Dear fellow mask-wearers,
I remember when Title IX passed in 1972 and arguing my way into an afterschool sports club for boys soon after. Both the boys AND the coach (for F sake!) made life unpleasant for me and my fellow arguer. We didn’t last long. Experiences like that make me unendingly impressed with pre-Title IX girls who toughed it out to find great success in high school and college sports in those years.
Not all sports programs where created equal pre-Title IX. As we heard from native Alaskan Lisa Keller in Ep56, she had opportunities for sports on co-ed school teams. Those Alaskans are tough and, well, more importantly, population was low so teams were looking to fill slots. Lisa has a terrific discussion about women & AA if you haven’t listened to that conversation yet. (It’s one of my all-time favorite clips from the podcast.)
And triathlete Kristen Lamb (Ep39) was active in sports early on because her mom coached college field hockey and lacrosse teams. Kristen spent lots of time hanging out with her mom’s athletes as she grew up. Representation matters.
Even with those positive examples, I have to say, the stories told by younger guests claim a different tone of guts and belonging. I think of skateboarder Bryce Wettstein (Ep78) and rower Sophie Calabrese (Ep48). Both take up big space. Talking to them gave me hope for equity not far in the future.
Both Bryce and Sophie are white, which comes as no surprise if you’ve listened to the recent webinar Girls of Color and Title IX: An Unfulfilled Promise put on by the Women’s Sports Foundation featuring LaChina Robinson, Billie Jean King, Candace Parker, Dawn Staley, Neena Chaudhry and Sarah Axelson (this week’s guest). Participation numbers of non-white girls in many sports is shockingly low. Hearing Dawn Staley and LaChina Robinson surprised at those numbers was sobering. Not that they didn’t know, of course, that numbers were bad, but that bad!? (I was reminded of when I heard that sports media coverage for women is only 4% of all sports coverage.) I love data! It can knock us off balance.
All this Title IX discussion is because this week’s guest, Sarah Axelson, is a Title IX expert. She has worked at the Women's Sports Foundation for more than 11 years and is now Senior Director of Advocacy. Often in our conversation I said, "I didn’t know that!" And there is so much that most people don't know about Title IX. When I asked what she wanted to see in the near future, Sarah said greater education about Title IX because it’s just not well understood. So, I thank you for reading this and hope you tune in to hear more from Sarah. Click here for Sarah’s bio.
I love hearing from you.
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RESOURCES TO SUPPORT RACIAL EQUITY & SOCIAL JUSTICE
National Resource List #GeorgeFloyd+
Anti-Racism Resources For White People
YWCA of Greater Cleveland Go Live For Equity
YWCA of Greater Cleveland 21 Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge
75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice
In Her Shoes Blog, 75 Black Women Owned Brands
Pro Cyclist, Ayesha McGowan’s Silence Is Agreement blog post + resource list
I'M READING (WATCHING) NOW
✶ Course Correction by Ginny Gilder. Ginny is pre-Title IX and is now a co-owner of the Seattle Storm, one of the WNBA teams.
✶ Tomboys in media in the 80s "were outspoken, confident and indifferent to the silent or explicit rules of gender around them, often dressing and acting 'like boys.'" Lisa Selin Davis, author of the above linked tomboy article and Tomboy: The Surprising History & Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different, out 8/11 argues for a wider and more complex range of gender identities and presentations in media. Davis would like to see a return of characters like Jo, from the TV show "The Facts of Life" and more examples like pop star Billie Eilish of what girls and women can be.