored, but during the month of March I came across a video that a player from the Oregon Ducks made about the women’s weight room. The video showed that the women’s team got a small standing weight rack while the men had a large weight/workout room. 

The player also showed that there was plenty of space for a proper weight room, but the NCAA just chose not to provide it. The video got a lot of attention, and during the season a different weight room was provided, but only after someone said something about it. It makes me wonder if a change would have happened if the NCAA didn’t have the public looking in on their unequal treatment. 

This goes beyond a weight room though many players also reported that they received less food and less accurate covid testing than the male teams. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, went to Twitter, and expressed her concerns saying, “This is outrageous – but it’s not just about the weight room. From their facilities, to their food, to giving them less reliable COVID tests, the women’s NCAA basketball teams are being shortchanged.” Many others on social media were also showing the same opinions. 

Women in athletics have been fighting the unfair treatment for years now, and I feel now it’s just starting to get some coverage. The women’s teams should have received fair treatment from the start, and some of the behaviors of the NCAA only changed due to media attention.

Now that March Madness has come to an end I hope that the media attention, and the players don’t stop speaking up because if people get quiet about it again nothing will change.