Jason Gouin
2/13/18
Ethics in sport
Professor Condon
Since the creation of Title IX, most issues have been fixed but there are many more issues in the sports industry that need to be looked at.
Looking back and reading about the past you really have learned a lot about the culture and atmosphere of female athletes and coaches in the past. With many female athletes being looked down to many of the male athletes, women always had to compete at a lower or more safer level as male athletes. Throughout our lives women have always been viewed as weaker and less athletic as male athletes. Why is this? In the past nobody really viewed athletes with gender equality, they saw people just as athletes. You look aback how things were with female athletes in the best, they really were viewed different and never got the same opportunities as male athletes. From uniforms to playing fields, women sports always came second sitting below male sports. Nobody saw females as athletes. Athletes were always considered to be male dominant. Even in coach, in the past there were barely any female coach. Why is this? This is because nobody could get their head around the whole ideas that females can coach and have the same amount of knowledge as male athletes. Its crazy looking back how females stayed busy in the past with their activities and sports compared to today's society. It also amazes me how even in today's society, in order for a female coach to get a professional coaching job at pro level or college level they have to fight for this job a lot more than males do. It all starts with gender equality and how males are viewed more superior than females.
Now in today's society Title IX is impacting female sports in many ways . Now in sports they are trying to equal pay but still haven’t, they are evening the amount of female and male sports in the college level, equal playing fields and facilities, and jerseys and equipment. These little things are the building blocks of Title IX that we need to start at. Even though there are still many female athletes upset over certain things, there are still many big key ideas in Title IX that have to improve. The biggest key to equality in women sports are the salaries. “Consider salaries alone. The average salary for a WNBA player is $72,000, which doesn't include bonuses and benefits, while the average salary for an NBA player is around $5 million, or about 70 times what the average female basketball player makes”. (The real March Madness: When will women's teams get equal buzz?2016) With huge salary difference like this happening, this is why pro female athletes should be upset. Women are fighting to keep the sports industry equal between male and female athletes. Lots have improved over the years, but much more can change. “Look at the differences in coverage. The Final Four teams for the men's NCAA basketball tournament got front page attention in Monday's New York Times. The women? A story without a photo deep in the sports section”. (The real March Madness: When will women's teams get equal buzz?2016). Women should deserve the same amount of publicity as the men do. If the men’s team can have a front page picture, how does it make sense to put the women’s picture in the back page. One problem is women sports do not get the same amount of views and attention as men’s sports do. Once football season hits, all sports viewer’s eyes are on football. “Hogshead-Makar, who is chief executive officer of the advocacy group Champion Women, said even though Title IX requires that women get the same access to media and support that men get, it's not happening”. (The real March Madness: When will women's teams get equal buzz?2016). Its shows that Title IX requires them to have the same equal access but its still not happening. This is a huge problem and is a big factor to why the viewing of male and female sports aren’t the same. It's amazing how you can go watch TV and go through every sport channel and you won't find one female sports games live. It's sad to see how the can’t have publicity on fishing and not on a single female sport. In recent cases publicity went crazy when the women U.S soccer team is filling two cases. Right after the world cup, the U.S women’s national soccer team decided to start to take actions into their own hands. “The women are making two different appeals, one aimed at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where the case was filed, and one aimed at the public. One argument is economic and grounded in employment law. The other is about social justice. The reason they went public, their lawyer, Jeffrey Kessler, told me, is that they feel an obligation to speak for women in the workplace. “It’s about doing the right thing, the fair thing,” Lloyd wrote in an Op-Ed for the New York Times. “It’s about treating people the way they deserve to be treated, no matter their gender.” The implicit assumption is that those two arguments are inseparable—in the women’s formulation, equal pay for equal play. Money is respect”. I think this is showing to the public that even in professional sports, there are still problems between the equality of men and women in sports. Yes Title IX has helped fix some of the equality between men and women in sports but could you say it's getting worse if now the U.S. national team is taking action ? I personally think this is really sending a strong message to head officials that changes need to be made before protest start to occur. If players go through so much of the pain do you think coaches struggle just as much?
· Not just players are going through the same struggles at this moment. Coaches are going through just amount of the same stress and fight just like players are. In the coaching industry women coaches have to fight in order to coach. They are overlooked by male coaches. In job positions, males over look the female candidates due to the fact people assume that males are smarter than females and know a lot more information. “In 1972, when the gender equity law known as Title IX was enacted, women were head coaches of more than 90 percent of women’s college teams across two dozen sports. Now that number has decreased to about 40 percent”. (Number of Women Coaching in College Has Plummeted in Title IX Era,2017).This statement is honestly really sad to hear. Its crazy how numbers of female coaches go down due to the Title IX act. If anything it should help bring the number up so women get the same equal job opportunity as women due. Maybe it's because once Title IX law was passed, male coaches began to take that opportunity and began coaching. You have to look at how successful many male and female coaches are. They mention” I want to think sexism is too simple of an answer, but what is it if it’s not that?” said VanDerveer, the only woman besides Pat Summit to have won 1,000 career games in Division I. “Anytime someone hires a male coach and says, ‘Coaching is coaching,’ well, why aren’t more women in men’s basketball?” (Number of Women Coaching in College Has Plummeted in Title IX Era,2017). She has a very strong point. What is the problem then? Why aren’t more female coaches? These coaches start at the bottom of the chain and have to prove they are worth to coach at the elite level. One coach the stands out the most is coach Pat Summitt. Pat Summitt had two style approaches to the game and her coaching position that really impacted her as a person and a coach. Pat had one of the best approaches for a coach and has a approach most coaches should. For Pat her approach is to make everyone feel like they are family. You win and lose games as one. She wants the players to be there for one another and she wants the athletes to know how she cares for the athlete’s skills to get better and she cares about them in and out of the court. She wants to bring her team together as one. (Sum It Up). I have to agree with her coaching approach. Pat isn’t one of the coaches that wants to show her power over her team and players. Pat wants to show she is there for her players at the same levels as them. At this approach she allows the players and herself to work together to achieve at the highest level. If she showed her power on top, some may have different views on her. Pat Summit is one of the best elite female coaches in coaching history. She has proven to the sports and coaching industry that no matter who you are or gender you are, you can always achieve your goal. Throughout the coaching industry, Summit has proven that a female coach can go out there and fight for a job. Summit isn’t the only one who proved coaches wrong but also Becky Hammon has shocked the world. Becky Hammon was hired to be the first assistant female NBA basketball coach for the San Antonio Spurs. Hammon is a big supporter in helping women fight the be coaches. Hammon states "I've heard every reason why I shouldn't be successful. My story is the story of someone who was overlooked, someone who was told they can't: 'You're too slow. You're too short.’’ (espnw | December 2014). Hammon fought her way from player to coach. She out performed her opponents on the court in college where she then went on to play in the WNBA. Hammon wants to be the best coach possible. She said “All I want to do right now is try and train to be the best coach possible. I can't open doors that aren't open. But if a door opens, I would be happy to walk through. Somebody else is going to also have to take the approach, and take a chance because it has never been done” (Hammon, a Spur who's a trailblazer | august 2014). Hammon is one of the final big steps to help make sports equal. After winning Wimbledon and an Olympic gold medal, tennis star Andy Murray parted ways with his coach Ivan Lendl. The fact that the Scot opted to become the first top male tennis pro to hire a female coach in Amelie Mauresmo was not a surprise to his followers. "I found that, you know, with my mom especially, that she listened extremely well, and that was something that I felt right now that I needed," Murray said” (She's the boss: Is the future of coaching female?,2015). This helps set the tone for women coaches and athletes. In “Dare To Compete”, this story of the journey of Title IX really made a impact. We learned all about the struggles women faced in the past. Uniforms, playing fields, and rules weren’t equal. Women were viewed below men and looked at as non athletes. Dare To Compete really showed and set a timeline how equality in men’s and women’s athletics have changed over the years. Even though things have changed, there are a lot more rules and laws that need to be looked at.
From past to present, the sports industry is improving as the day goes on. Will everything ever be perfect? Who knows, but we can sure help to improve this sports society. From coaching to salary, Title IX has helped improve new opportunities for female athletes and coaches. The steps keep on building. There will always be things to fix. As you can see Becky Hammon wanted to open the door for female coaches, Ronda Roussey wanted to open the door for females to fight and be competitive.
References:
· Bishara, M. (2015, August 20). She's the boss: Is the future of coaching female? Retrieved February 13th, 2018, from http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/20/sport/female-coaches/
· Longman, J. (2017, March 30). Number of Women Coaching in College Has Plummeted in Title IX Era. Retrieved February 13th, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/sports/ncaabasketball/coaches-women-title-ix.html
· Thomas, L. (2016, July 25). Equal Pay for Equal Play: The Case for the Women's Soccer Team. Retrieved February 13th, 2018, from http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-case-for-equal-pay-in-womens-sports
· Wallace, K. (2016, March 14). The real March Madness: When will women's teams get equal buzz? Retrieved February 13th, 2018, from http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/30/living/feat-march-madness-womens-sports-attention-money-men/
