What the heck is Monika doing?

 Hello, I'm Monika. 

I'm a 22 year old senior at the University of Iowa who happens to play basketball...and that basketball team happens to be pretty good. Now I know what you're probably thinking: What the heck is Monika doing? Truth be told I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing, but I was presented with a unique opportunity to try and make my voice heard. This semester I'm taking an independent study and choosing to make a blog with the purpose of answering the question: Is Equality Being Enforced in the 2022 NCAA women's basketball tournament? 

Just about everyone knows about the injustices that happened at the 2021 tournament in San Antonio. Pictures of the weight room blew up on social media but that was just the tip of the iceberg. The law firm of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP created a report including recommendations for the NCAA. I'll link that report below in case you're interested. Having lived through it though, there are several inequalities that stood out to me:

• Swag Bags
• Weight Room
• Food Disparities 

• Outdoor Spaces

• Signage and Branding 

• Final 4 Concert

• Photo Posting 

• March Madness name and logo

• First Year it was nationally televised 

• COVID-19 Testing Disparities 

• Planning the Tournament

With some of these, like outdoor spaces and COVID-19 testing disparities, it's virtually impossible to fully gauge if progress has been made due to the unique situation of having the tournament during the height of the pandemic. With everything else though noticeable change should be made. Who better to document that change than me? My hope with this blog is to compare our situation last year to this year and *fingers crossed* document the real change that peer pressure from the world caused. 

Link to the report: https://ncaagenderequityreview.com