50 Years of Title IX
Did you know the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was never ratified? That makes Title IX the only law that grants women any kind of equality in America.
Did you also know that this year is the 50th anniversary of Title IX? Title IX guarantees that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
ESPN is celebrating five decades of Title IX with a series of documentaries and programming called Fifty/50. Why ESPN? Because Title IX is best known for creating equal opportunities for women to play sports. According to BillyJeanKing.com, “since Title IX’s passage, female participation at the high school level has grown by 1057 percent and by 614 percent at the college level.” WHAT? I know. That is almost unbelievable.
I was born in 1980, so I have only known a world with Title IX. I watched the WNBA take shape. Jennie Finch in softball, Serena and Venus Williams intennis, and Abby Wambach in soccer were household names. I loved witnessing the rise of women in sports, but I had no idea just how monumental it was. In 1992, A League of Their Own was released. I was 12 years old, and I fell in love with this movie! Although they were fictional characters, they represented the lives of real women not just in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, but all women in sports. Learning their untold stories filled me with adulation for the women who competed long before legislation to provide equal access. It also opened my eyes to the reality of progress women were making in my lifetime.
Fast forward to the present day. For the past several years, my two sons, my husband, and I have watched the College Women’s World Series. I revel in the athleticism of these women, performing at an exceptional level and providing representation to the next generation of female athletes. Perhaps it was my short foray into softball that drives my love, but I can’t get enough of it! This year I saw more deeply the camaraderie among teammates, the connections forged not just in playing the game, but in bucking a system that still doesn’t value women as much as men. Then I looked closer. At their joy. Women being joyful and strong at the same time. Watching women play sports with tenacity and joy reminds me of how often we are denied the opportunity to be joyful because of inequality. They were being unapologetically women, in whatever way they defined it. In a world where we are constantly expected to apologize for being too fat, too thin, too loud, too smart, too tall, too short, too strong, too weak, or too aggressive, these women showed up and played their hearts out as THEMSELVES. That is inspiring and empowering, not just to the 12-year-old girls watching, but to the grown women - like me - who need to be reminded to carry on in spite of the criticism and judgment rooted in sexism. Showing up as our authentic selves is an act of defiance.
The road towards equality for women in all fields requires persistence, strength, and courage. But, it also requires joy. Asking women to remain joyful in the face of adversity doesn't mean we should ignore the pain or strife. It means that on our journey we must find the reasons to keep on fighting. We’re still fighting for equal pay, respect, airtime, and opportunties in atheltics for women.
“Impact of Title IX on Women's Sports.” Billie Jean King, https://www.billiejeanking.com/equality/title-ix/
“Title IX and Sex Discrimination.” US Department of Education, 20 August 2021, https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html
