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Hey Kansas, quick - what year is it? Did you guess 1923? 1920? Nope. 2008. So how on Earth could this have happened? A religious High School near Topeka, Kansas refused to let a woman officiate a basketball game because she was a woman.
I wish I was making this up, but this is from SI.com:
The Kansas State High School Activities Association said referees reported that Michelle Campbell was preparing to officiate at St. Mary's Academy near Topeka on Feb. 2 when a school official insisted that Campbell could not call the game.
The reason given, according to the referees: Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs.
I feel like screaming. A woman could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs??? What kind of school is this? What are they teaching these children? Can their mothers tell them to clean their rooms?
Diane from In This Moment was thinking the same thing:
Campbell says she was “Dumbfounded.” Add me to that list... I have no idea whether what St. Mary's did was legal, but I do know that it's frightening because this event reveals an incredibly -- to put it nicely -- "narrow" and prejudicial attitude being taught at that school. If you follow the line of thought of the St. Mary's official, should a woman even have authority over her own male child?
Katie Heckert has actually been to the school and I love what she says on Sua Sponte, a blog written by GW Law Students:
Having personally been on the St. Mary’s campus as a girlfriend of one of it’s students, it’s a very conservative Catholic school, with the 1950’s style dorm rules of no closing your door with a member of the opposite sex in the room. And that’s fine. But, when you go as far as to not allow a woman to referee a boy’s game, you have gone over the edge. St. Mary’s, you should be ashamed of yourself. Not only do you make private universities look bad, not only do you make Catholics look absurd and beyond sexist, not only do you further the standing of Kansas as a land of backwards uneducated morons, you also bring down the reputation of the entire midwest, and I think, the entire United States. This is proof that yes, sex discrimination is still alive and well in the United States. So, thanks Kansas, I always know I can count on you to make me ashamed of where I went to high school. Don’t worry, I won’t be back. And St. Mary’s–I look forward to reading about the huge lawsuit you’re about to have..
More at Womens Hoops Blog, Broward County High School Sports and cephyn.com.
Contributing Editor Sarah also blogs at Sarah and the Goon Squad and Draft Day Suit.
