The Student News Site of Fluvanna County High School

The Inequalities in Women’s Basketball

April 26, 2021

There has been much recent controversy regarding the differences between the treatment in men’s and women’s basketball. In particular, many complained that in last season’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball tournaments, there were many inequalities between the things men and women received in their so-called quarantine bubbles. In the bubbles, players had to wear trackers to ensure they wouldn’t go anywhere they weren’t supposed to go, and were not allowed to leave outside of the hotel except for practices, all in the name of minimizing Covid outbreaks.

Yet when the men got to the hotels where they had to quarantine, they received multiple shirts, shoes, water bottles, a sweat towel, and sweatpants, plus had many food options from which to choose. Player Justin McKoy from the University of Virginia (UVA) posted on Instagram about how great the food was, while it was noted that the men’s workout room had multiple workout benches, several pull-up bars, and a wide variety of weights.

In contrast, when the women got in their quarantine bubbles, they only received a shirt, a water bottle and a sweat towel, as noted by player Sedona Prince on Instagram. Prince also noted on her Tiktok page that the quality of the meat was poor, and posted photos of their workout room, which contained a single set of weights and a few yoga mats, a far cry from the men’s workout space which was completely full of equipment.

Once players and other famous people found out about the differences between how the two groups were being treated, they started posting all over social media. For example, Stephen Curry posted on his Instagram that “This should not be happening…the women should have equal rights.” Once the news went viral, the NCAA said the differences were because there wasn’t enough space in the women’s workout room, although a female player contradicted this.

After Prince posted the Tiktok that went viral, the NCAA started to make changes to lessen the inequalities between the men and the women. The food suddenly improved and Prince posted an updated Tiktok showing a newly-decorated and stocked weight room.

I hated that it had to take that much for the women to get treated the same as the men. I think that there should have never been a difference at all and women should have always been treated the same.

For the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and National Basketball Association (NBA), there are some differences as well in how the different genders are being treated. One of the differences is that women get paid far less than the men do. For example, Lebron James gets paid $39 million a year, while the highest paid WNBA player is DeWanna Bonner, who is paid $221,000 a year.

How come? If you ask the WNBA, they say it is because they do not bring in as many fans as the NBA, so they can’t afford to pay their players anywhere near what the male players receive. In terms of percent of what the league makes a year, Bonner’s yearly percentage is .003%, while James’s pay is .004% of what the NBA makes yearly. While that is a small difference, it is still different, and I think it should still be equal because the women work just as hard as the men do to get where they are.

So equity for female basketball players still has a long way to go. I believe that what happened this year in the NCAA has started to change things, but not enough. I hate that we had to come to this point for some people to finally realize that for women, equality in basketball is still elusive.

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