by Grace LaDolce
Just in the twentieth century, women’s status in sports has advanced. Especially in the past twenty years. Although women have a lot more recognition in the sports world today, there are still many sports that women are not taken seriously in. It wasn’t until 1900 that women were allowed to participate in the Olympics, but they were limited to golf and tennis. There have been a lot of women that have changed the views of many people about the topic of women playing sports, and even more, professionally. It has been a huge win for women to have come this far.
The enactment of Title IX, the Education Amendment, was created on June 23, 1972. This advanced girls’ participation in sports. Title IX bans gender discrimination in schools that receive federal funds for their sports programs. Because of this law, the number of females participating in high school sports has increased tremendously. Between the years 1970 and 1971, in the United States only about 294,000 high schools girls competed in their school’s sports. But by 1999, more than 2,652,000 girls participated on their schools’ teams and more than $212 million female athletes received scholarships to play sports in college.
In 1932, Olympic gold medalist Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias excelled at most sports including track, golf, basketball, softball, boxing, and many other sports. She wasn’t just an excellent athlete; she was also an amazing sports promoter. She had her own signature golf clubs, she wrote books, and made many personal appearances. Zaharias inspired both men and women when it comes to sports and sports marketers. She appealed to all levels of athletes because she played at amateur and professional levels throughout her life. This was a big deal for her to be this successful at this time because there were not many women that were publically recognized for sports. She has truly helped the women of our country in the sports world.