Recovering lost ground on Title IX

Joe Biden recently announced some changes to Title IX policies to close a loophole opened up by the Bush administration in 2005. Glad to see Title IX taken seriously by this administration. There’s still a ways to go to bring full equality to women’s sports, however. Jennifer Etnier (author of Bring Your “A” Game: A Young Athlete’s Guide to Mental Toughness) responds to the news over at her blog, bringyouragamebook.com:

Obviously, Title IX has gone a long way to increase the opportunities available for girls and women in sport. And, this tightening of compliance requirements for schools will help to insure that Title IX is implemented as intended.  That being said, there is still room for improvement in terms of gender equity in sport.

. . .

Evidence of a lack of equality abounds.  Every time I am reminded of this, it makes me want to SCREAM.  It’s 2010 and women are still having to fight to be treated equally and to be given the same opportunities as men.  Here’s an example.  In the Olympics, the opportunities for women to compete have seen steady growth. But, currently women only compete in about 75% as many events as men at the Summer Olympics and in approximately 60% as many events as men in the Winter Olympics.  In colleges, 55% of students are women, but only 43% of college athletes are women. . . . Further, if we examine coaching opportunities for women, we also see an inequity that boggles the mind.

Read Etnier’s full response.

–ellen