Title IX, the law that prevents gender discrimination, is under attack. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has proposed new regulations on Title IX, specifically aspects regarding sexual assault and equal athletic opportunity for girls, as Global Sport Matters reports.
Title IX has changed all aspects of our society, not only for women, but also for men. Since 1972, when the law was passed, the United States has seen immense progress regarding athleticism in both high school girls teams and professional sports teams.
The United States Women’s National Soccer Team is the most dominant international team that America has ever had. The United States Women’s National Soccer Team is would never have been created had Title IX never been passed — and girls would still be blatantly ignored in high school sports.
What Secretary DeVos is attempting to do to rollback Title IX is trying to take away a women’s right to an opportunity to play, or at least make it much harder for all girls to play. Evidence from Children’s Medical Group has clearly stated that playing sports has many benefits, not only physically, but also increases athlete’s grades, likelihood of college, self-confidence, more community and social involvement, and life skills. Being on a sport’s team increases skills that high school is supposed to develop, and so by denying girl’s of these opportunities does not give them an easy way to learn necessary life skills, which is what high school is all about.
The new regulations don’t require equal spending for boys and girls teams, which could potentially bring the standards for women’s transportation and facilities back where it was before Title IX. Of course, that doesn’t mean that girl’s sports will instantly disappear, but it may become more and more unequal in our schools.
Our schools in Greenfield and the surrounding areas may not be affected too heavily, but in lower-income communities, if schools need to cut costs, there is no law that will protect girl’s athletics. This seems to be occurring without any public outcry, or awareness, in a very dangerous way. As research conducted from the National Women’s Law Center states, Title IX is already being violated all over the country – especially in Southern states, and significantly more often in schools defined as “heavily minority” (in which 90% of the student population is not white). This is putting young girls of color at more of a disadvantage than not only boys, but white girls as well. Almost half of these heavily minority schools have disparities in gender involvement in sports, which is compared to the only 16% of heavily white schools with big disparities.
Overall, these new regulations regarding Title IX will surely make gender equality harder to obtain, but we cannot pretend that Title IX has protected and ensured that all girls have opportunities to play sports. There are issues in public schools across the country where girls do not have the opportunity to play, something we take for granted in the Pioneer Valley.
Anna Goldstein is a resident of Colrain.