It’s easy to criticize the university. It’s really easy to criticize administrators. It’s sometimes necessary.

And it’s sometimes necessary to point out a good job, a success or a valiant effort.

Here’s one: gender equity.

Through some painful, often traumatic measures, Iowa State administrators, particularly athletic administrators, have made strides. And there’s still a long way yet to go. Nationwide, women continue to lag behind men in college athletic participation.

At Iowa State, women still lag behind men in athletic participation.

We are, however, doing better than most. The Des Moines Register’s Tom Witosky, who’s been all over gender equity reporting in the state of Iowa and across the country, reported last week that Iowa State is the 16th best among 107 big-time athletic schools.

We still aren’t in compliance according to federal mandates that say the male-female athlete ratio must be comparable to the male-female student ratio. Nationwide, Witosky said the gap is about 16 percent.

Now No. 16 isn’t going to win the national championship, and any good coach would want to be in the top 10, the top five or even No. 1, but it’s not bad, especially given what it has taken to get there. A few years back, administrators dropped two men’s sports, tennis and gymnastics, while adding women’s soccer.

And there was talk of dropping more sports, though it didn’t happen. These are tough decisions, ones that inevitably draw sharp criticism. Just ask Athletic Director Gene Smith or the departed Vice President for External Affairs Reid Crawford. There’s nothing fun about telling an athlete who’s done nothing wrong that he can’t play his game anymore.

But the federal guidelines do have a purpose. They are designed to right centuries of wrongs. It appears ISU administrators know this. While there’s no doubt we, too, have a long road to haul before we can be called a truly equitable institution, progress is good to see.

Let’s keep the pressure on.