Gender equity in sports: A work in progress - The Underground

The Penn State Student Affairs’ Gender Equity Center and the PSU All-Sports Museum held a panel to discuss gender equity in the sports world. It took place in Freeman Auditorium in the HUB on March 20 at 6:30 p.m.

The members of the panel included Coquese Washington (Women’s Basketball head coach), Erica Dambach (head coach of Penn State Women’s Soccer), Kristina Petersen (assistant director of Penn State athletic communications), and Amira Davis (history and women’s, sexuality, and gender studies assistant professor). The moderator was Jonna Belanger, an instructor of kinesiology and qualifier for the US Paralympic team.

Kristina Peterson explained that “people tend to see the men’s sport as the sport, the national sport.” Especially in the midst of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, it is rarely referred to as the “male” tournament. Davis confirms that “the tournament is male, and we have to put ‘women’s’ in front of it.”

Coquese Washington spoke about the expectations that lay upon female athletes. “There still is a sexualized perception from a media perception about what is beautiful. I do think the tide is turning a little bit where strong is beautiful.” She pointed to Serena Williams and how her exceptionally muscular build has helped show the world what “beautiful” women look like.

The night was not focused only on the lack of progress in the women’s sports world. Amira Davis was able to acknowledge that “the biggest labor battles that have been won have been in women’s athletics.” She pointed to the Penn State Women’s Hockey team and professional women’s soccer as some organizations which have been able to cause change for women in sports. Coquese Washington noted that “here at Penn State I think there is a camaraderie among coaches.”

The talk was centered around women in general, but there were several answers which focused just as strongly on minorities in traditionally white or “country club” sports like tennis and swimming.

Audience members were allowed to ask questions after the initial conversation. Six members of the audience stepped up to the microphone to speak with the panelists. One of the audience members was David Lucas, a national champion on the Penn State track and field team. He asked about scholarship distribution between male and female athletes in the same sports. The panelists spoke with him extensively about the complexities of Title IX and the difficulties of policy changes.

The panel ended with a discussion about college athletes being paid and how non-revenue sports would be affected by such a decision. Each of the panelists thanked the audience for their time and attentiveness.

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