Twenty-five years. Three hundred months. Nine thousand, one hundred and twenty-five days. No matter how you measure it, 25 years is a long time. In that time period, the women's sports movement has made outstanding strides toward equality and acceptance in mainstream sports, but more work lies ahead. As the Women's Sports Foundation stands on the precipice of that milestone in 1999, let's reflect on the highlights of the last quarter-century.
No chronicle of the history of women's sports would be complete without addressing the passage of Title IX. Although there are several noteworthy moments in the women's sports movement that occurred prior to 1972, that year is often the yardstick by which the evolution of women's sports is measured. In 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments Acts was passed, prohibiting sex discrimination in any educational program or activity at any educational institution that receives federal funds. The law also prohibits all forms of sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions.
Today, we see the impact the law has had on female sports participation. In the year prior to the passage of the law, only 1 in 27 high school girls participated in varsity sports. In 1998, that figure is an astounding 1 in 3 - nearly equal to the figure for male sports participation on the high school level, which is 1 in 2. Another statistic that illustrates the effect of Title IX involves the number of females participating in sports on the college level, and the number of sports activities available to them. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), only 31,852 females participated in sports during the 1971-72 school year. Five years later during the 1976-77 school year - one season prior to mandatory compliance of Title IX - that figure had more than doubled to 64,375. Currently, there are more than 125,000 female athletes playing on teams sanctioned by the NCAA. On the men's side, the number of sports participants during the 1971-72 season was 172,447. Two decades hence, male sports participation peaked at 201,063 (1984-85) and is hovering near the 200,000 mark today.
Among women's sports, soccer and cross country have seen the most growth in availability and participation. Twenty years ago, soccer was only available at 2.8 percent of NCAA schools. The figure rocketed to 68.9 percent in 1996. Likewise, cross country was only available at 29.4 percent of NCAA schools two decades ago, compared to 85.2 percent of schools in 1996. Further proof of the "if you build it, they will come" philosophy.
And when schools begin to offer more athletic programs, equal access to the top coaches and the best facilities, guess what happens? Elite female athletes emerge and dominate sports on a global level. Teresa Edwards, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes led a super-talented team of basketball players on a year-long odyssey around the world and back to Atlanta, where they won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games without losing a single game. On the soccer field, Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brianna Scurry and their teammates kicked, passed and headed their way to a gold medal in the sport's Olympic debut that same summer. Repeat the scenario over and over again for the softball team making its inaugural Olympic appearance in the form of Gillian Boxx, Lisa Fernandez, Dot Richardson, Michele Smith and company; the "Magnificent Seven" of gymnasts, who vaulted and tumbled their way into the history books by winning the first team gold in U.S. history; and a pack of gold medal swimmers, including Amanda Beard, Christina Teuscher and Amy Van Dyken, and a beautiful picture begins to form.
Female athletes can and will excel at the top levels of sports. They will train as often and as intensely as their male counterparts, exhibit the same pride, passion and competitive spirit and achieve the same results. They will be winners. And sometimes, they will beat male athletes at their own game.
On September 20, 1973, a television audience of 50 million watched tennis great Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a best-of-five set match before 30,472 spectators at the Houston Astrodome. King received $300,000 in prize money, but more importantly, she left an indelible mark on the sports world and in the minds of thousands of little girls watching the match. A year later, she founded the Women's Sports Foundation and continues to be one of the most vocal advocates for gender equality at all levels of sport.
King's sound defeat of Riggs made the sports world take the female athlete more seriously. And though separated by 23 years, the performances of female athletes at the 1996 Olympic Games reminded the sports world again that female athletes have a lot to offer and deserve a level platform on which to compete. Slowly but surely, they are getting that platform.
Many of the winners from the gold medal basketball team of the 1996 Olympic Games now play in two women's professional basketball teams that were formed within the past two years. The American Basketball League (ABL) and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) are thriving after two complete seasons. The Women's Professional Softball League is similarly looking to its third season of exciting high-level play. Mothers, daughters, grandmothers, fathers and sons pack the stands to catch a glimpse of these new professional athletes. The irony is that many of them aren't new at all. After stellar collegiate careers, they went abroad to continue to play the sport they love because professional opportunities weren't available to them at home. The ABL, WNBA and the WPSL are just the beginning, too.
After the gold medal performance in Atlanta two years ago and the growing excitement surrounding the 1999 Women's World Cup, there is serious talk of forming a women's professional soccer league in the coming years. It doesn't stop there, either. This past winter, women's ice hockey made its Olympic debut. The U.S. team, led by Cammi Granato and Karyn Bye, won the gold medal and opened a dialogue about the viability of a women's professional hockey league.
In 25 years, women's sports have gone through the stages of life, growing and changing along its journey from infancy, through childhood and into adulthood. The road has been long, paved with an uncommon mixture of struggle and triumph over struggle. There are paths along that road that have yet to be traveled, but one thing is certain. Women's sports are a treasure and must be maintained for generations of female athletes to come.
Benita Fitzgerald Mosley is the immediate past-president of the Women's Sports Foundation and director of the U.S. Olympic Training Centers. A former world-class athlete, she won a gold medal in the 100m hurdles at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles