Benefits of the WNBA

Benefits of the WNBA

Although Title IX states than, "no person in the United States, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to any discrimination..." it does not guarantee that people will carry this out. After the issuing of Title IX, many women in sports wished to step forward and be recognized. Part of the recognition they wanted was to be included in National Sports Associations like the men's National Basketball Association. Eventually their cries were heard, and sports associations like the NBA agreed to merge and include women. Becoming included was an eye opening experience to many of these women and they have faced (and still do) doubts and discrimination from the public, but along the way they have also reaped benefits they would not have if the merger had never taken place.

Title IX was the stepping-stone for mergers and sports, but immediately after the merging took place, women were fully discriminated against. When men and women's sports combined, it opened new administrative positions for women, but what these women found were that they were constantly being pushed down to the bottom of the pile, to the least authoritative positions. Men were the head coaches, and the head of the physical education departments Men organized the teams schedule for the season and organized practice hours. Also, "male sexist attitudes ensured that male rather than female athletic directors and heads of physical education departments were almost automatically appointed to direct merged departments" (Hult p.96) This male over female preference continued right up to today. As of 1992 there are more men in administrative sports positions than women.

Women have been playing basketball for over a century before the Women's National Basketball Association came into existence. It was here at Smith College where many women got their first taste of the game. Women were described as having a "masculine performance style... rough and vicious play... worse than in men" (Hult 86). This aggressive playing style had to be modified because the violence and rough-housing that was going on were becoming intolerable. Eventually the Official Women's Basketball Rules were modified in that there was no dribbling allowed on the court at all, players were not allowed to make physical contact with each other and women were not allowed to grab the ball out of another women's hands.

Of course over the next century the game evolved, but women's basketball seemed to be submerged under men's basketball.