College basketball!!! Change is being made and the women are getting what they deserve. Strictly because an athlete had shared photos and videos showing how they were being treated. “These women want and deserve to be given the same opportunities,” “In a year defined by a fight for equality this is a chance to have a conversation and get better,” Stanford Coach Ali Kershner tweeted, tagging the NCAA.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association, also known as the NCAA is under a negative hotspot as they receive criticism from all over the US. A viral video that was shared on social media by Sedona Prince, a woman on the University of Oregon basketball team, showing considerable disparities between the women’s and men’s weight rooms, swag bags, and food. Overall, the women’s basketball teams deserve to have the same treatment as the men, considering they are playing in the exact same tournament.
Prince’s video showed the women’s weight room with one single rack of twelve free weights while the men had access to a complete weight room filled with complete racks of dumbbells and adjustable benches. The NCAA began to receive a great amount of backlash from this incident. Later they released a statement saying the money wasn’t an issue, it was the space that was the problem. This is a problem because no matter what the issue was whether it being space or money both the men and the women deserve the exact same amount of dumbbells and the exact same set up to the men’s.
Considering the fact that it is 2021 and women are still having to speak out against what is wrong and demand equal treatment is astonishing. Prince chose to speak out and stand up for what she believes in. She said, “If you aren’t upset about this problem, then you’re a part of it.”
Not only were the differences in weight room’s a major controversy in the March Madness tournament, but swag bags were also an important part. Although having the experience of being able to play in March Madness is enough for some people, it still isn’t fair for everyone to not be receiving the same treatment. The men were given a great number of T-shirts, deodorant, hats, sunscreen, disinfectants, blankets, and much more while, on the other hand, the women were given a T-shirt, two water bottles and a few other miscellaneous items.
It is disgusting to sit back and watch women get treated unfairly because the NCAA thought it was going to slide by and nobody would speak up. Adding on to the weights and swag bags, there was also a difference in the food the men and women players were receiving. This is a drastic issue considering the food that players consume before and after their games affects their performance. Athletes take what they eat before and after games seriously.
Another viral post was made showing the controversy in the food. While the women were served broccoli, carrots, mashed potatoes, and some sort of meat in T.V dinner trays, the men had a great buffet, allowing them to pick what they wanted to eat whether that is meat, macaroni and cheese, vegetables and many other options. This was just another example of how the women playing the NCAA March Madness tournament received less than the bare minimum.
After all of these negative events were posted showing how poorly the women were treated compared to the men, the NCAA decided to make a change. The women were given a new weight room and more.
Even though it was nice to see the NCAA make a change and do what should have been done since the beginning of the tournament, it is greatly disappointing in today’s society that you still have to speak out against something to get what you deserve. No matter the situation, the event, the time, the place, no matter what is going on in the world, men and women deserve to be treated equally. Women and men are equal. We are all human, and it is time the NCAA learns from its mistakes and creates better situations for women in the upcoming years.