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Sports in America > Women in Sports
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| Women in Sports | School & College Sports

What kind of information materials are available?
CD: Texts available on CD version.Texts available in multiple languages.

Background
·
Empowering Women in Sports
·
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport
·
Melpomene Institute
·
National Association for Girls and Women in Sports
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Sports for Women and Girls
· Sports in America
·
Title IX info: Athletics
·
Women in Intercollegiate Sport. A Longitudinal, National Study, 29 Year Update, 1977-2006
·
Women's Soccer History in the USA. An Overview
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Women in Sports
·
Women in Sports
·
Women's Sports Foundation
·
WomenSportsOnline.com

Statistics
· Women's Participation: 2007 total participation l 2007 by percent l 2007 vs 2002 l 2002-2007 Participation - Male & Female
·
Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport
·
Women in Intercollegiate Sport: 1977-2008
· Women's Sports & Physical Activity Facts and Statistics
(updated 12/12/07)

 

Two members of a Women's sports have changed dramatically on so many levels in recent decades. The dramatic floodtide of talented women athletes onto American playing fields – and the opportunities that came along with them – no doubt benefited from the women's movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, with its emphasis on self-empowerment at every level. But the true impetus was Title IX, the landmark U.S. Government legislation signed by President Richard Nixon in 1972 that guaranteed equal rights for girls and women in every aspect of education, including athletics

Title IX has had a marked impact on overall academic educational achievement in the United States. It has also leveled the playing fields of America’s schools. Title IX bans unfair treatment based on sex in any program of a school receiving money from the federal government. Schools and universities lose government aid if their sports programs do not treat men and women equally.

Title IX has helped girls and women participate in interscholastic and intercollegiate athletics in far greater numbers than they had in the past. Just one year before the enactment of Title IX, in 1971, a Connecticut judge was allowed by law to disallow girls from competing on a boys' high school cross country team even though there was no girls' team at the school. And that same year, fewer than 300,000 high school girls played interscholastic sports. Today, that number is 2.4 million. Today in the U.S. over one-third of all female students in high school play sports, and the number of women participating in university sports has tripled. Women now compete in almost every sport, whether the competition is team, individual, or mixed gender.

Girls and women also are increasingly participants in sports that have traditionally been seen as out of bounds for women, including soccer, ice hockey, lacrosse, wrestling, and rugby. In one sport that is more and more a favorite for young girls -- soccer-- the results led to a World Cup championship in 1999 and Olympic medals. Players like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain have helped make the sport more popular.

Many people say women's professional tennis has become more interesting than men's tennis. More people watch the women's games on television than the men's games. One sports commentator said, "The women are not only good players. They are also very interesting people."

Adult participation in physical activity  by age and sex.

 
Texts are abridged from U.S. State Department IIP publications and other U.S. government materials.

Exhibits
· American Cowgirl

For High School Students
· Fact Monster: Women in Sports
·
Yahoo Kids! > Sports and Recreation > Women's Sports

 

Teachers Resources
·
Profiles in Progress. Considering the Achievements of Women in Olympic Competition

Link Lists
·
About Women in Sports: Female Athletes, Women's Status in Sports
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Google: Sports > Women
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Open Directory: Sports > Women
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The Women's Club House
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Yahoo!: Recreation > Women

Features [from America.gov]
· Women’s Professional Soccer Starts in 2009 in United States. League hopes to help women realize professional football dreams, by Paul Levitan CD
· Women Go from Spectators to Champions . The role of women at the Olympics has evolved, by Alexandra Abboud
· U.S. Gender-Equity Law Led to Boom in Female Sports Participation. Research shows significant, lasting benefits from sports, by Jeffrey Thomas
· Succeed in Sports, Lead in Life, Congresswoman Tells Girls. Pelosi statement on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, by Nancy Pelosi
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Updated: September 2009