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Social media can sometimes be powerful if you use it properly, a video started trending when Sedona Prince a 20 year old basketball player posted about the NCAA sexism. She compared her weight room to that of the men’s weight room in a video which was posted on TikTok on Thursday 18 March.
Sedona Prince' TikTok video shows lack of equipment in women's weight room
She started her video with;
“I got something to show ya’ll,” she said before explaining: “So for the NCAA march madness, the biggest tournament in college basketball for women, this is our weight room.”
Then, she showed a small stack of weights before saying “let me show ya’ll the men’s weight room” and showed a huge selection of different equipment.
“Now when pictures of our weight room got released vs the mens, the NCAA came out with a statement saying that is wasn’t money, it was space that was the problem,” she continued, except she then showed a huge practice court room that can be filled with the weights.
She finished the video with;
“if you aren’t upset about this problem then you are a part of it” and captioned the video: “It’s 2021 and we are still fighting for bits and pieces of equality.”
Twitter reacts asking NCAA to provide the women with equipment
The video was seen by millions and counting. Even Stephen Curry reposted the video on Twitter with the caption;
“wow-come on now! @marchmadness @NCAA yall trippin trippin.”
Seems like his tweet along with everyone else’s had an impact. She later post another video on TikTok which was shared with a room full of equipment.
A new TikTok shows Sedona Prince gets a new weight room
“Guess what guys we got a weight room” she says.
“We got a ton more dumbbells” she says while showing the equipment, “look at all these racks for squats” and “bunch of bands”.
She ends the video by the thanking the NCAA for listening to them.
Last year the US women's soccer team complained about gender discrimination
This isn’t the first time gender discrimination has been an issue in the sports industry. In 2019, all 28 players on the US women’s soccer team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit.
The players have said that they play more games than the men’s team — and win more of them — yet still receive less pay. They said “institutionalized gender discrimination” affected not only their paychecks, but also where they played and how often, how they trained, the medical care and coaching they received, and even how they traveled to matches.
In 1960s women were told they could not compete in the long distance running because its damaging to their health
Historically women not being allowed to take part in sports has primarily been due to some thinking that it could be damaging to their health. In the 1960s women were not allowed to take part in distance running. So Katherine Switzer entered the Boston Marathon as “KV Switzer” to hide her gender, two miles in and she was ejected from her course but she finished the race anyway.
She later went on to say,
“We learned that women are not deficient in endurance and stamina, and that running requires no fancy facilities or equipment,” in the new York times in 2007.
In 1967 women's rowing team had to strip to get locker rooms
Media has also been used by many in the past to raise awareness. In 1976 Chris Ernst an Olympic rower was sick of nor having proper showers to use after practice. So she and her female team members stripped to their waists, revealing the words “Title IX,” which had been drawn in blue marker on each woman’s back and breasts.
The Times ran an article in the next day’s paper, and a photograph of the history-making event also ran in The Yale Daily News.
Within two weeks the female rowers had new locker rooms.
Venus Williams had to fight for equal pay in 2007
It has taken years for female athlethes to fight for what they believe is right, Venus Williams fought for equal pay and it wasn’t until 2007 when policies changed to have an impact.
In 2017 the women's hockey team had to threaten to boycott the game for equal pay
In 2017, women’s hockey team had to announce that they will boycott the coming world championship if U.S.A. Hockey, the sport’s national governing body, did not increase the women’s wages. Thankfully it paid off.
The sports industry is a long way off equality
In basketball the pay disparaties have been an ongoing debate for years and social media is becoming an increasingly important part of raising awareness and making change. Where women waited years to be heard this can happen more quickly with social media but the fight is not yet over. Tell us what you think.
