A White House photo celebrating a champion women's sports team has drawn backlash due to the positioning of Donald Trump and a group of men, who overshadowed the female athletes by lining up in front of them.
Photo Sparks Controversy
The University of Georgia women's tennis team was one of several collegiate teams to visit the White House on Tuesday to mark a recent championship win. In a photo shared by press aide Margo Martin, Donald Trump and five Georgia staffers and coaches took up the front row of a stage setup, with 11 women standing in the background on a riser. The men standing alongside Trump were, from left to right: Georgia deputy athletic director Ford Williams, athletic director Josh Brooks, head coach Drake Bernstein, associate head coach Jarryd Chaplin and assistant coach Will Reynolds.
Former tennis star Martina Navratilova wrote on X: “A photo is worth a thousand words …” One commenter wrote: “Who approved this photo?” Another added: “Me when I definitely respect women’s sports teams: what if we put them behind us so you can barely see them.”
Video Shows Handshake Snub
In a video shared by Martin, Trump approaches the group and shakes the hands of the five men, but does not do the same to the women. The Georgia team shared the photo on its official account later in the day, with the caption: “An honor to represent the University of Georgia at the White House today! @realDonaldTrump thanks for having us out!”
Context of White House Visits
Georgia, who won the NCAA Division I women’s tennis championship last May, were among seven teams honored for their titles at the White House this week. Championship teams across American sports have traditionally received invitations from the president to visit the White House after their victories. Such visits have become fraught during the first and second Trump terms. Before 2019, no women’s championship team had made a solo visit to the White House under Trump. Some had participated in events celebrating men’s and women’s teams. Four of the teams honored at Tuesday’s event were women’s sports teams, plus one mixed-gender rifle team.
Earlier this year, the US women’s hockey team declined an invitation to visit the White House after winning gold at the Milano Cortina Olympics. The team cited scheduling and previous commitments, but the decision came after Trump joked about needing to invite the women’s team while on a phone call with the gold-winning US men’s team. The men’s team visited the White House and attended the State of the Union as Trump’s guests. Hilary Knight, the captain of the women’s team, later called Trump’s remark a “distasteful joke” that had overshadowed the Olympic success.
Comparisons to Past Incidents
The image at Tuesday’s event drew comparisons to previous instances in which men have dominated photos at events focused on women’s issues. In 2017, a photo of Trump signing an anti-abortion bill surrounded by eight male staffers in the Oval Office was met with outrage. Trump in recent weeks has been accused of running a “misogynistic administration” after the departures of three women from a cabinet already dominated by men. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Pam Bondi, the attorney general, were fired in the last two months; Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the labor secretary, announced on Monday she had stepped down. Noem and Bondi were both replaced by men in what was already the least diverse cabinet in US history.
