Former high school basketball star Karmen Morrison is now an active advocate for the rights of women in sports. With a background in athletics and a master’s degree in mass communication and journalism, Morrison has used her experiences to elevate the issues she is passionate about.
“We had a pretty good football team when I was [in high school] and they would always get free shirts… [Girls’ basketball was] district champs year after year after year. And I’m like, ‘why aren’t we getting free shirts? What’s going on?’,” Morrison said. “So I think that’s one thing that irritated me and… you see the disparity.”
Morrison’s advocacy covers a wide range of equality-based topics, including the gender wage gap in professional sports.
“Tennis is one of the only sports that the men and women’s professional players get equal payments, at least in the majors… they get paid the same amount of money. So I think that’s important for starters,” Morrison said.
In recent years, social media has emerged as a primary source of information, expression and advocacy. Morrison is among the many to create a loud presence within this virtual world.
“I’m on social media, so I share my opinions,” Morrison said.
Other impacts on Morrison have come from the very women that she is advocating for.
“I went to Florida State, and I did this one story, it was about women in coaching, and I got to talk to Lonni Alameda. She’s their head softball coach, very, very renowned women’s softball coach,” Morrison said. “And she was very open and honest, blunt about it. It’s probably one of my favorite interviews I’ve done, and she spoke about a lot of the things that could change with the Women’s College World Series… so I think that that’s the kind of route that I’ve been going so far.”
As gender discrepancies continue to decrease little by little in most professions, professional sports leagues are following along. It is with the advocacy of people like Morrison that gender equality in sports may eventually be fully achieved.
“I think it’s all about equality… and then I think for me, representation matters,” Morrison said. “Obviously I’m a Black woman, so you got to be able to reach back and show little girls… that it’s possible. I think it’s just really about representation at the end of the day.”
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