Thursday, April 19th, 2012
By Laura Pappano
On The Issues Magazine has just published a special edition focusing on the 40th Anniversary of Title IX. If I've learned one thing from FairGameNews it's that the matter of how female athletes use and present their bodies reliably spurs heated -- though circular and predictable -- debate. ...
Posted in Money, Power & Politics | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
By Laura Pappano
This is a year of Title IX anniversary celebrations – it became law in 1972 – but even as conferences are convened (I was part of a terrific panel at Wellesley College on Monday), let’s not get weepy.
It was not as if a switch flipped and everything changed.
There ...
Posted in Basketball, GenNext: Sport Girls, Money, Power & Politics | No Comments »
Saturday, August 20th, 2011
By Laura Pappano
If it’s late August, it must be Little League World Series time – and our annual reminder of why Title IX is needed, but not enough.
The disparities in treatment, support, and attention for male and female athletes begins early, and nowhere is it more obvious than in Little ...
Posted in Baseball, Money, Power & Politics, Softball | 3 Comments »
Sunday, August 7th, 2011
By Laura Pappano
Back in April, a NYTimes/CBS News poll found that – surprise! – men and women place nearly identical value on sports opportunities for girls in high school.
Asked how important sports were for girls, 68% of men and 74% of women answered “very.” Asked about relative opportunities for girls ...
Posted in Money, Power & Politics | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
By Sarah Odell
When the NCAA decided late in 2010 to cut squash from the emerging sport list, most people didn’t notice the decision, let alone realize the profound impact on the sport moving forward. But this decision is like hitting the serve out at nine-all in the fifth.
Some background: 14 ...
Posted in Money, Power & Politics, Squash | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
By Sarah Odell
Women’s squash is at a crossroads. I have written in this blog about huge strides that we have made with women’s doubles in the last year, but the women’s game as a whole -- singles and doubles, professionals and amateurs -- is in crisis. Women are being denied ...
Posted in Money, Power & Politics, Squash, The Athletes | 3 Comments »
Monday, May 16th, 2011
By Laura Pappano
In the new May/June issue of The Women's Review of Books, I wrote about Susan Ware's new book, Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women's Sports (UNC, 2011). You can read the view here.
The book is timely, given mounting evidence that Title IX is ...
Posted in Money, Power & Politics, The Athletes | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
By Susan McGee Bailey
The U.S. Supreme Court last week remained silent in the case of a Texas cheerleader, but the message was alarmingly loud: It may be 2011, but high school girls don’t have the same rights as high school guys.
The Court declined to hear an appeal from a Texas ...
Posted in Basketball, Money, Power & Politics, The Athletes | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
By Laura Pappano
Last July when Federal District Court Judge Stefan Underhill found Quinnipiac University violated Title IX, in part, because it counted cheerleading as a varsity sport, most of the debate was about – you guessed it: Is cheerleading a sport?
The decision, however, also discussed the school’s “roster management” practices ...
Posted in Money, Power & Politics, Running, The Data | No Comments »
Friday, April 15th, 2011
By Laura Pappano
Last week after Wheelock College freshman Claire O'Donoghue, a member of the Men's Tennis Team (yes, you read that correctly), earned a 6-1, 6-0 victory in singles and an 8-6 win in doubles with her male partner (plus narrowly lost another match in the third set), she was ...
Posted in Money, Power & Politics, The Athletes | 1 Comment »