Wrapping up Women’s History Month, we’re watching Caitlin Clark make history.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge basketball fan.

However, I can’t help but admire what Clark is doing for women’s basketball and women’s sports as a whole.

In basketball, Clark became the first person ever — in both the men’s and women’s tournaments — to achieve a 40-point triple-double in a Division I NCAA Tournament.

And for those, like myself, who don’t know what that means, a triple-double means that, in a single game, a player racks up a double-digit total in three of five statistical categories: points, assists, steals, rebounds, or blocked shots.

It also means she’s extremely talented at what she does.

Clark also recently became the all-time leading scorer in Division 1 basketball, breaking a 54-year-old record. A record previously held by Pete Maravich — a man.

When I heard about her taking that record, I imagined all the anti-feminist men slowly losing their minds. Meanwhile, I could also picture Clark’s powerful step forward in advancing women’s sports.

For myself and for all women, I hope we continue to see women breaking records previously held by men. Maybe then gender equality in sports could be upon us. And, who knows, it could be what leads us to gender equality as a whole.

Clark has become such a strong feminine figure in sports, and I’m sure there are plenty of athletic little girls watching her and finding ways to dream bigger because of her.

All the wins, broken records, and other fantastic attributes that Clark is bringing to the table are also increasing the overall viewership of women’s basketball. Those viewers and all others who read, watch, or hear about the goings-on are so important to all female athletes, as they bring women’s sports into the conversation.

Said conversation slowly made its way into society about 50 years ago with the impact of Title IX and the start of the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Title IX, a section of federal law, really sparked the movement and played a pivotal role in working toward gender equality because it prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or educational institutions that receive federal funds. That not only applied to sports but to all clubs and organizations at the school.

Fifty years ago, shortly following the enactment of Title IX, the Women’s Sports Foundation was founded by sports icon and social justice pioneer Billie Jean King as one of the first organizations to recognize the role of sports in helping girls and women achieve their full potential in sports and life.

The foundation, started by King in 1974 with a $5,000 check, has grown into a multifaceted organization that has invested more than $100 million to help girls and women play, compete, and lead without barriers, according to its website.

The foundation’s message is as follows: Equality in sports leads to equality in life.

Inequality is so prominent in our society, seeing as women have long been overshadowed by men, and that’s certainly no different in sports. If anything, you see that inequality even more in sports as women’s sports are rarely aired or talked about on major networks.

It’s something I recognize might never change, unfortunately.

Women, especially in sports, are belittled.

For example, we find the need to call the NBA’s counterpart WNBA, for Women’s National Basketball Association, when we should’ve and could’ve created a whole new name for it. But, I would assume, it was named by men who only see it as lesser and provided a title that doesn’t help to give the organization its deserved impact.

Meanwhile, we’d never say Men’s March Madness or Men’s World Cup, but we’re now trained to specify the Women’s March Madness and Women’s World Cup. It doesn’t feel fair, because it’s not fair.

I was a dual-sport athlete growing up. But I also had a brother who played multiple sports, so it’s always been clear to me that the audiences and the general hype around his games and events were so much bigger than mine because I played women’s sports.

And, even when my freshman-year high school softball team went undefeated without hardly any recognition, the baseball team, with a lesser record, was still praised beyond comparison.

It was discouraging, to say the least.

So let’s bring women’s sports into the conversation alongside men’s sports. We have the power to encourage young athletes to be extraordinary so that they, too, can grow up and break records like Clark or start powerful foundations like King.

Women’s history is changing and gender equality draws closer with each conversation, so let’s just keep talking.

Torianna Marasco can be reached at 989-358-5686 or tmarasco@TheAlpenaNews.com.