One of the themes at the espnW Summit was celebrating the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the federal legislation signed into law in 1972 that opened gym doors and athletic fields to girls and women. Title IX passed while I was in high school and I benefitted from its sea change of more-equal opportunities, even though I didn't have an athletic scholarship or play varsity sports. Even the non-varsity "club" sports got to have better gyms, better practice times, and win the right to occasionally crank up the ever-present basketball hoops to make room for other sports. For many women, changes tied to Title IX made their high school or collegiate athletic careers possible with new scholarships, new competitive sport programs, and female coaches.
Title IX is actually a section of the Education Amendments, signed into law by President Richard Nixon on June 23, 1972. Designed to provide equal opportunities in education, it is best known for the blossoming of women's competitive sports made possible by its passage. In addition to the effects in sports, Title IX prohibits sexual harassment in school-related programs, any activity sponsored by or hosted at a school. This is true both for females and for males. Pregnant students are also protected: Schools may not discriminate against an enrolled student in academic or non-academic activities because of pregnancy, birth of a child, false pregnancy, miscarriage, or termination of pregnancy unless the student opts to participate in an alternate, comparable activity.
At the espnW Summit, we heard from elite athletes, such as WNBA star Cheryl Miller and Olympian Kerry Walsh, who credited Title IX with making their careers possible. We also heard about the story of the 1976 Yale women's crew team, which suffered with no hot water in the women's boathouse showers. After morning practice on the icy river, the sweaty, unshowered women shivered, waiting on the bus to return to campus while the men's crew took hot showers. After receiving no action from the athletic department, the women's team delivered their message by taking a stand in the office of Joni Barnett, the director of women's athletics and physical education, with a photographer and a reporter present. The team stripped completely, revealing "Title IX" written on their backs or chests, while team captain Chris Ernst read a statement:
You can use your clothing to show your support of Title IX (and your love of the Peanuts comic strip) with one of the Title IX tees from the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Schulz was a supporter of women's sports and used the perfect vehicle of his Peanuts strip and characters to highlight the issue of girls in sports. You can get ordering information for the Peanuts Title IX tees from the Schulz Museum.
The effects of Title IX have accumulated to a huge increase in the number of females participating in organized sports: In 1972, 1 in 27 high school girls played a sport. Today, the number is 1 in 3. All girls and women, boys and men, should be afforded access to sporting opportunities, because sports teach teamwork, leadership, strength of character, commitment, fairness, responsibility, and a love and mastery of activity. According to testimony before Congress, for girls who engage in sport, 50% are less likely to suffer depression and breast cancer, 80% are less likely to have a drug problem, and 92% are less likely to have an unwanted pregnancy.
Margaret "Digit" Murphy, longtime hockey coach at Brown University and Title IX advocate, testified before the Senate's Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space in 2002. According to the espnW report, the chairman of the subcommittee, Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), wanted to use Title IX to advance opportunities for women in science and technology as well as for sports. "The world of sport used to look like the world of math and technology – all boys and no girls," Murphy told the hearing. She closed by saying: "Girls hit hockey pucks, girls are great mathematicians, girls check and girls love technology. If you create environments that send such messages to girls, they will come."
