Our student body is predominantly composed of student-athletes. As a student-athlete myself in cross country and track, I believe most student-athletes care deeply about what they do with their sport. It will come naturally to be frustrated when the efforts of many female athletes go unrecognized. What many people refuse to understand is that many girls who are student-athletes, their efforts go unnoticed compared to those of boys. 

I realized the severity of this issue locally when I went to a basketball game during winter break. The boy’s game came first and then the girls; the second the boys game ended, almost a third of the stadium stood up to leave.  A student section that had a good 30 people in it was left to less than 10 students. Yes, there are scheduling conflicts that could occur, but it’s hard to believe that over a third of the people that were there for the boys game suddenly had to leave before the girls game started. I’m not saying we should prohibit people from leaving, but there’s a fine line between scheduling conflicts and leaving just because. In cross country and track, our spectators usually only consist of family and coaches, but I can’t even start to imagine how it would have felt to see a bunch of people leave before you were about to compete. 

This happens in all sports. The boys water polo team won three state championships and got an interview on the news, but the girls, who won five consecutive state championships, didn’t get a mention. The girls team’s accomplishments are often overshadowed by the boys teams. 

This is probably a result of implicit prejudice. Implicit prejudice is a negative attitude toward a specific group of people that's subconscious. When asked, most people would say ‘I wouldn’t treat boys and girls differently,’ but claiming it is all that’s happening. What’s most important when eliminating implicit prejudice is being aware of the situation and the actions that follow. 

When people are repeatedly leaving girl student athletes in the dust, we must all have awareness to eliminate the subconscious sexism going on.