When I was 8 years old, I carried my mitt and bat into the kitchen and told my parents I was ready to try out for Little League. My mother didn’t smile as she said, “Girls aren’t allowed to play Little League.”
“What are the girls’ baseball teams called?” I asked.
“There are none,” she answered.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“You’ll have to wait until you’re older.”
I felt like an icy wind was stinging my eyes as I dragged my bat upstairs.
That was 1957. It would be six long years before I could join any sports team. Enduring the pejorative label of “tomboy,” I coped, as did other girls who loved sports. I played baseball and football with neighbor boys. Watching their Little League games, I cringed over every error and strikeout, convinced that I could have done better.
When I reached high school, I discovered two teams for girls and five for boys. No one thought girls’ teams should receive funding or facilities equal to boys’ teams. We practiced basketball in the cafeteria because the boys needed the gym. Our softball team played on a lumpy, weedy field since the boys’ baseball team deserved the well-maintained diamond.
Like the boys, we dreamed of college and professional sports. But we knew those dreams were fantasies. No athletic scholarships or lucrative jobs awaited us. My college offered eight intercollegiate teams for men and zero for women. Instead, we played intramural volleyball and field hockey.
In 1972, Title IX changed the prospects for female athletes. The law bars gender discrimination by educational institutions receiving federal funds. Schools comply in one of three ways: (1) having the percentage of females in athletic programs match the percentage of girls in the student body; (2) expanding women’s sports participation opportunities; (3) accommodating the interests and abilities of female students.
Studies show that girls gain the same advantages from sports that boys do. They are less likely to smoke or use drugs. They get better grades. They have increased scholarship opportunities. They develop self-confidence and leadership skills.
Title IX resulted in an explosion of girls’ sports participation, with increases of more than 400 percent at the college level and 800 percent in high schools.
Still, complete equality remains an elusive goal. Women and girls make up half, or more, of the students in high schools and colleges. Yet, after 33 years, they receive fewer than half the sports participation opportunities and far less than an equal share of athletic budget dollars.
Critics of Title IX have blamed women’s sports for budgetary cuts to men’s sports. But investigation often reveals the true reason for such cuts – the bloated sacred cow called football.
In March, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights issued a policy clarification that undermines Title IX compliance criteria. Schools may now demonstrate lack of interest in women’s sports with an e-mailed survey to current students. Many people tend to ignore e-mail surveys. But in this case, not responding will count as a vote against women’s sports. Instead of encouraging women’s participation in sports, this policy once again forces female students to prove they are entitled to equal opportunity.
One problem with only surveying current students is that women interested in a particular sport will not attend a college that doesn’t offer that sport. The survey results will most likely minimize the extent of women’s interest and then freeze participation at its current level.
In 2003, a commission appointed to study Title IX rejected the proposal of e-mail surveys. Also, in Cohen vs. Brown University, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit stated, “Interest and ability rarely develop in a vacuum; they evolve as a function of opportunity and experience.”
Title IX has provided my 12-year-old twin granddaughters with opportunities my generation could only wish for. Little League, midget football and other sports have been available to them. They have never been barred from a sport because of their gender. They’ve played soccer since they were 6. Marissa is learning tennis. Alyssa plays softball and dreams of a career in professional soccer.
Weakening Title IX could destroy such dreams for yet another generation of women.
Ann Zimmerman lives in Idaho Springs and is a maintenance electrician at the Coors Brewery in Golden.
