Happy 50 Birthday, th
Celebrating the landmark legislation that opened doors for girls and women in sports By Shawn Ladda
I
t was the spring of 1971, a year prior to the passing of Title IX. I was 11 and standing behind a backstop at my brothers’ Little League team practice in Wellesley, MA. Because girls were not allowed to play in Little League, I shagged balls behind the backstop while watching my brothers practice on the field. The coach saw how skilled I was and asked me to play. I told him I would love to, but I didn’t think girls were allowed. He said not to worry. He would ask the opposing coach, and if he didn’t care then I would be able to play. My debut Little League game was also my last. I struck out too many boys and was banned from the league. After Title IX was passed the following year, Little League allowed girls to play — but I was too old by then. This June 23, Title IX will turn 50. When most people hear “Title IX” they think of athletics, but Title IX’s inspiration came from women
not being admitted into graduate programs in higher education institutions. It was, however, quickly applied to athletics — and the impact of this 37-word law has been incredible. If you look at comparative statistics from 1972 to 2022, you’ll see the dramatic increase in the number of athletic opportunities for girls and women. Interestingly, boys and men have also increased their opportunities. However, one unintended consequence of the passage of Title IX is that leadership positions — including coaches and athletic administrators — have shifted. When Title IX was passed in 1972, 90% of head coaches of women’s collegiate teams were female. Today it is a much different story. According to the NCAA Demographic Database, within all NCAA divisions, only 24% of athletic leadership is female — and of that group, only 7% is females of color.
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.
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H A P P Y 5 0 T H B I R T H DAY, T I T L E I X ! A LOOK BACK Title IX — part of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 — prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational institutions that receive federal aid. Congress enacted Title IX in 1972, but schools, colleges, and universities were not required to fully comply until 1978. From the start, Title IX had a great influence on providing girls and women more opportunities in athletics. Sports such as basketball, field hockey, and softball (which were more organized and widely accepted) benefited the most, but women’s soccer grew quickly because with a squad size of 25, it was an easy way to increase the total number of athletic opportunities. Through the years, there have been numerous attacks on Title IX. In 1974, just two years after the passage of Title IX, Senator John Tower of Texas
We are one human family and all deserving of opportunities. proposed the Tower Amendment, which would exclude “revenue producing” sports in the equation of Title IX compliance. The amendment was rejected by the Senate. Women’s athletics were dealt a major setback from 1984 to 1988 because of the Supreme Court ruling on Grove City College v. Bell (1984). In this case, a student took Grove City College to court to obtain expanded financial aid support for women, using Title IX arguments. In brief, the Supreme Court ruled that educational programs and activities not receiving direct federal funding did not have to comply with Title IX. The ruling was devastating for athletic gender equity since few of these athletic programs 16
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received any direct federal funds. In other words, athletic programs would not have to comply with Title IX equity requirements. Consequently, many Title IX complaints concerning athletics were closed. In 1987, there was another challenge to Title IX that attempted to exclude football or any sport labeled as revenue producing. It was not until 1988 that Congress passed the Civil Rights Restoration Act and widened the interpretation of Title IX to include athletic programs. This interpretation meant that whether athletics received direct or indirect federal aid, the program had to comply with Title IX. Legal rulings relating to Title IX continued throughout the 1990s. In Franklin v. Gwinett County Public Schools (1992), the Supreme Court ruled that monetary damages may be awarded under Title IX in cases of intentional discrimination. And in 1994, Congress passed the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, which requires colleges and universities to disclose gender equity information about their athletic programs. In Jackson v. Birmingham (2005), the Supreme Court ruled that retaliation against Title IX “whistleblowers” is prohibited. This ruling helped encourage individuals to identify injustice relating to Title IX without fear of retaliation. ON THE FRONT LINE: NAGWS SHAPE America has a long history around Title IX through its connection to the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS), which was one of five national organizations that made up the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (now known as SHAPE America). NAGWS’s roots lie in a committee created in 1899 to write rules for women’s collegiate “basket ball” (which was two words in the late 1800s). This eventually led to NAGWS publishing a series of guidebooks,
which included rules of a particular sport and articles on topics that were relevant to teachers and coaches of the game. From 1969 to 1971, 16 different guidebooks were printed, totaling nearly 500,000 copies. In 1971, the Association for Intercollegiate Women (AIAW) was formed out of NAGWS. This provided an organization (pre-NCAA) to oversee women’s athletics. NAGWS leaders also lobbied Congress to pass Title IX and then continued to support and advocate for the law.
In 1983, NAGWS, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), and the Women’s Sports Foundation sponsored a major conference, “The New Agenda: A Blueprint for the Future of Women’s Sports.” This event led to the creation of National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD), which continues today as a time for multiple organizations to lobby Congress to continue to support Title IX. CHALLENGES AND THE FUTURE Even as we celebrate 50 years of Title IX and the growth of girls and women’s athletics, many colleges and universities are still not in compliance with Title IX (partially due to lack of knowledge about the law as well as lack of intentional effort to be in compliance). Violations persist. And it should be noted that these numbers disproportionately connect with communities of color, not only in the sports arena but in a variety of variables (continued on page 18)
Penn State Women’s Soccer After high school, I went to Penn State University to major in health and physical education. While the university had a varsity men’s soccer team, women’s soccer still only had a club team, which I participated on.
Shawn Ladda (with ball) circa 1981, playing on Penn State’s club team under poor field conditions.
We played a mostly varsity team schedule and followed the rules of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), which governed women’s collegiate athletics at that time. (Shortly thereafter, the NCAA began overseeing women’s collegiate athletics.) By all accounts, we operated as a varsity team — but with club status. During my junior year, the team qualified for postseason play. Penn State administration refused to sign off on AIAW paperwork to allow us to play post season. I think Penn State did not want to sign the paperwork for fear the next step might be our demand to have full varsity status.
After my teammates, coach, and I exhausted every internal mean possible to convince the powers that be to allow us to participate in post-season play (including a meeting with Joseph Paterno, who was the athletic director at the time), six players — including myself — filed a Title IX complaint through the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, a non-profit organization that enforces the state’s civil rights laws.
My teammates and I wondered how Penn State could not blink an eye at something that appeared to be so blatantly discriminatory. We knew we needed to fight this, even if we wouldn’t reap the benefits ourselves. We would be fighting so the next group of Penn State students would have greater opportunities. It took about 10 years from that time for Penn State to be forced to add a varsity women’s soccer team. It was pure joy when Penn State women’s soccer won the NCAA Division I national championship in 2015. And in August 2018, Penn State Coach Erica Walsh and Athletic Director Sandy Barbour awarded the members of my team honorary varsity letters. This experience has had a profound effect on me. It has informed my passion for fairness and social justice. My lens for detecting the “isms” is keener and makes me more sensitive, open, and accepting of others. It also gives me a lot of motivation for taking action to change the world — and to be embracing of ALL people. I am proud to be a past president of the National Association for Girls & Women in Sport (NAGWS). Reflecting on my story, I think the quote by Margaret Mead says it best: “ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” You can hear more about Shawn Ladda's Title IX story in this video interview.
Shawn Ladda (bottom row, far left) and her Penn State women’s soccer teammates receive honorary varsity “S" letters at this 2018 ceremony, more than 35 years after they filed a Title IX lawsuit against Penn State.
If you'd like to share your Title IX story, email Larissa at momentum@shapeamerica.org for details.
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H A P P Y 5 0 T H B I R T H DAY, T I T L E I X ! in schools that negatively affects educational opportunities. While there has been a large increase in opportunities for girls and women, we have much more work to do for real parity. For example, there continues to be a disparity in the number of females being hired in leadership positions. Media coverage for women’s sports continues to lag behind that for men’s sports. And pay equity continues to be an issue, as was highlighted recently through the lawsuit brought on by the U.S. women’s national soccer team. Sport is considered to be a microcosm of society and thus all the “isms” are too alive. Sometimes laws are passed, but societal attitudes wane behind. This is evident as we continue to see racism, homophobia, and workplace bias. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was recently confirmed to the Supreme Court, paid homage to all who have fought for social justice and the passage of Title IX, stating, “I stand on the shoulders of so many who have come before me.”
And yes, we all stand on the shoulders of so many who fought for girls and boys and men and women to have more opportunities in sport. A major key in the realization of true equity and compliance with Title IX is education about the law and a societal shift to really believe we are one human family and all deserving of opportunities. The research is clear about the advantages of participation in sport — and so we must keep working together to “prohibit sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity) discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
Additional Resources • Let Her Learn: Stopping School Pushout for Girls of Color (National Women’s Law Center) • NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report • NCAA Perceived Barriers for Ethnic Minority Females in Collegiate Athletic Careers • Women’s Sports Foundation Impact Report
Shawn Ladda, Ed.D., is a professor and department chair at Manhattan College in New York City and is a past president of the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS). She can be reached at shawn.ladda@manhattan.edu. Follow her on Twitter @shawnladda.
Chasing Equity In 2020, the Women’s Sports Foundation published a report titled Chasing Equity: The Triumphs, Challenges and Opportunities in Sports for Girls and Women. It provides a summary of some of the challenges still faced with Title IX, including: Participation and Opportunity n Urban
and rural girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys
n 70%
of female sports leaders say lack of women’s sports media coverage limits girls’ sport participation
n 87%
of all three NCAA divisions combined offered disproportionately higher number of athletic opportunities to male athletes compared to their enrollment
Title IX n 83% n 31%
of college coaches say they have never received formal Title IX training of female coaches believe they risk losing their job if they speak up about Title IX and gender equity
Working in Sports n 60%
of female sports leaders report they have experienced sex discrimination in the workplace
n 60%
of female sports leaders report being paid less for doing the same job as a man
To learn more and to download the Chasing Equity Report and summary, please visit the Women’s Sports Foundation.
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