Op-Ed Featured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch

4/1/21—[Excerpt from Richmond Times-Dispatch op-ed by Executive Director Megan Murphy]

When will inequities between the treatment of male and female athletes stop surprising us? When will the organizers of tournaments provide the same facilities and resources to female athletes as those provided to their male counterparts? Apparently 40 years of running the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament is not long enough.

In recent days, a social media storm has erupted about the disparities between, among other things, the weight training facilities provided to the women’s and men’s teams participating in March Madness…

At almost every turn in their athletic careers, girls and women must overcome higher obstacles and greater inequities.

…Lack of access to opportunities has the greatest negative impact on girls’ participation in sport. Other barriers for girls include the lack of female role models, inadequate expertise in developing girls as athletes, and inferior facilities and resources. This is not the case, however, at girls’ schools.

Every weight and piece of exercise equipment, every court and playing field, every coach and trainer is dedicated to girls. All aspects of athletics at girls’ schools—from dollars invested to time committed—place girls at the center of the planning and decision making. Exposure and support like this lead to very different outcomes than those of the NCAA women’s basketball teams that had to fight for the proper training equipment. Women’s teams should never be an afterthought to their male counterparts.

Let’s give female athletes the proper support and credit they deserve for their hard work and dedication. Just as we do for our male athletes.

Read the full story as it appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.