Girl’s national basketball teams told ‘only money for boys’

The parents of young female basketball players are fuming with the Cyprus Basketball Federation, accusing them of institutional sexism over their decision not to promote girls’ national teams.

According to a petition on social media, the basketball federation (CBF) has excluded the national U16 girls’ team from international competition, claiming there is not enough money to send them.

As claimed by the parents, this is not the first time that a girl’s national team has been snubbed while boys get preferential treatment.

CBF is accused of making it a habit to exclude either the U16 or the U18 girls’ national teams, but the boys have no such problems.

As the petition states, when asked by parents about the reason for excluding a female national team from competitions, CBF officials pointed to financial difficulties in financing trips.

“The association’s reply that this is down to cost, which is problematic for a number of reasons, constitutes institutional sexism,” reads the petition.

“It is the same as a family with two children who decides to send the boy to a sports activity and keeps the girl at home.

“Or like a teacher who spends time only with the boys during gym time and leaves the girls to watch from the stands.

“In the case of CBF, however, this injustice is done with an official state seal,” argue the parents.

This petition was launched on Monday night, collecting well over 1,000 signatures.

The parents of the female basketball players are calling on people to sign the petition if they believe that “boys and girls should have equal rights and not be discriminated against because of the sex they happened to be born”.

The Cyprus Basketball Federation was offered a right to reply by the Financial Mirror but did not meet the deadline for a response.

According to the association’s webpage, out of 19 members on the board, only one is a woman.