Will Title IX Protect Female Athletes Again?

My VIPs for this week are the fifteen female collegiate swimmers and track/volleyball athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA. They seek to force NCAA to stop allowing biological males from participating on women’s teams. The suit contends that the NCAA breached a federal law – Title IX – when they allowed biological males to compete against them in NCAA events. Valerie Hudson at The Deseret News wrote the following about Title IX and the new lawsuit. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 almost did not outlaw discrimination on the basis of sex. It was added to the other prohibited types of discrimination (race, color, religion and national origin) almost as an afterthought, and some even believe it was added in an attempt to kill the bill. Just as the 19^th Amendment was the great achievement of the first wave of feminism, so this act, in addition to other legislation passed around the same time such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, was the great achievement of the second wave of feminism. During the 1960s, sex discrimination became official illegal in the United States.

Title IX was an update to the Civil Rights Act, though formally passed as part of the 1972 amendments to the Higher Education Act’s reauthorization. The Civil Rights Act had not explicitly mentioned prohibiting sex discrimination in education, and Title IX was meant to close that loophole. While Title IX does not even mention sports per se, its very name is synonymous with opening the doors to school sports participation for women, especially at the high school and collegiate level, because it mandated equal opportunities for men and women in all educational programs.

Title IX became the law after I graduated from high school. Therefore, I was not blessed with the opportunity to represent my school in any sport. However, my daughters and daughters-in-law had the opportunity to play on high school teams, and one daughter played on a college team. Now my granddaughters are being blessed by the opportunity to run on cross-country teams and to play on soccer and basketball teams.

I applaud the fifteen young women who are fighting for the right for all young women to participate in sports for their high schools and universities.