Currently, our cheerleading and song teams at Monta Vista cheers at all football and boys varsity basketball games. Although this has been the way ever since Monta Vista’s establishment, having a group cheer and support a male team while providing no extra support for a female team is unequal treatment. In order to establish an equal environment for both sexes where both teams are equated at the same level and importance, the cheer team should also cheer for the girls varsity basketball team. Cheerleaders unfortunately cannot show their support at every sports game at Monta Vista, but for the ones that they do, it is only fair that the support shown applies for both genders.

Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.(U.S. Department of Education)” Denying female sports teams extra support on the sidelines that male teams receive is subject to sexist discrimination in a school environment, therefore violating the title.

Having this notion acted upon would not only make Monta Vista a more gender equal society, but it would also bring immense honor to the cheer and song team for being able to represent our school in a way that is revolutionary, by being one of the first schools on the west coast to cheer for both genders.

Some ways to structure this new change if it were to occur would be to split the 47 members cheering and have half of them cheer during boys varsity basketball, and the other half during girls varsity basketball. This way, time commitment remains the same for each member. Competitions still remain the same, with all members competing together. This is simply a modification in cheering for varsity games after school.

Other schools with a girls varsity basketball team won’t have any cheerleaders at their home games, but this issues does not affect the atmosphere at Monta Vista. As long as girl’s varsity basketball can be cheered for at Monta Vista, that will promote the gender equality in our school environment, hopefully influencing other schools to change their ideals as well.