Susan Reichle is the Assistant to the Administrator for USAID's Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning. Credit: USAID
When Title IX was enacted, I was just six years old and had no idea how this one piece of legislation ensuring equal rights for women in sport and education would impact me and millions of girls over the next four decades.
Having equal access to participate in athletics did far more than just pay my way through college on a field hockey/lacrosse scholarship. More importantly, sports taught me and millions of girls critical life skills such as leadership, teamwork and perseverance. Sports empowered my generation to believe we could do anything if we just worked hard enough. No longer were we limited to playing only half court basketball, the barrier that my grandmother had faced because girls were still viewed as the weaker sex.
Because of Title IX and Billy Jean King’s iconic victory over Bobby Riggs in 1973, my generation was raised to believe we were just as strong as men and deserved the same rights to the playing field. When our team was given access to the turf only at 5 a.m. so that the boy’s football team could practice during prime hours, our coaches began to push back.
Eventually we were taught to demand the same opportunities and equal access as men, and this is reflected today in our drive to compete with men in the workforce, seeking to rise to the highest levels in the workforce.
Has the empowerment that came with Title IX been an easy road for women?
No, there is still debate as to whether women and girls can really “have it all” and achieve full equality. Clearly, there is still work to be done. But as I travel around the world, I see the impact when women and girls are not provided equal rights. When a country leaves 50 percent of its population behind – whether it’s denying access to education, sports or healthcare – development suffers.
Two PeacePlayers International - Cyprus participants at the Earthdance tournament for Peace. Photo credit: PeacePlayers International
At USAID, we aim to ensure women are more often seated at the decision-making table to realize their rights and to influence outcomes at all levels. The evidence is clear: investment in women and girls delivers a disproportionate dividend in a country’s development.
As many have said during this 40th anniversary, Title IX was more about social change than sports. But sports taught us the importance of competing and never taking ourselves out of the game. Sports also taught us that while we may be able to go faster alone, teamwork is the key to winning.
As we celebrate all that has been accomplished these past 40 years, I am reminded of the words of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, member of the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame and three-time Olympic gold medalist in track and field: “Girls playing sports is not about winning gold medals. It’s about self-esteem, learning to compete and learning how hard you have to work in order to achieve your goals.”
Inspiring personal story and reflection on the immense value of equal opportunity and the moral, economic and social imperative all have to close persistent and alarming gender gaps by increasing levels of health, literacy of girls and economic and political influence of women.
Women’s sports certainly have come a long way since Title IX’s signature back in the seventies, and cultural icons such as Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Mia Hamm, etc. have no doubt opened up a world of opportunity for many girls to participate in sports. Congratulations are in order.
Some concern remains, however, that Title IX’s rigid emphasis on equality of result has left many males who desire to unable to compete at the Division 1 level. It would be unfortunate if the opportunities opened up for women in turn deprived men of these opportunities for teamwork-building, not to mention outlets for competitive drive among males.
Instead of fixed quotas, then, why not allow schools to comply with Title IX by showing that their programs match the interest level of their student bodies through well-designed surveys of student interest? This would make the world of opportunity more truly gender-neutral, and would allow for the possibility that there may be differing levels of interest in sports between men and women. Then, once the levels of interest have been established, if policy-makers still feel that women as a gender would benefit from more sports participation, they can run programs promoting such activity. But it would be unfair if men were not allowed to participate uniquely because of the need for equality in result as decreed by a federal-level statute.
Put into the context of development, such quota systems certainly have their place in areas of the world where portions of the population are mistreated, but they need to be used wisely. Programs need to understand their subjects well and not let artificial measures trump overall welfare as our ultimate goal. In fact, no such quotas should ever be needed in an ideal world, hence the need for sunset provisions both on Title IX and for all foreign donor-development programs, anticipating our true goal: graduation.
This is such a wonderful blog. Susan is right it is not about the medals, although those are great if they come but about the confidence, physical strength, not being afraid to give it your all and compete hard. Skills so needed by girls.
My sister held a national record in swimming but was pre-Title IX- no scholarships for any females. We can’t overestimate the game changer this was.