The Title IX federal law, now approaching 50 years old, benefitted women and girls who had been functionally “banned” from sports competition. I graduated from high school in 1970. The girls in my graduating class had four physical activity choices: cheerleading, drill team, gymnastics and synchronized swimming. My daughters, graduating from high school in 1999 and 2003, respectively, participated in soccer, cross country, Nordic Skiing and track and field with many other sports choices open to them and their classmates. Girls want the opportunity to compete and thrive when given the chance. Title IX forced change in a culture clinging to Victorian Age beliefs about exercise. The idea that vigorous physical activity was bad for women and damaged the reproductive system has slowly disappeared over the past 50 years. It is easy to forget that until 1984 the longest distance race allowed for women in Olympic competition was 800 meters. Women who wanted to run the marathon distance prior to, and even after, Title IX had to lie about their sex to gain entry. Once the sex discrimination wall came down, high schools and communities developed programs and opportunities for girls to compete (although not all willingly and not all equally). As more girls have entered competitive sport, more women have stepped into coaching and officiating roles, giving young athletes of both sexes much needed role models.
