Girls are signing up for sports in record numbers, thanks to Title IX, the federal law that mandated equal school athletic programs for girls and boys, which turns 30 on June 23, 2002. Since the law went into effect, girls' participation in high-school has risen from about 294,000 in 1971, to nearly 2.8 million today. Varsity sports now include hockey, soccer, volleyball, and basketball teams for both sexes; girls are even joining high-school football and baseball teams.
You can look at the WNBA or our gold medal-winning soccer team -- these women never would have been in pro sports or the Olympic games had it not been for Title IX," says Donna Lopiano, executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by tennis pro Billie Jean King in 1974. "It takes 15 to 20 years to create an athlete of that caliber. If they didn't have the coaching, if they didn't have scholarships, they wouldn't be where we are today."
woman's sports foundations
Still, Lopiano and others say there are lingering disparities: Men still get $146 million more than women in college athletic scholarships, and 84 percent of athletic directors are men. The Women's Sports Foundation has addressed these issues by, among other things, encouraging more diversity in employment and, as Lupiano has said, "planting the seeds of coaching as a career possibility in our female athletes." Greater overall participation in athletics benefits girls in numerous ways: Studies show that sports can help them get better grades, gain confidence, and even avoid drugs and alcohol. They might not be the next Jackie Joyner-Kersee, but the ability to be in the running has already made today's young female athletes champions.
Source:Hindustanis.org
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