Are Women of Color Underrepresented in Sports?

by Mariah Sturdivant & Grace White

After the recent incident with the NCAA basketball tournament and the disparity between the men’s and women’s equipment. The men’s basketball teams were given an outstanding workout facility which included a huge weight room, while the women’s team was given a rack of dumbbells, yoga mats, and one stationary bike. It has become clear that women are finding it a lot harder to be seen in the sports world than men. After Ali Kershner, Stanford’s Sport Performance Coach released the video of the weight room situation, the NCAA team quickly changed that disparity. This isn’t just seen in athletes, but in athletic faculty

as well. In a 2019 College Racial and Gender Report card created by ESPN, there were three things being graded: hiring practices, gender hiring practices, and overall grade. The grades were B, C+, C+, respectively.

However, what is the comfortability with women of color in college sports? It is no secret that the majority of Valparaiso Students are Caucasian (70.9%). With only 9.3% being Hispanic, 5.5% being Black/African American, and the percentage of other ethnicities gradually declining. If there is a lack of representation at the school, then one can only imagine what it is when it comes to sports. It is hard being a person of color in a college sport and it is even harder to be a woman of color in sports.

One Valpo Initiative

The One Valpo pledge started in the summer of 2014 after the men’s soccer team

started being called racial slurs by their opposing teams. Mike Avery, the coach of the men’s soccer team, started to notice the mistreatment and wanted to create a diverse and welcoming environment for everyone. Earlier this year, Valparaiso University Athletic Department amplified the One Valpo Initiative. The initiative was to enforce equal treatment of all athletics no matter the ethnicity and it helps create a more welcoming environment in sports. In the beginning, it seems like the One Valpo initiative had a lot of potential, however, there has been some notice of the initiative dying down.

“The goal of this is not to be an issue,” says the Valparaiso women’s bowling coach who also agrees that the initiative is dying down. Shon Washington is a part-time coach, and he identifies as an African American male. “It seems as if the attention of the initiative has been drifted away”. This is not just affecting the coaching staff, but also the athletes as well.

Tyler Howard, an African American athlete and member of the women’s track and field team believes that the One Valpo initiative is losing its traction and needs to be refocused. “I think that it’s a great promise, but needs to do a better job at including people of different races”.

Valpo Athletics Diversity

Discussing if the Valpo Athletic programs are diverse it falls short with representation of people of color. Maya Dunson who identifies as an African American and is a member of the women’s basketball team states “I believe that my sport (basketball) is better and is getting there with more minorities on teams, but I do not believe other teams (other than football) and the athletics staff as a whole include enough minorities.” Out of the ten sports teams at Valparaiso University, only five of them have women of color on their team. There is a clear disparity of lacking women of color in these programs and there is little to no

representation of Hispanic, Latina, Asian, or Native Americans. “I wish there were more people that looked like me,” says Tyler when asked about Valpo’s diversity. At track meets Howard pointed out that there are a lot of African Americans on other teams, yet there are not many on Valpo’s team. It is clear that Valpo needs more work to show more representation of everyone. It is also very clear that some sports show representation while others struggle in some areas. In sports such as soccer, bowling, or swimming there is little representation of women of color at Valpo.

One main concern could be the fact that some women of color would be worried about acceptance in their program. Shon Washington recounted the fact that there used to be 1 African American on the bowling team and 5-6 Latinos. However, as the years went on the representation started to decrease.

Washington himself experienced racism when a bowler of his did not want to be on the team because of Washington’s skin color, “I would describe my experience as disheartening, confusing, and frustrating all wrapped into one. The program was set back several years because the team culture was just so toxic and no one was happy. Passive-aggressive racism is difficult to prove and while the administration did support me, I did feel it was up to me to just deal with the situation as no real solution would be reached,” Shon Washington described. “I have dealt with racism in athletic programs and coaches not liking me because of who I was, an Native Indian. I have always been so proud of who I was as an indigenous person, I do my very best to represent my tribe in the outside world. After coming to Valpo I have felt there was a change in treatment, but not of representation. I would love to see more Native athletes attend Valpo and create a more diversified community” says, Grace White a Native American on the Valpo women’s basketball team.

Treatment of Male vs Women in Sports

As mentioned before there has been a noticeable difference in treatment of women and men when you look at the NCCA tournament and the equipment teams were given. The NCCA received huge backlash for the clear unequal treatment and you can say lack of respect the women’s teams received when comparing it to the men's teams. The NCCA apologized, blaming the lack of space and the NCAA’s women’s basketball VP said, “The plan was to provide more space and equipment to teams that further advanced in the tournament.” Dunson also states, “... through media/fan base (women’s definitely does not get as many fans as men), and also through people not taking women’s sports as seriously as men’s and believe that it’s not the same toughness or difficulty as well.”

Change

Valparaiso’s Athletic programs push to add diversity to their programs as the university longs for a more diverse campus atmosphere. While the NCCA situation opened many eyes to the unequal treatment women teams receive, many think it was a momen

t for real change. The sports performance coach who works for the Stanford University women’s basketball team named Ali Kershner was the one who sparked the raging flame across the country. Ali made a tweet that went viral by posting a side-by-side picture of the men’s weight room and training area next to the women’s dumbbell rack and yoga mats. She writes, "In a year defined by a fight for equality, this is a chance to have a conversation and get better." While being asked if she felt comfortable with the support of the university, peers, etc., Lauren Gunn, a freshman on the women’s basketball team and identifies as A

frican American states, “Yes but I feel like there could be more steps taken like allowing us to kneel

during the pledge or having BLM gear.”

It is not that women on the sports team feel as if they are against the university, but they wish to have more representation and support. The coaching staff and faculty do their best to support their athletes of color. Michelle Pierce, a member of the Valpo Tr

ack team says she feels supported by her coach, and Valpo can “... address the problems that we face and not ignore them and brush things under the rug.”

As the world has various current issues involving facing racism, diversity exposure, and equality, lessons can be learned from every situation we face together.

Hope

“After four years of swimming at Valpo, I have seen somewhat of a more diverse program over the years, but not enough of it. I was not only the only woman of color on my team but the only person of color, in general, my whole four years. I think that if other women of color see each other thrive in their sport that will help them feel more accepted. That is

why I decided to swim all four years and not give up. I hope that in the future if another woman of color comes and wants to swim at Valpo, she’ll see my face on the past roster and it will show that if I can do it then she can do it,” says Mariah Sturdivant, a senior African American woman on the Valpo women’s swim team, “Swimming in a D1 sport is not easy, yet in the end, you will definitely feel more empowered and proud of yourself.”

“Underrepresentation of women of color in sports has always been an issue in my eyes, it is a beautiful thing to see more women of color joining sports teams, especially at the division one level. I am proud to bring diversity to our Valpo athletic programs with the background of coming from an Indian reservation. I hope more kids like me get the opportunity to do what I do. Focusing on the bright side, the numbers gradually increase in diversity for athletic programs, I was the first Native to play division one from my reservation, and I also don’t know another Native who participated on the women's basketball team here at Valpo, I would say things are heading in the right direction” says White.