The Madness in Michigan Has Ended, and Begun

by Neena Chaudhry, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

For the first time in 35 years, girls’ basketball teams in Michigan get to participate in this thrilling time of year for basketball players and fans known as March Madness. Until this season, the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) scheduled girls’ basketball in the nontraditional fall season while they scheduled boys’ teams in the traditional winter season. The winter, of course, is when high schools and colleges across the country play basketball, culminating in March tournaments. 

Unfortunately, it took a decade-long legal battle by Communities for Equity  and multiple court decisions declaring the scheduling of girls’ sports discriminatory to force MHSAA to do the right thing. And the changes will not benefit the countless numbers of girls who, prior to this year, suffered limited opportunities to be recruited for college teams, receive athletic scholarships, play club basketball, and receive national recognition, all of which are geared around the traditional winter season. But future generations of girls will receive the opportunities they deserve, and hopefully they will know that they matter just as much as the boys. 

The girls of Michigan have much to celebrate this March.