The Charger Blog
Dr. Donna A. Lopiano, an advocate and national expert on gender equity in sport, says that despite decades of progress, the score is still not even when it comes to menӰԭs and womenӰԭs sports.
April 10, 2019
Jalynn Finnie Ӱԭ22 a member of the University of New HavenӰԭs , identified with many of the points that Dr. Donna A. Lopiano, an internationally recognized athletics administrator, made while addressing the University community.
"As a female student athlete, I knew that there was a gender gap," said Finnie, an international business major. "Dr. LopianoӰԭs talk helped me to realize how far we have come as a society, but that we still have a long way to go. Her talk was very inspiring."
"It is not enough to whine about something thatӰԭs not right Ӱԭ you have to change it."Dr. Donna A. Lopiano
As part of the Allen Sack Lecture Series Ӱԭ named in honor of the longtime-professor who founded the UniversityӰԭs sport management program Ӱԭ Lopiano, the former CEO of the WomenӰԭs Sports Foundation and the president and founder of the consulting firm Sports Management Resources, told her own story about how she was not allowed to play baseball as a child because she was a girl.
Suggesting that fear has been at the root of womenӰԭs exclusion from sports, Lopiano discussed societal beliefs that women were physiologically incapable of playing sports, and that female athletes would become "manly."
"It is not enough to whine about something thatӰԭs not right Ӱԭ you have to change it," said Lopiano. "It takes three generations Ӱԭ 60 years Ӱԭ to manage cultural change. It requires persistence over time."
"I think the bigger issue is that we need to address inequality by looking at how we talk about womenӰԭs sports as a whole."Najaya Royal Ӱԭ20
Calling for societal changes and more opportunities for high school students to play sports, Lopiano said that the mediaӰԭs coverage of womenӰԭs athletics must also change.
Najaya Royal Ӱԭ20, a communication major, agreed with her message.
"I wasnӰԭt surprised by what Dr. LopianoӰԭs said," said Royal. "We need to change many aspects of how we communicate, and we need more racial and gender representation in sports. I think the bigger issue is that we need to address inequality by looking at how we talk about womenӰԭs sports as a whole."
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