There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the NCAA Women’s Tournament. Many have witnessed the discrimination and lack of materials that were given towards the women’s teams, as compared to the men’s teams.
This began after Oregon basketball player Sedona Prince shared on the popular social media app TikTok with videos sharing the women’s weight room vs. the men’s weight room. The men’s weight room showed a variety of different equipment in a larger room. However, the women’s room included only a few small weights in a much smaller space. The video was posted March 18 and since then has sparked a large conversation on why gender discrimination continues to occur in collegiate level sports as well as professional sports.
Several coaches have also expressed their frustrations towards this gender discrimination including South Carolina’s Dawn Staley as well as Geno Auriemma from Connecticut. Mark Emmert, who is the president of the NCAA later apologized in a statement obtained by NPR, “this is not something that should have happened and, should we ever conduct a tournament like this again, will ever happen again,” said Emmert.
The inequality in sports between male and female players is an issue that continues to happen consistently. Aside from unequal treatment, the WNBA players still receive less pay for playing the same game as the men’s teams.