Victory for Title IX and Girls and Women in Sports
Julia wanted to play college tennis, but when she got to school the team had been demoted to a club sport due to “lack of interest.”
Discussion:
Title IX has particular significance for me. It was passed the year after I graduated from high school.
Personally, I was lucky in the sports arena, growing up as an “army brat” with barracks of kids to play with and a baseball field across the street. I played baseball all spring and football all fall and every sport I could get my hands on in-between. I had a dad who thought girls could do anything. I had a high school that had swim team, track team and I was part of the first ski team. In college, I competed on the basketball, tennis and swim team.
Some of my friends did not fare so well, where girls just did not think about doing sports. No other girls did it and there were few opportunities. All that changed after Title IX and my daughter and her friends thrived. Women’s participation at the college level has increased more than 500 percent since Title IX’s enactment. Better still, these gains have not come at the expense of men, whose athletic opportunities have also increased since Title IX’s passage in 1972. We know that girls thrive when they participate in sports, and that the benefit of playing sports stays with them for years to come.
I was upset when Title IX powerful influence was gauged by a deeply flawed 2005 policy that allowed schools to count non-responses to the spam-like survey as a lack of interest in athletics. The AAUW (American Association of University Women) fought this, saying, “It not only created a major loophole through which schools could evade their Title IX obligations, it jeopardized the number of athletic opportunities available to women. “
All of this ended on April 20 when the Obama administration and Department of Education issued new guidance for Title IX, rescinding the 2005 policy. The new guidance returns to the previous standard, under which schools will consider a number of factors, including athletic participation rates at the secondary school levels and interviews with coaches, to ensure they are following Title IX requirements. Schools will have a much better road map for compliance, and women and girls will have a much better shot at fair play.
“Making Title IX as strong as possible is a no-brainer,” said Vice President Biden. “What we’re doing here today will better ensure equal opportunity in athletics, and allow women to realize their potential – so this nation can realize its potential.”
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If I knew then what I know now,
I would have encouraged my grade school girlfriends to play sport with me and the boys I played with.
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