Business model powers gender inequity in NCAA

In the daily news scrum, you may have missed two lengthy reports released the week of Aug. 2. Both pertain to how women are (still ) treated inequitably.

One dominated the headlines since it prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign after results were released from an investigation into harassment allegations by several colleagues and subordinates.

Buried behind that front-page story was a less publicized release, this one with roots in San Antonio. The report on discrimination against female college athletes was in response to the hoopla around the NCAA women’s Division I basketball championship hosted here in March.

I don’t have the time, or stomach, to read the 165 pages in the report on Cuomo’s behavior around women. But as a former college athlete who volunteered for the local event, the second one got most of my attention. I have scanned some of the 114 pages of the findings on the NCAA, since it is relevant to a history book I am drafting, and is in direct response to the happenings at our Convention Center last spring.

The External Gender Equity Review was commissioned by the NCAA after a female Oregon player posted a damning video comparing weight rooms provided for the men’s tournament in Indianapolis to the women’s event here in town. After their initial denials, negative backlash compelled NCAA leaders to request an independent review, even while tournament games were still being played. They contracted with a female-led New York law firm, which conducted more than 150 interviews and listening sessions and reviewed thousands of pages of internal documents.

One thing I found interesting in the executive summary was a reference to a report I’ve used in my own research: an NCAA study released on the 20th anniversary of Title IX. Using that 1992 report as a guidepost, the authors wrote, “Would the student-athletes participating in the women’s basketball championship accept as fair and equitable their championship as compared to the championship that the NCAA currently administers for the men? As explained further below, the answer to that question is clearly ‘no.’ ” However, the writers were careful to add that “equitable” does not mean “identical,” and that male and female sports must still keep intact the unique nature of their sports.

Another finding was that the organizers for the men’s tournament were alerted to the NCAA’s COVID-19 plans well in advance of the hosts for the women’s event. Jenny Carnes and her San Antonio Sports team had only five weeks after the delayed announcement to prepare hotels and arenas for 64 teams and more than 2,000 people. How she adeptly handled that handicap further validates the ExpressNews honoring Carnes as 2021 Sportswoman of the Year.

After viewing those hectic three weeks in March, I found one term in the study most revealing. According to the report, the problem of discrimination is “systemic.” Not only did the NCAA treat male and female athletes differently, but its fundamental business model created this disparity. These systems must be changed if the NCAA is sincere about gender equity.

I did find some curious similarities in these two reports. First, they both address long-term issues that haven’t been solved by legislation (like Title IX in 1972) or movements (like women’s rights, #MeToo or Time’s Up.)

And, in both cases, the male leaders under fire were forced to make public calls to find “the truth,” and both assigned that task to females. The New York investigation was led by Attorney General Letitia James. The NCAA enlisted lawyer Roberta Kaplan, co-founder of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund that supports women experiencing discrimination in the workplace. (Interesting historical tidbit: the first time courts considered workplace harassment as grounds for legal action was in 1977, and only in 1980 did the EEOC recognize it as a form of workplace discrimination.)

Ironically, Kaplan was involved in both controversies. While her perceived hypocrisy in defending Cuomo’s actions resulted in her stepping down from the Time’s Up leadership team, her firm continues to work on the NCAA report.

Maybe this is progress for women’s sports? We won’t know until we see how these recommendations are received and addressed by the NCAA, but it’s another incremental step in a long journey.

I noted that some of the area female high-school athletes recently profiled in the ExpressNewsare committed to Division I programs, like those highlighted in the NCAA report. Here’s hoping they will be performing on a much more level playing field.

Carmen Mandato / Getty Images The NCAA report was sparked by a women’s basketball player who spotlighted the paltry women’s weight room at the NCAA Women’s basketball tournament in San Antonio this year.