The inequality in Samo sports

Thanks to Title IX and changes in our society, girls’ sports have grown and become more popular, yet there is still a bias towards boys’ sports at Samo. Title IX requires equality in the way the budget is spent between women’s and men’s sports at all publicly funded schools. Despite this law, girls experience different treatment and receive different publicity at Samo. This needs to change.Girls are given fewer opportunities and have less support at games. For example, varsity girls’ cheerleaders cheer at varsity boys’ basketball games, but junior varsity cheerleaders cheer at the varsity girls basketball games. Not only does this mean that the girls teams do not receive the highest level of cheering, but it conveys the message that they are not as important and do not deserve the same support as the boys. In addition, it may not attract as many fans if the junior varsity cheerleaders are cheering as opposed to the varsity. Another sport where the boys and girls receive unequal treatment is volleyball. Both genders work hard to fundraise for various events and trips. According to a player on the girls’ volleyball team, the girls’ and boys’ teams fundraised, but the girls had to help the boys fundraise and the boys did not have to help the girls. In addition, last year an Australian boys’ team came to scrimmage Samo’s boys team. The girls’ team had to help plan the event and cook food to host a potluck. The boys have never done anything like this for the girls or helped them in any way. Furthermore, the boys sporadically get to go on spa trips while the girls do not. This is unfair and detrimental to the girls’ team because, despite equal participation in raising funds, the girls do not get the same outside training and bonding opportunities as the boys. There is also inequality in the publicity that each sport receives. Douglas Kim, the girls’ basketball coach, explained that the girls’ team has to actively promote their sport to the school to have their games and wins to be mentioned in announcements. In contrast, boys’ sports are automatically the focus and are always mentioned first in announcements. This type of inequality ensures that there are less fans at the girls games. “Publicity-wise, absolutely [there is a bias toward boys] if you listen to the daily bulletin, you see it. Unless we are going to promote it, you’re not going to get updates. I think it’s more of a systemic issue,” Kim said. Many may argue that the boys’ sports are more interesting because they are faster-paced and boys bring more strength to the game. Even though boys may bring more strength to the game, girls have to use more strategy and play smarter because they do not have the same strength. This is just as interesting to watch. Even though they do not have as much power, they are still powerful. They know when to use their power and when to be smart and play a different style of game. All Samo athletes should get the same opportunities and be supported equally, whether they are boys or girls. This starts with varsity cheerleaders going to all varsity home games, girls volleyball getting the same opportunities as the boys and all genders being promoted equally at school.