Press Statement Biediger et al., v. Quinnipiac University
New York, N.Y., July 21, 2010 – Today a federal district court in Connecticut held that Quinnipiac University discriminated against women in violation of Title IX when it played its own counting games, designed to limit the athletic participation opportunities for its female students. This victory should send a powerful message to other schools - familiar to the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) - that similarly thwart equality in education and the promise of Title IX. Specifically, the court held that:o Competitive cheerleading is not yet an intercollegiate sport as a matter of law. The WSF embraces many aesthetic sports into ...
Women's Sports Foundation Responds to the CSC Study on NCAA Soccer
New York, N.Y., June 10, 2010 – Today the College Sports Council (“CSC”) released another misleading report that selectively chose statistics to make it appear, once again, that Title IX is hurting male student-athletes. This time the CSC has targeted soccer, only comparing men’s and women’s programs within Division I. Once again, the premise of comparing any one sport with another is faulty and contrary to the law; the law requires balance within the entire sports department. The law does not make a distinction between athletes wearing facemasks, swimsuits, shoulder pads or singlets, but compares the overall sports program opportunities, ...
Women's Sports Foundation responds to Chicago Tribune
New York, N.Y., June 9, 2010 – At a time when sports participation is at an all-time peak in high schools and colleges for both males and females, it is demoralizing to see so many journalists portraying women athletes in demeaning ways. In yesterday’s Chicago Tribune, the front cover insulted Chris Pronger of the Philadelphia Flyers with a photoshopped image as a female ice skater in a skirt. The sexist tactic to put a male athlete down by equating him to a female athlete harkens back to a time when women’s athletic abilities were belittled. (Remember “you throw like a ...
Nancy Hogshead-Makar named Women's Sports Foundation Senior Director of Advocacy
New York, N.Y., April 19, 2010 – The Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) today named Professor Nancy Hogshead-Makar its Senior Director of Advocacy. The WSF was founded by Billie Jean King in 1974 as a driving force to attract girls and women to sport while promoting better health and education.
Hogshead-Makar has a 25-year history with the WSF. She began as an intern after the 1984 Olympics, where as a swimmer she won three gold and one silver medal. She became a member of the Board of Directors in 1985, becoming Vice-President from 1990-92, and served as the organization’s third President from ...
U.S. Civil Rights Commission report repeats prior failed attempts to weaken Title IX
The U.S. Commission Civil Rights issued a report on Title IX today. It’s recommendations would weaken the law by encouraging schools to use the discredited 2005 Department of Education “Model Survey” to limit sports participation for girls via an email, and recommends changing current regulations to measure the relative interests of males and females. These arguments are nothing new; they have been repeated before every branch of government and have failed to find a receptive audience until today.
The 2005 Model Survey has been most criticized for allowing non-responses to a school administrator’s email survey to indicate that girls are ...
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