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Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, calls on the NCAA to launch an independent investigation into why women’s teams received such blatantly inferior equipment to their male counterparts – and why it took a viral TikTok and national outrage for the association to intervene. in.
The senator’s letter, addressed to NCAA President Mark A. Emmert and obtained by BuzzFeed News, is the most recent and important call for the NCAA to report on the disparate conditions between male and female athletes in tournaments. by March Madness.
“While the history of the different levels of support and resources provided to male and female athletes is a long-standing issue, the major differences in the quality of facilities and weight rooms, items and food provided to players and teams this year were an obvious problem, ”Smith wrote in his letter.
Smith called for an independent investigation to explain why the disparity occurred and provide recommendations on how to avoid it in the future.
“Too often, women’s athletics are not supported or valued in the same way as men’s,” she wrote. “The NCAA should not act in a way that reinforces these inequalities, rather it should actively work against them.”
Outrage was sparked last week when images of the men’s weight room – with benches, weights and racks filled with equipment – surfaced, along with images of a single barbell rack and of mats provided to the players.
Sedona Prince, an Oregon Ducks player, posted a viral TikTok about it.
NCAA at first claimed that the difference in the equipment provided was due to a lack of space – but the athletes quickly pointed out that the only weight support was in a large empty room.
The initial statement only fueled anger backlash on social media, later prompting Dan Gavitt, NCAA senior vice president of basketball, to apologize to the athletes and coaches of the women’s teams for “dropping the ball on the weight rooms in San Antonio.”
On Saturday, the female athletes had a room full of weight training equipment to use.
But the initial disparity only prompted athletes to show other ways the men’s and women’s teams were treated differently throughout the tournament, from food to gift bags provided to players.
Smith called these differences “of great concern.” She also highlighted reports that men’s teams received the “gold standard” in COVID-19 tests, while players on women’s teams received antigen tests, which may be less accurate.
“While both tests are important tools for screening for COVID-19, they should be used by both male and female teams on an equal basis,” the senator wrote. “Taken together, these disparities present a clear picture of the devaluation of the women’s players, teams and tournament as a whole.”
The senator also criticized NCAA social media accounts, which she said presented the March men’s tournament as “the main event” and the women’s games “as an afterthought.”
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