By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

Three intellectually and athletically gifted Fighting Illini women's student-athletes—all born three decades after Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 was signed into law—admit that they've only read stories and viewed documentaries about the pioneering women who preceded them.

And yet, redshirt volleyball senior Diana Brown (Columbus, Ohio), track and field junior Noor Abdellatif (Antioch), and senior gymnast Mia Takekawa (Sacramento, Calif.) all share a sense of indebtedness.

"I mean, it's kind of crazy," said Abdellatif. "Just trying to be equal, they had to go through all those challenges and experience all of those hardships. They fought for what they wanted the outcome to be. It's just amazing how persistent they were."

Brown says that something worth doing is never easy.

"For women to be able to play sports back then, a lot of things needed to be broken down, including the stigmas and opinions," she said. "Compared to them, it seems like my life is really easy. There's so much in history that has been broken down and built up. To see where we are now, I appreciate what all has been built up. I think we can all learn a lesson from that."

Though Takekawa hasn't personally engaged with anyone who fought for women's rights in the 1970s and '80s, her cousin (Sarah Takekawa) played soccer at Saint Mary's College of California in the early 2000s. Over the years, Mia has heard some stories from her.

"I looked up to Sarah when I was thinking about college athletics," she said. "I've definitely had more financial privileges and a lot more media attention than she had 20 years ago. But, in terms of the people that paved the path for me here at the University of Illinois, it's definitely important to know where we started, where we are now, and where we still have to go."

Until just recently, the trio was unaware of what happened in April of 1977 when Illini track and field athletes Nessa Calabrese and Nancy Knop formally charged UI's Athletic Association with discrimination against women in the operation of its programs. The wide-ranging suit asserted that the AA spent six-and-a-half times more money for its men's sports than it did for its women's teams, awarded financial aid to male freshmen but prohibited it for women in their first year, and provided scholarship assistance to men over a five-year academic period as compared to only four years for women.

"It must have taken a lot of guts for them to do what they did, knowing that in that kind of environment back then that there could have definitely been backlash," Takekawa said. "Because of their actions, we are now able to have the privileges that we have today, to be able to compete and have equality. It is extremely important that today's athletes and women in general to be able to continue to speak out about things that still aren't necessarily equal."

And, in their opinion, how is the University of Illinois' current athletic department living up to those equity requirements today?

"As far as I can tell, women are getting equal treatment in terms of finances, but equality in benefits probably still has room for improvement," Abdellatif said. "For example, you don't see women's sports getting praised as much as the men's sports here. On social media, our successful women's sports deserve as much praise as say men's basketball. We'd certainly like people to follow women's sports more than they do."

"In our country," Brown added, "football and men's basketball are put ahead of every other sport. I totally understand that they bring in a lot of profit and that allows other sports to be part of the program. Our university has done a nice job in getting new (training) facilities for our softball and baseball teams. They do very well in taking care of us and I feel as though we are given a lot of the same opportunities, such as (access to) our athlete cafeteria. I think that our university tries as hard as they can to promote gender equality in a world where it's really hard to do that."

"Our coaches are great with their support, as is the rest of the staff with academics and financial assistance," Takekawa said. "Sure, the money-maker sports—football and basketball—have the facilities and all that, but we get new equipment when we need it. We may not get all the flashy things, but, day-in and day-out, we do get a lot of support."

Many women's student-athletes are still on the ground floor when it comes to the issue of name, image and likeness (NIL) benefits, though both Brown and Takekawa have had opportunities come their way.

I'm very appreciative of the opportunities I've gotten from Campus•Ink (apparel)," Brown said. "They are really trying to make it all about the athlete instead of just the clothing. I work closely with one of their designers and we're trying to come up with apparel that really, truly represents me. To be honest, I have high aspirations after my collegiate career ends, so I was kind of focusing more on that instead of pursuing the NIL deals that other athletes have."

Takekawa admits that her sport has one of the highest profiles among collegiate athletes regarding NIL.

"I've done a few deals, so I have been pretty lucky to be able to take advantage of NIL," Takekawa said. "Gymnastics is one of the few sports in which the women's side is more popular than the men's side."

All three women are taking utmost advantage of their University of Illinois educations. Brown graduated last May, majoring in molecular and cellular biology and minoring in psychology. Abdellitif is studying kinesiology and hopes to become a physical therapist, while Takekawa is majoring in bioengineering and is on a track targeted towards therapeutics. Following her graduation in 2023, she'll pursue a career in pharmaceuticals.