Page 11 - Gender Inequality in Sports: From Title IX to World Titles

stereotypes, such as stay-at-home dads and women welders. According to
ThoughtCo.com, “The history of feminism is simply the history of women
striving to experience their full humanity in a world shaped by and for
men.” Feminism has a long history in the United States, though it has often
excluded non-white women, women with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+
women—a mistake many twenty-first-century feminists strive to correct.
Feminism is useful to sports because it advocates for equity and
equality for women and men. It wants women to compete in clothes that
are comfortable and useful for their sport—not clothes that are meant to
be sexy and cute. Feminism wants all athletes to be paid equally for their
labor and entertainment value. Feminism wants women’s sports to have air
time and wide advertising campaigns, so more people can see their sports.

WHy WAS TITlE IX CREATED?
Even though they most likely don’t know their sports history, those
young soccer players most likely do understand that gap in respect

Athlete of the year in both of those years by the Associated Press.
When she switched her attention to golf, she was the first Black
woman to play on the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.
Black runner Wilma Rudolph was born in Tennessee in 1940.
She had both polio and scarlet fever as a young child, resulting in
her need for a leg brace. Her large family helped her rehabilitate
her leg, and by high school, she was nominated as an All-American
athlete in basketball. However, her passion was running. She
won a bronze medal in the 1956 Olympic 4x100 relay, and she
brought home three gold medals from the 1960 Olympics, after
breaking three world records. She was voted the Female Athlete
of the year in 1961 by the Associated Press.

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