The battle for gender equality within collegiate sports has come a long way from the days of an entirely male-dominated sporting spectrum. However, like any social issue, progress can be halted by a single comment.
“Sports has lost its way, and part of the reason is that we’ve got women giving us directions,” former KNBR radio host Damon Bruce said while discussing the University of Miami hazing controversy during a segment of his radio show. “For some of you, this is going to come across as… very misogynistic. I don’t care because I’m very right. I’m very, very right.”
Bruce continued his outburst adding, “I’m willing to share my sandbox as long as you remember: you’re in my box.”
Bruce said that in November of 2013. Yes, 2013. Woman have had their right to vote recognized for 94 years, but to some, like Bruce, women have not quite achieved the right to participate in sports. Women can participate in sports, as long as they remember; they are in a man’s world.
Forty-two years ago, Congress made a move to correct that very sentiment with the Education Amendments of 1972. Included in the landmark legislation was Title IX, prohibiting exclusion based on gender in any educational program and activity. The impact created by Title IX has been huge in the world of sports, but its work is far from over. Female participation in athletics has come a long way, but misogynistic culture still is very much a staple within sports.
“What it does, what gender inequality does, is it makes you feel inferior and for no apparent reason,” said Julie Manning, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Sports Administration and Senior Woman Administrator for Wyoming Athletics. “It makes you go back and question and perhaps doubt yourself like, ‘Well, if this is how it is, then maybe society doesn’t think we are as good of athletes.’”
Manning, a former collegiate golfer turner 20-year-head coach at Iowa State, came to work at Wyoming this January after a nine-year administrative career at the University of Colorado Boulder. In Colorado, she spent most of her time striving to create and preserve opportunities for women in athletics, including the creation of CU’s first female lacrosse team.
Although the fight for equality is ongoing, the progress made since 1972 is undeniable. According to the NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report, the number of female collegiate athletes participating in Division I sports has increased from 31,686 in 1981 to 81, 829 in 2013. Although participation has dramatically increased, men still account for the majority of Division I athletes at 56.5 percent.
So how does Wyoming fare against the national average?
“I knew that this athletics department and this university was run in a very equitable fashion, in fact I would call it extraordinary,” Manning said. “On the outside, if you didn’t do your research you would probably think, ‘Wow, that looks like a good, ol’ boys’ club.’ It’s not until you get in that you realize these male administrators have done a tremendous job of making sure the female student athlete is treated equitable.”
At 57.3 percent, Wyoming’s percentage of male athletes is slightly above the national average of 56.5 percent, suggesting that Wyoming makes equity a fundamental pillar within the athletics department. With eight women’s sports – and totaling 162 women athletes – Wyoming is a leader in the gender equality arena.
“It’s been tremendous, as far as the support we get,” said Josey Stender, head coach for the Cowgirl golf team. “Everything has really evolved; what we have here, we’re second to no one.”
Stender, the only female head coach at Wyoming, has been instrumental in making a name for Cowgirl golf. The 1999 Rocky Mountain PGA Female Amateur Golfer of the Year has spent a majority of her life in the notoriously male dominant world of golf.
“I was brought up with the evolution of the game, I would definitely say I am kind of a Title IX baby,” she said. “I was one of the first generations that truly benefited from a lot of the changes and support towards women’s athletics.”
“But, on the other hand,” she continued, “growing up in a male-dominant sport, that has definitely changed. I have recruited girls that still, to this day, do not play on girls’ team – they play on boys’ teams.”
Golf has been one of the highest-added female sports since Title IX, adding 30 teams in 2013. Along with women’s golf, basketball is one of the flagship sports in women’s athletics. Basketball currently leads the pack in women’s teams with 1,090 Division I teams.
Cowgirl basketball is a staple in Wyoming athletics, transitioning from a largely unknown team to one of the most successful programs in the school’s history. The program prides itself on bringing people together through the love of basketball, regardless of the players’ gender. The Cowgirls serve as an example of how little the difference between men and women matters in Wyoming athletics.
“I think women’s basketball is a very visible sport.,” said Cowgirl head coach Joe Legerski. “Nationally, I do feel a responsibility to make sure we represent this institution, that we represent ourselves in a very positive manner. The responsibility just goes hand in hand.”
“I take a look at it, we have a number of sports that women can compete in,” he added. “I’ve been here 11 years and I think that speaks volumes of how I believe the University of Wyoming treats me and my program and that’s very important.”
The Cowgirl basketball team embodies a core value within the world of sports, a value that is often overlooked: sports should bring people together, not divide them. A quintessential aspect of sports is it has the ability to form bonds between people that would not otherwise exist; it gives people the opportunity to appreciate something that has nothing to do with gender, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation and everything to do with talent and skill. Sports demonstrate how people are alike, not how people are different.
“I think it’s important that we’re the University of Wyoming and the relationships that are built on campus, as I view it, is that we are the University of Wyoming and that is very important to me,” Legerski said. “When you go to a sporting event you see how important it is with the bonding that goes on between families. It’s a gathering place and it’s a celebrating place.”
Women may still be discriminated against and discouraged from participating in athletics, an idea harshly highlighted by Bruce’s comments. The fight for gender equality is far from over and the industry still has a long way to go. But is that not one of the greatest aspects to sports, the constant ability to do better and strive for perfection?
“I’m sure a young woman coming out of high school right now, you think that you have the opportunity to pursue what you want and be treated fairly,” Manning said. “But the fight is always going on, you can never back down from that despite the fact that it’s (Title IX) has been in existence for a little over 40 years. You can’t rest.”
