The Locker Room: Unresolved Issues
Photo from Pexels by cottonbro studio.
Riley Veenendaal and Gabby Weisgerber
For those of you who are new to our work, we have spent the past two years writing fun articles. Our features of The Unsolvable Equation: Red or Blue and Mustache Madness were written as a way to brighten people’s day and to help them find a little joy and humor amidst a school year filled with anxiety and stress. However, this article is a little different from the usual silly articles we write. This article is about a more serious topic that is near and dear to our hearts.
For the past couple of years, students have worked to address the inequities between the male and female locker rooms at Hamilton High School. We have been following the footsteps of the students before us and are trying to keep the ball rolling on this issue with hopes of changes being made in the future for more equality between female and male athletes at our school. To preface, let's dive into the history of the “Locker Room Issue” at Hamilton.
Two years ago, a tornado forced class-of-2023 senior Bronwyn Rhoades and other girls throughout Hamilton to enter the boys’ locker rooms at Hamilton for safety. In a time where most students were fearful of what was going on, the females that had been placed in the boys’ locker rooms quickly forgot their fears and became worried about something else: Why is the boys’ locker room so much bigger and nicer than ours? Rhoades was one of many who noticed this issue, and she decided to take the brave step of pointing it out. Rhoades wrote the article “The Locker Room Issue,” which—in a brief summary—points out the disparities between boys’ and girls’ locker rooms at Hamilton. The article also goes on to state how under Title IX (a law placed to ensure the equality between the sexes in facilities and opportunities), there is potentially a violation here at Hamilton.
After Rhoades’ article, females throughout Hamilton began to talk—to each other, to parents, and to others outside of Hamilton. Students were outraged seeing that there were clear disparities at Hamilton yet little to nothing was planned to improve or fix them. Even with the article bringing the inequities to light, there was still very little change or progress immediately noticeable to female athletes using these spaces.
Because of this, class-of-2024 senior Rosa Martinez wrote “The Locker Room: Still an Issue” to continue advocating for progress. In her article, Martinez points out the visible disparities between the locker rooms and other facts and statistics that truly highlight the difference in not only the size of the spaces but the quality of them as well. Martinez also frequently met with Superintendent Dr. Paul Mielke, received square footage estimates of all spaces from Hamilton Building and Grounds Director Jeff Grove, and worked with Matt Brusky, the Deputy Director of Citizen Action of WI to learn more about Title IX—all of which shaped her article.
Today we are here to write about the facts, updates, and future plans revolving around the locker room issue at Hamilton.
On September 13, 2024 we (Weisgerber and Veenendaal) sat down with Hamilton’s new Athletic Director, Jeffrey Newcomer. With Mr. Newcomer being new to the district, we wanted to inform him of some of the issues that we were seeing with the girls’ locker rooms at Hamilton. We described to him the discrepancies in both space and quality of the locker rooms at Hamilton. Mr. Newcomer told us that there were renovations in place to change the lockers and make other updates to Girls’ Locker Room A. He also explained that expanding the girls’ locker rooms at Hamilton would currently be unrealistic due to a lack of space and money. While we were disappointed in hearing this, we knew that there were still other things that could be done by the school to make the spaces more equitable.
In January, we saw the new lockers put into the Girls’ Locker Room A. Instead of the old green lockers, new, bigger red ones were put in. Furthermore, the walls were repainted, the green tiles on the floor were painted white, and a nice mirror and vanity was added in the space as well. Although these were small changes, they made a huge difference. The changes brightened up the locker room, increased the quality of it, and made females using the space feel more appreciated and valued. It was amazing to feel how much had changed with only a few updates.
Junior Maddie Arthur stated about the new changes, “The new changes were a great morale boost, and they really added more life to the locker rooms. The new paint added a nicer feel to the locker rooms, and the larger lockers allowed for people to store all of their belongings in the lockers, which made the locker room appear much cleaner and better than before. Even small changes like this made a big difference.
We kept in touch with Mr. Newcomer and had another meeting to continue the conversation on February 17, 2025. During this discussion, we were joined by senior Jacy Fierst as well as juniors Maddie Arthur and Grace Houts. Together, we did a walkthrough of the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms to point out some of the differences we see in quality and to share our appreciation/recognition of the changes made.
After our tour and having just seen the difference between all of these spaces, the group of female athletes met together to discuss next steps. We asked the three girls on the tour: What differences did you notice in your tour of all the spaces? Houts replied, “I think the most glaring thing was the sheer difference in square footage. The boys’ locker rooms are considerably larger in a way that I think a long-term fix involves the reallocation of space. Additionally, the lighting in our locker rooms is quite poor, and [better lighting] is something that would make the space feel larger. The boys’ locker rooms also have wall paintings and areas for teams to meet during games that make them more usable.”
Additionally, Arthur noted, “The first thing I noticed was the large size difference between the two spaces. However, I understand that this is due to the difference in athletes among girls’ and boys’ programs. The second thing that I immediately noticed was the disparity between the two spaces regarding school pride. While the boys’ locker room contains murals and signs that show Charger Pride, the girls’ locker room contains no such designs or support. The last big difference I noticed was the lockers themselves. The boys’ locker rooms [Boys’ Locker Room A & B and the Boys’ Mudroom] contain recently painted wide lockers while the Girls’ Locker Room B has tall, skinny, old lockers that aren't able to fit all of our belongings. While great progress has been made in the Girls’ Locker Room A, switching the rest of the lockers to the ones in that locker room would be great!”
As a group, the five of us collaboratively compiled a list of both short-term and long-term updates that we hope administration will consider and budget toward in the future in order to remedy the clear differences between these locker rooms:
Short-Term Changes (Lower-Budget Positive Impacts)
Girls’ Locker room A:
Locks on stalls/paint stalls
Charger decals
Curtain on an individual shower
Clean showers
Girls’ Locker Room B:
Hooks for bags
Charger decals
Mirror + vanity (where the current sinks are)
Clear out where the showers are located (Find a different place for storage)
Girls’ Team Room:
Built in benches
Charger decals
Tear out carpet/replace
Paint walls/tiles
Long-Term Changes (Higher-Budget Positive Impacts)
Girls’ Locker Room A:
New whiteboard for away teams to use (where the hair/blow dryers are)
Bubbler/water bottle filler
Lighting in the shower
Shower privacy (turn the main shower into individual showers)
Better stalls (replace them with the ones that are in the bathrooms for the AC)
Girls’ Locker Room B:
Shower separation
Square footage (Title IX)
Bubbler + water filler
Bathroom remodel
New lockers (replace similar to the ones that were put into the Girls’ Locker Room A)
Better lighting
Girls’ Team Room:
Shrink shower (create a more open space so it’s less crowded). Maybe turn it into another bathroom stall if possible
Full size lockers/bigger lockers
Benches under the lockers
Better lighting
After creating this list, we sat down with Mr. Newcomer and Hamilton’s principal, Mr. Bauer, on February 28. We shared with them our compiled list of updates that we—as well as other female athletes at Hamilton—thought should be made and explained the reasoning behind each item. We expressed our concern that there is a possible Title IX violation due to the 445 square foot difference between Girls’ Locker Room A and B and Boys’ Locker Rooms A and B (Note: This number does not include the Boys’ Mudroom and Girls’ Team Room). For reference, below are the shared estimates Martinez received from Buildings and Grounds Director Jeff Grove for her article.
Boys’ Mudroom (basement) 3550 square feet
Boys’ Locker room A (main gym) 2250 square feet
Boys’ Locker room B (auxiliary gym) 3290 square feet
Girls’ Team Room (main gym) 950 square feet
Girls’ Locker room A (main gym) 2780 square feet
Girls’ Locker room B (auxiliary gym) 2315 square feet
While we acknowledge male and female sports have different numbers of participants and different equipment needs, we expressed that this square footage discrepancy between locker rooms used in gym classes should not be based on the ratio of female athletes to male athletes. It should be based on the ratio between females who use the locker rooms and males who use the locker rooms. Considering the people who use the locker rooms the most are students in gym classes, there is approximately the same number of male and female students who would be using Boys’ and Girls’ Locker Rooms A & B during a typical school day. Though the administration did not believe that there was any Title IX violation, they were very responsive in realizing space is an issue and did not discount the space discrepancy.
Though there are big issues to be resolved, one of our main goals walking into this interview was to point out small changes to be made that are low budget and attainable, contributing to more-consistent maintenance and an improved atmosphere of these spaces. By no means do we expect to immediately see a brand-new locker room that will make up for the spatial discrepancy; we understand those things take a lot of time and money to make happen and are reflective of the unique spacial needs of different sports and participation. However, we do believe it is reasonable to highlight some of the easier changes that can be made as it proves to female athletes here at Hamilton that they are valued and appreciated. We would also like to point out that many of these small changes could be implemented in the boys’ locker rooms as well.
One of our main takeaways from the meeting was that Hamilton was built in 1962 so many of the spaces have not been updated since then. The response we received after communicating our thoughts and ideas with them was that not only are the girls’ locker rooms in need of updates but the boys’ locker rooms are as well. Mr. Bauer and Mr. Newcomer also said some of the smaller changes we hope to make are definitely achievable and could be made soon. As far as the space discrepancy, however, timing and funding are two big factors that they said would prohibit any plans made to address this inequity.
Mr. Bauer and Mr. Newcomer did mention that as Hamilton continues to grow, there may be an opportunity to expand one of the girls’ locker rooms to help make the size of the locker rooms more equitable. No concrete plans, however, have been set in stone to ensure that this happens. While the district is continuing to renovate and add onto Hamilton, communication about definitive changes to make the female lockers rooms more equitable has remained limited.
With this in mind, we asked Fierst, Arthur, and Houts what they believe is the most important issue for the district to resolve. Houts started out by stating, “The only true fix to it is the reallocation of space. Without that, other short-term fixes are merely attempts to put off the issue. At some point—hopefully in the near future—the locker rooms’ square footage needs to be evaluated and a decision needs to be made on how to distribute the space more fairly. I think in the meantime, additional lighting, hooks for bags to save space, and more wall decor are all things that would bring up the standard of the girls’ locker room.”
Along with this, Fierst pointed out that there are smaller things that can be done which would cost little to no money to fix. “I think tidying up the other locker room [Girls’ Locker Room B] should be the main priority. This could include making sure all the sinks, stalls, and showers work; updating the lockers; as well as listening to suggestions from the teams and girls that use that locker room every day. If the same adjustments that were made to the locker room by the gym [Girls’ Locker Room A] are applied to the one that goes to the athletic facility [Girls’ Locker Room B], I think that would be a big step.”
Finally, Arthur pointed out some changes that could be made before the next school year starts. “I think that the main issues the school can fix are more decals or Charger pride in the girls’ locker rooms, the same level of locker quality among the spaces, and a little more work on the team room. While removing the urinal [in the Girls’ Team Room] was a great step, I believe the space could still be better utilized, especially with better lockers and maybe removing the carpet or shower area.”
While many talented female athletes will be graduating from Hamilton next month, it is important that students here continue to advocate for these spaces. Making sure that the inequities aren’t ignored is crucial, and we urge both students and the district to keep on supporting each and every person to show that all students are valued and supported. If athletes like us weren’t passionate about seeing these inequities resolved, would the district have scheduled any of these changes? Though we were appreciative of the administrative meetings and progress made, it shouldn’t continually fall on teenagers to fight for the spaces female athletes occupy here at Hamilton.
We hope that throughout the summer and the next school year, a plan will be created and acted upon in order to further pursue equity between the male and female locker rooms at Hamilton.
