By Thea Trelstad
Over the last couple of years many major college sports teams have dropped the word “Lady” from their women’s sports teams. In September, 2021, Baylor University changed the name of their women’s basketball team from Lady Bears to simply Bears. Eleven of twelve of the Big 12 women’s basketball schools have dropped “Lady” from their team names. Texas Tech still calls its women’s team the Lady Raiders and Oklahoma State University calls its women’s team the Cowgirls and its men’s team the Cowboys.
Adding the term “Lady” to the women’s teams has been used to differentiate from the men’s teams for centuries. However, no term has ever been added to men’s team names to differentiate the men’s and women’s teams. This continues the trend of sexism directed towards women and girls in athletics. Ketra Armstrong, a professor of sports management with a focus on gender in sports at the University of Michigan, says that using the term “Lady” in women’s team names does nothing but establish the men’s sport as the norm (‘Lady’ team nicknames can be harmful, experts say, Tennessean, 2015).
In the 21st century when gender roles and expectations have been challenged by so many, schools keeping the “Lady” in their women’s team names are fighting to differentiate something that doesn’t need to be differentiated. The term establishes women’s sports as separate and viewed as different from men’s, representing a large pattern in schools around the country. Dropping the “Lady” and making all sports teams have the same name creates a sense of unity between men and women’s teams. The usage of “Lady” enforces the historically popular idea of strong men and dainty women and places great emphasis on this dated attitude.
U of Delaware’s Lady Hens at work.
A smaller but still important point made for the case of dropping “Lady” is that in many of the cases the addition of “Lady” makes the team name redundant. For example, at the University of Delaware the women’s basketball team is called the Lady Hens. Inherently hens are already female, so the addition of “Lady” adds nothing to the name. Likewise, sometimes the addition of “Lady” simply does not make sense. There is no such thing as a “lady ram” as a female sheep would just be called a “ewe,” therefore making the name Lady Rams nonsensical.
Despite this, there is still lots of backlash to the removal of “Lady” from the names of women’s sports teams. In fact, some former players and coaches felt they had changed the meaning of the term and built a strong identity around their “Lady” team names. Cameron Boone, a former University of Tennessee women’s soccer player, explained in an interview that she felt that the definition of “lady” in a sports aspect is much different than in a societal aspect. She feels that it means someone so much more fierce and powerful, and that by using the name they are redefining and taking the discriminatory power out of the word (“Schools Move To Drop ‘Lady’ From Women’s Team Names, Drawing Mixed Reactions [Huffpost] ).
The movement to take away the term “Lady” from women’s sports teams is growing around the country and globe. As society progresses and acknowledges its flawed and discriminatory past, other people and organizations are taking a look at their own past and making changes accordingly. The removal of “Lady” from women’s sports teams creates a sense of equality and respect between men and women’s teams that historically has not been shared.