Struggling, As Always

 THE STRUGGLE for gender equality, like the struggle for racial, social, economic and every other form of human equality, ongoing, is taking far longer and engendering far more turmoil than desirable or should be necessary. by now, we should have achieved it, long since. Why don't we just do it and get it over with? Equality of opportunity, if not outcome. I sometimes actually prefer women's basketball, because of their superior willingness to work together as a team. Who needs slam dunks? The Big Dance dumb bell scandal of 2021 should never have happened, because it should have been obvious to someone in a position of authority that the men's gym was fully loaded, and the women's was nearly empty. Another avoidable, needless circumstance of gross and grotesque inequality..As consolation, the scandal provided an entertainment media which thrives on scandal, fodder.The list of athletic gender inequities is yet rather lengthy, involving facilities, amenities, accommodations, pay,  athletic budget, media attention, to name but a few. Certain types of equality we cannot create by mandate, nor would we want to. Imagine an intercollegiate bi-gender basketball tournament. In the first round, the men's teams at all universities and colleges play the women's teams. After the first round, only the men's teams are left, and the tournament enters the second round. Anyone who knows of a college or university where the women's team can beat the men's team please, share. No, not everything needs to be equal, can be equal, nor should it be, nor would we want it to be. We  must never impose a requirement that women play basketball as well as men. But men and women require essentially the same fitness facilities. The crowds at women's games are almost always smaller. there is less advertising revenue, a smaller television audience.Voltaire said: "All comes out even when the day is done, and more even still when all the days are done." True enough. /the arc of justice is long, and only slightly bent, but it bends towards justice, which, with persistence, is inevitable. Maybe between now and the time when justice arrives, we can hasten it along a bit, by distributing the wealth a bit more fairly