Commentary on Pacific Gives and the gender gap in athletics.
Disclaimer: This is not an attack on our school, faculty, or student body, but a call for change. This article is based on the writer’s personal experiences and observations, and may not reflect the experiences of all.
As the only sports writer for The Pacifican, I’ve attended nearly every home game, men’s and women’s, and I can say this with confidence: women’s sports are consistently overlooked, undervalued, and under-supported at the University of the Pacific.
I love covering basketball, a sport I know deeply from both coaching and being a lifelong fan, and Pacific’s recent athletic season revealed the disparity bare. The women’s basketball team opened at home with an impressive crowd of 2,505. But across their remaining 14 home games, attendance dropped dramatically, averaging just 554 fans per game. Their next largest crowd, 819 attendees, only came on faculty and staff appreciation night.
Now let’s compare that to the men’s team. They opened with 3,772 fans, and during their game against Gonzaga late in the season, likely boosted by the buzz around Gonzaga’s departure to the PAC-12, the crowd swelled to 3,178. Over their 15 home games, the men’s team averaged 1,360 fans per game, nearly two and a half times the women’s average.
Here’s the kicker, the women’s team had a better season. They went 15-19 overall, an 8-8 record at home, and made it to the third round of the West Coast Conference Championships held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The men concluded their season with a 5-10 home record, 6-24 overall, and a first-round tournament exit. The women’s team fought through overtime thrillers and showed grit, while the men’s team received the cheers, the crowds, and the clout.
The same inequality plays out in funding. While the women’s basketball team was the only women’s program to receive more donations than their male counterparts, $7,463 from 58 donors versus the men’s $3,207 from 21, it was still a slim margin. The bigger picture is even more discouraging.
With water polo, the men’s team raised a staggering $126,386 from 83 donors during Pacific Gives. The women’s team raised $21,920, even though they had 126 donors, the most of any team. Additionally, the men’s campaign featured a flashy matching donation, “once the team raises $10,000, they’ll receive an additional $10,000,” while the women’s page had no such offer. It was inevitable that, although the women’s team had more supporters, it was systemically rigged for the men to receive more funding.
More disparities within each sport speak for themselves.
Softball received just $2,349 from 21 donors, while baseball brought in a significantly higher $24,210 from only 36 donors.
Women’s tennis raised $6,488 from 12 donors, whereas men’s tennis received $27,618 from 44 donors, plus an automatic $15,000 match, giving them an even greater fundraising advantage.
Women’s swimming brought in $5,348 from 57 donors, but men’s swimming more than tripled that amount with $17,838 from a nearly identical 59 donors.
Women’s soccer actually outpaced men’s soccer in the number of donors, 213 compared to 187, yet they still raised less overall. $15,959 versus the men’s $20,056.
For Volleyball, while the team received a generous $15,000 challenge gift, it was contingent on donor numbers, not dollar-for-dollar matching like many of the men’s teams. Thankfully, they garnered support from 40 donors to raise $23,352, with $15,000 of that amount from the successful donor challenge.
The bias isn’t just in attendance or donations, it’s ingrained into our culture. I’ve written 19 sports articles during my time at The Pacifican, with five focused on men’s teams, nine on women’s, and five on general athletics. I asked the co-editors-in-chief to check the marketing side of the website to see which stories got the most clicks. Even when women outperform, dominate, or show real promise, the interest doesn’t follow, as there is an average of fewer clicks on women’s articles compared to men’s. Strangely, the neutral articles focusing on both men’s and women’s stayed consistent with men’s content. Therefore, further insinuating that if men’s sports aren’t involved, it’s a closed conversation.
These aren’t coincidental numbers. They’re reflections of what our community values, and what it doesn’t. At Pacific, women’s athletics are fighting an uphill battle not because of a lack of talent, effort, or achievement, but because of a lack of recognition. Ranging from funding, fan turnout, and media engagement, the disparities run deep. It’s not enough to say we support women’s sports, but we have to show it through equitable coverage, consistent attendance, and fair institutional backing.
