Funding Disparities in College Administration
The Fight for Equal Pay:
Under Title IX and the Equal Pay Act, female coaches have been arguing in court for decades on the unequal pay they receive compared to their male counterparts. In one prominent case, Stanley v. University of Southern California, Marianne Stanley, USC Women’s Basketball head coach, claimed that she was “entitled to receive the same pay as the men’s basketball coach [1].” She argued that both coaching positions (men's and women's teams) required the same skill, responsibility, and effort. At the time of the case, Stanley was named Pacific -10 Conference Coach of the Year and she led the team to more victories than the men’s team. However, Stanley lost the case because the judge argued that the USC women’s basketball program brought in $60,000, while the men’s generated 4.5 million [2].
The Ongoing Argument:
As seen in the case above, the ongoing argument on the disparites in coaches funding, pivots around the the funds that men's and women's team bring in. However, main stream media and homogenic masculintiy praise and show off men's sport achievments [3]. In order for women to gain equal pay, the funding provided to sports needs to equal. However, men’s sports ultimately bring in more revenue because that's what american television has taught us. There is a long journey in order to see the day when men and women’s sports receive the same funding, the coaches are paid the same and all is equal if American’s have less interest in female sports.
Scholars argue that the ways in which male and female athletes are covered by the media upgrade current genders hierarchies, defend sport as the preserve of men, and assert the masculine standards and ideals that are dominant around the board society. The manner in which female athletes form their own photographs and the representations are also part of the kit, along with the option of media producers, journalists and viewers to create and consume these pictures [4]. The fight for equal pay starts with the media because even after Title IX and the equal pays act women, like Marianne Stanley, lose the battle with their male counterparts.