THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED VERSION.Editorials/Our opinions - OUR VIEWS
How far our educational society has come, yet how far it still has to travel. Things are far better for female student athletes in colleges and high schools than they once were. There are many more opportunities today than there were in the not-so-bygone days when female students were limited in their athletic endeavors to cheerleading and a smattering of other sports.
Recently discovered sensitivities prodded by federal laws mandating equal opportunity led to the creation of teams in basketball, softball, swimming, track and other sports for women. Most schools provide an equal - or at least close to equal - number of athletic opportunities for women as for men. A few even provide more.
There are still inequities, to be sure. In Gary, the third largest school system in the state, two high schools offer just three sports for girls. Three high schools offer four sports for girls. All five Gary high schools offer nine sports for boys.
The problem is a simple one - money. Sports cost money and the Gary Community School Corporation doesn't have money growing on trees. Neither do any of the other school systems with this gender inequity.
But lack of money is no excuse. And sports are more than a matter of money. They are a matter of school pride, self esteem for the participants and plain fun. Students deserve equal access to all those things no matter what their gender.
While the schools are examining the equality of their athletic spending, the governing board that oversees high school athletics for all of Indiana must do the same. The Indiana High School Athletic Association has 389 high school members and no women on its governing board.
The members are elected by high school principals - an overwhelmingly male group. But the gender of the high school principals shouldn't matter. The days of second class citizenship are over on most playing fields and ball courts. They need to end on the governing council of the IHSAA, too. OUR OPINION
Women deserve better treatment in athletics.
