By Lauryn Luderman 

With the goal of inspiring women to pursue a career in sports, Ohio State’s Block O, a student-run organization that supports Buckeye athletics, is partnering with SSI to hold its third-annual Women in Sports Panel March 24, which aims to do just that.  

Jade Kempton-Trainer, a senior in exercise science and Block O’s program director, said because the event targets women entering the sports field, they purposely chose the month of March — National Women’s History Month. 

“Sports is still a male-dominated field, so highlighting women, especially in the Columbus area, or here at Ohio State, that are doing so well to make being a woman working in sports, seems more doable to some of our members,” Kempton-Trainer said.

According to Zippia demographics, just 20.9% of the sports media industry were women in 2021. Over the past decade, the greatest margin in men to women was in 2014 when women made up only 16.8%. 

Kempton-Trainer said she decided to continue putting on the event after her predecessor’s graduation to expand the organization’s outreach and help members explore their passions. 

“I want to work in sports, so there’s definitely the passion there from my end,” Kempton-Trainer said. “With Block O, we really want to try to do more with professional development and give our members the opportunity to connect with some people in the Columbus area that are working in sports.”

As for panelists, Kempton-Trainer said the lineup is not set-in-stone, however she anticipates having female professionals from NBC4, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Columbus Crew and potentially individuals from Ohio State. Kempton-Trainer said, like the year prior, she will be the moderator. 

Josie Stiver, a senior in city and regional planning and Block O’s president, said she doesn't want a career in sports, but has been motivated by the Women in Sports Panel nonetheless as she’s attended as an audience member in year’s past.

“I always thought it was really inspiring,” Stiver said. “We’re all leaders in some way in a male-dominated field and being able to hear from people who have gone through that their entire life and have been really successful, for me, has been really inspiring.”

Stiver said as a city and regional planning major, she’s experienced gender inequality of her own. She said her field is full of engineers and politicians who, like one may imagine, are mostly male. However, she said this event has opened her eyes to many new perspectives.

The event is free admission and will take place March 24 at 5 p.m. in Great Hall Meeting Room 1 at the Ohio Union. The panelists will be revealed at a later date. 

Those interested can click here to register.