Campus Reflects on Gender Equity in Athletics
By: Erin Chen, Anvi Bhate, Phin Gibbs
Over the last decade, inequities between the treatment of girls’ and boys’ sports, as well as gender non-conforming students’ athletics, have come to the attention of the Athletics Department. As a result, the Athletics Department has implemented changes to all facets of the sports program such as scheduling, infrastructure, and uniforms, to make it a more equal playing field for all genders.
One of the Athletics Department’s biggest efforts made to bridge the inequity in sports among the different genders was rearranging the scheduling and amounts of games for each team. Director of Athletics and Physical Education Jason Baseden spoke about their responsibility to get all gender sports in an “equal setting” before moving forward, and the different ways in which they have begun to do that.
“Whenever we could, we tried to showcase some of the girls’ programs on Friday Night Light,” Baseden said. “75% percent of our Friday Night Games have been girls’ games, because one way there are inequities in athletics is because of the discrepancies in spectators at boy’s events and spectators at girls events.”
Baseden continued to emphasize how important it is to make sure one gender does not take up all the most popular and most watched game times.
“It's really the scheduling, as well as trying to make sure that the boys teams aren't always in the prime time space,” Baseden continued. “We’ve tried to adapt to that and make sure that there is, at a minimum, equal time in who’s playing in the prime time spaces for games.”
This policy also extended to Exeter/Andover games, and the way the timings for those games were organized. “We adapted Exeter/Andover day this fall so that every team had a full hour where they were the only team competing,” Baseden added. “All of the games had record numbers.”
Still, Baseden recognized that there were still long ways to go, especially in terms of the discrepancies between audiences that appear at different types of games. “It’s disappointing for me to see that we have a school of 1,500 students, and only on a couple of occasions are there more than say 50 students at a game,” Baseden commented. “Sometimes you’d think we might have some students coming out to support, especially the girls’ sports programs.”
“I’d also like to see more faculty at the games. It seems to be the same few faculty already going to the games,” Baseden mentioned.
Girls’ varsity basketball coach Katie Brule echoed similar sentiments, adding that there were also large discrepancies in the amounts of supplies and gear provided to different gendered teams. Describing what she heard from students when she first got to the Academy, Brule said, “the boys' sports got more spectators and they tended to get more gear supplied for them. They have slightly more access to things or slightly more campus culture around their events.”
Additionally, one of the major shifts the faculty and coaches had to carry out was a change in the infrastructure of the athletic facilities, from a very male-centered sports block. This was a result of the Academy being a single-gender school when many of these buildings were originally built, causing difficulties to the incorporation of girls’ athletics.
“Anything we try to do to the athletics complex to adapt these things, the nature of the building, being concrete, comes with more challenges…we’ve got work to do, our coaching staff and athletic department staff, are making changes there as well so it’s both on the human as well as the physical side,” commented Brule on the discrepancies between the girls’ and boys’ basketball locker rooms.
“The current situation is that the boys’ locker room is attached to Love Gym, and ours is on the other side attached to the main girls locker room.”
Varsity girls’ basketball and lacrosse player and senior Ana Casey vocalized the poor conditions of their team room. “When we saw our team room in preseason, it was not usable. There were no benches, there were no cubbies and there was trash on the floor,” Casey described. “Although there are plans to create a new locker room which will be attached to the gym, the current situation is evidence of current inequities in the basketball program.”
Moreover, over the past few years, the athletic department has transitioned towards changing scheduling and facilities to support transgender or non-binary students, including creating all-gender bathrooms. “We support whatever anybody identifies with and we are going to support them in whatever way, shape, or form they need their support,” Baseden explained.
“We want to make sure that we answer anybody’s call in those areas. Right now we feel like we’re doing it but if we’re not, we want to know so we can make sure to correct that as soon as possible.”
Another aspect of athletics that’s previously been inequitable in terms of gender expression is the athletic uniforms. Girls’ field hockey player and prep Beatrix Prairie commented on the ways certain items of athletic clothing can feel invalidating for many students who don’t identify with certain gender expressions. “Many people, including girls, do not feel comfortable wearing skirts and often skirts make game play more difficult. Having uniforms with skirts promotes stereotypes and can drive away certain members of the community, specifically trans, nonbinary and gender non-conforming students, from joining these teams,” Prairie said.
Field hockey and squash coach Mercy Carbonell added on, speaking about how the uniform for some sports has traditionally been. “I am concerned about the fact that in two of the sports I coach, field hockey and squash, the uniform registers as a traditionally or historically CisHet feminine gig: a skirt,” Carbonell commented. “I would hope we might shift that. In lacrosse we did so. Easily.”
Additionally, feeling accepted into a team is a crucial aspect of being a student athlete. In team sports where communication is present at all times, acceptance and inclusion can make or break this experience for students and deter them from sports in the future.
Baseden shared, “a lot of people think it’s just about wins and losses. It’s absolutely not that. This is all about developing life skills and relationships.” So in this day and age where many students do identify as queer, are we at the level where these athletic spaces are open to all? It’s important that the whole community makes an effort as well to educate themselves and take action to create safe environments. This responsibility should not rely on queer athletes alone to step up. Carbonell adds, “I am concerned about the messaging on all sports teams: how many athletes identify as queer & feel they can be out & open on their teams? What is not allowing for that openness? What would we need to alter in crucial ways to allow for athletes on all teams to feel they can be their most authentic selves?”
Brule takes this into her own hands as a coach by working towards an inclusive community on the basketball team. “In the language, we don't we don't say “go guard your girl” like it’s “go guard your player.” Very, very small little language changes are super easy,” she said. All teams can use the same mindset, to take small steps in improving their community.
Any student can voice their concerns so the Academy can continue to improve. The Athletics Department works to solve any issues brought to them, but they can’t accomplish this when they have none brought to them. Brule and Casey encourage people to reach out to our Athletics Department who listened to their concerns about the basketball teams’ locker room. Baseden opens his doors to communicate with all student athletes. “To be honest what’s really helpful is when we hear from [them], because the world that you live in is a little bit different from the world we [The Athletics Department] live in,” Baseden said.
Some student leaders are taking action to voice how they feel on this cause. Captain’s Counsel was created by the athletic department to teach leadership skills to team captains. After the first meeting, a few girls’ team captains reached out to talk to the athletic faculty separately. They informed the athletic department of the student athlete perspective, including topics such as the sexual misconduct culture in athletics.
“I also think myself and a lot of other girls captains on campus through Captains’ Council, and just, in general, have been advocating for girls or women sports a lot more,” senior Ana Casey, captain of the basketball team, said.
Both sides of this partnership have been able to benefit from this information. Since this meeting, the athletic department has taken steps such as rebuilding the girls’ basketball room and making sure that the girls’ teams playing time is just as equal as the boys’ teams.
“They’ve been a huge asset to us, helping us understand their experience and pointing out areas of inequity,” Baseden said.
Athletes are taking the initiative to bring these conversations to the rest of the Exeter community. Many students around campus aren’t aware of the many inequities many genders face through athletics. “I think there’s a lot of education to be done on equity in sports. Around campus, I’ve tried to hold conversations with some kids on the guys' versions of teams and it's very frustrating when they don't necessarily understand what we have to go to. And I’m not saying that they have to understand, but I don't think they appreciate how they have it versus how we have it, ” upper Sami Smith adds.
Outreach has been helpful in every way. Students and the Athletics Department have taken to social media with Instagram accounts like @bigredzone_ and @exeterathletics. These accounts update with game times and hype up games before they happen. “It’s been better this year, I think Big Red Zone has been a big part of that,” Casey said. Following these accounts are a great way to remember to attend games and support student athletes.
Coaches are also working to fix some of the lesser talked about root problems in game attendance. The amount of recruits and post-graduates that play on the girls’ teams are significantly less than the ones on the boys’ teams. This can contribute to how many attendees show at games, as Brule said, “the boys’ program is historically very successful and they are very competitive. They have boys going to play at the collegiate level every year and going to play at high collegiate programs. We don't have that same established access right now.” While this is an issue that reaches outside of the Academy’s control, we do have power over certain parts of it. How can we make prospective and current students feel more supported in athletic spaces? “If you're a current twelfth grader or thinking about taking a PG year, and looking at Exeter and you're seeing for PGs there’s only two female-identifying people in that class year, you would probably be like, ‘Oh, maybe not. Maybe I won’t do that,’” Brule added.
Some students believe that the cause of lower numbers at girls’ games is sexism. Smith said, “all of the players have an agreement that we’re just as good as the guys’ [team] and we work just as hard and we have to go through a lot of the things that guys don't have to go through.”
When an article came out in The Exonian in 2006 about this same issue, the female-identifying students did not all feel the same way, almost accepting the fact that they weren’t as competitive as the boys’ teams.
Much has changed since 2006. Casey emphasized, “we want people to show up for games and we want non-athletes, which means that we also have to show up to other types of events. We all want a closer Exeter where we have a good team spirit.”
