Jul 12, 2012
01:41 PM
Sports
By Lynn Greenberg

Tagged

U.S. Sends More Females than Males to the Olympic Games For the First Time

The U.S. Olympic committee just released the final roster of the athletes heading to the London Olympic Games in two shorts weeks. It consists of 530 athletes, 269 of which are female and 261 male, meaning that more women will represent our country in the Olympic Games than men for the first time in history.

With this year’s 40th anniversary of Title IX, there is no better way to track its progression toward gender equality in sports than to look at the staggering number of women on the U.S. Olympic roster.

The U.S. is not the only country with good news this week. Brunei Darussalam and Saudi Arabia are finally allowing females to compete. This means that Qatar will be the only country to not include women on its Olympic team. Still, there is no doubt that advances have been made since the enacting of Title IX.

Make a Donation

Our Mission

The Women’s Sports Foundation is a non-profit that advances the lives of women through sports and physical activity.

About the Foundation

RELATED POSTS

Lessons Learned From Title IX: Life-Long Benefits from Sports Should be Available To All

Think about the effort and the huge sums of money spent on educational programs to deal with our nation’s problems: obesity, teen pregnancy, low graduation rates and life-long health. The good news is that we already have a ready-made educational program that would address all these areas; school sports. The Women’s Sports Foundation’s research, Her Life Depends on It II, details the rewards flowing from sports participation. In short, sports lead to more educational attainment, a more productive economy and a healthier population.

Sally Ride, American Aerospace Icon, Passes Away

On July 23, 2012, the world lost a remarkable woman. Sally Ride passed away at age 61 after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Ride was a physicist and former astronaut, who, in 1983 became the first American woman to enter space as well as the youngest American at age 32. She was also a top high school and college tennis star who used the skills she learned on the court to become a pioneering American icon.

Two Major Milestones This Week Are Direct Result of Title IX

Today, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Dear Colleague Letter clarifying school’s obligations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehab Act) to provide extracurricular athletic opportunities for students with disabilities. The OCR’s announcement underscores our belief that every student, regardless of sex, means, race, religion… and ability, should be able to reap the benefits of sports. This major advancement comes directly after Tuesday’s announcement that U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta had lifted the ban against military women in combat positions. Make no mistake – both of these society-busters owe credit to Title IX, as 40 years of advancements for women in all fields have brought us to today.