Karen Hartman is a professor at Idaho State University who studies sports in the United States.
In other ways, however, Title IX hasnt lived up to its promise.
The law is still under threat.
The law is still under interpretation.
The law improved those numbers drastically.
Today, 3.4 million girls play high school sports, and 215,000 women play college sports.
Amira Rose Davis is an assistant professor of history and African American studies at Penn State University and co-host of the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down.
(Today, around 60 percent of young adult women are physically active, according toa recent study.)
With these budding programs came new womens sports fans, and a new culture of sports fandom.
Even those women who never participated in sports or fitness themselves gained something, points out Hartman.
By watching women athletes be powerful, other women could feel like their bodies were powerful, too.
Even if women dont necessarily participate, she says.
In 2019-20, male athletes received $252 million more in athletic scholarships than female athletes.
These inequities persist at least partially because Title IX has no teeth.
(Hartman says its believed that around 80 percent of institutions are out of compliance with Title IX.)
In at least nine lawsuits, athletes were successful in challenging cuts to their programs.)
Amira Rose Davis is an assistant professor of history and African American studies at Penn State University and co-host of the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down.
In some instances, Title IX has resulted in steps backwards.
And perhaps unsurprisingly, not all girls and women have benefited equally.
Not all sports have grown equally either.
Those where Black women are overrepresentedbasketball and trackhave grown the least.
A lot of the fight in professional sports is still about getting the basics down, Davis says.
The fight ahead
Progress in womens sports can feel like one step forward and three steps back.
And while the mainstream sports media may continue to ignore women, women are creating their own outlets.
Title IX is complicated and incomplete.
But it is absolutely a foundation on which to build, says Davis.
Its just as ripe with possibility as it was 50 years ago.
Its about making those ideas actionable and tangible and real.
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