By Melissa Schreibstein
On June 16, 2009, the Women’s Sports Foundation, along with the National Women’s Law Center and the American Association of University Women, hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss the important benefits of sports participation for girls and women and to emphasize the need for legislation to require high schools to report gender equity data. Dominique Dawes, three-time Olympic medalist and former Women’s Sports Foundation President; former Senator Birch Bayh, principal sponsor of Title IX; Peg Pennepacker, current athletic director; and U.S. Representative Louise Slaughter, House sponsor of the High School Athletics Accountability Act, spoke to a packed room full of Congressional staffers at the briefing.
The briefing coincided with the introduction of the High School Athletics Accountability Act (HR 2882). Representative Louise Slaughter introduced this legislation, which is designed to help high schools improve athletic opportunities for girls and encourage greater participation in sports for all students. The High School Athletics Accountability Act and its Senate companion, the High School Sports Information Collection Act (S 471), will require that high schools report basic data on the number of female and male students in their athletic programs as well as the expenditures made for their sports teams. As the briefing panel explained, currently, high schools are not required to publicly disclose such data, making it difficult for students, parents and school officials to assess Title IX compliance.
Almost 37 years after the passage of Title IX, girls and women have made significant strides towards equity in athletics, but there is still a long way to go, since female students still receive almost 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high school sports than male students. Representative Slaughter urged lawmakers to support equal opportunities for both sexes to participate in sports and emphasized the connection between athletics and education. Former Senator Birch Bayh, often called the “Father of Title IX,” recounted his personal history with the Title IX legislation. Dominique Dawes shared the physical and psychological benefits girls receive from sports participation and urged members of Congress to give girls equal opportunities to play sports and to have athletic dreams.
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