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Post World Cup: A celebration of the beautiful game — or just men who play it?

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

By Rachael Goldenberg I had the thrilling opportunity to watch the World Cup Final at the Soweto Fan Park in South Africa on Monday. Yes, the vuvuzela howls are deafening, but I still cheered alongside 10,000 South Africans as Spain kicked in the winning goal against the Netherlands (my friend Robin ...

Leader of Afghan women’s sport: Playing is political (and potentially life-threatening)

Friday, May 28th, 2010

[caption id="attachment_1422" align="alignnone" width="213" caption="Nasrin Arbabzadeh"][/caption] By Sarah Odell and Lindsay Rico Nasrin Arbabzadeh, the leader of the Afghan women's sports delegation, has been actively working for years for the rights of Afghan women to complete in sports. In 2001, she traveled from city to city recruiting women to compete in the ...

Thank you, Sylvia Pressler

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

By Laura Pappano News of Judge Sylvia Pressler’s death last week – at 75 at a family home in Sparta, NJ – drew a few paragraphs in the newspaper, but hardly attracted huge attention. And yet, as spring training gets underway and kids prepare for Little League tryouts (now a winter affair), ...

How to watch women’s Olympic ice hockey with your three-year-old daughter (and why it matters)

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Team USA faces off this afternoon against Finland in the final day of preliminary round play. Medals rounds ahead! By Emilie Liebhoff I recently took my three-year-old daughter ice-skating for the first time.  I skated a few laps, did some quick crossovers, and pivoted back and forth.  She was amazed.  (I'm sure ...

Parents, some advice: Three DIII athletes talk about youth sports (and, yeah, playing with boys)

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

By Megan Wood Documentary filmmaker Jenny Mackenzie's film Kick Like a Girl conveys the empoweringand enlightening experience when a soccer team of 8 and 9-year-old girls plays in the boys division -- quite successfully. After Mackenzie's visit to Wellesley College last week, I spoke with three student athletes about why gender ...

Super Bowl Quiz: What does NFL “family” entertainment tell girls?

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

By Katie Culver Here’s a Super Bowl quiz question: Would you send your daughter to a football game in her underwear? I wouldn’t. And yet, funny thing is, there’s women at every NFL football game in a close approximation of panties and bras. They just happen to be ...

Six troubled trends in women’s sports (and what we can do)

Monday, December 28th, 2009

By FGN contributors Ignoring athletic development of girls. What’s wrong: Sports is the language of power and self-efficacy (a particularly urgent matter in places where females face violence and lack equal rights). Failure to encourage girls – whether in Texas or Bangladesh or on the preschool play lot – to learn ...

What a sport girl wants for Christmas…

Monday, December 21st, 2009

By Katie Culver 1. A legitimately equal opportunity to develop athletic skills and play sports -- from the start. This means: girls should be handed a ball (instead of a doll or toy purse) as soon as they can hold something. They should be dressed appropriately so they can run, climb, jump ...

Sports for girls are more than play in Bangladesh, they’re tool for progress (even survival)

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Girls playing handball in Bangladesh By Laura Pappano Sport is a tool for social, political and economic equality. In Bangladesh -- where girls face routine physical violence, child marriage, and are denied the same access to education as boys -- that couldn’t be more critical. Consider that the country’s ...

Where are the moms? Why daughters need them coaching youth sports.

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

By Emilie Liebhoff It bugs me. I drive by the fields in my town – and I only see men coaching the soccer teams.  Don’t get me wrong. It’s wonderful when dads share quality time with their daughters and sons. But where are the moms? Even in the backyard, it’s dad shooting ...