If You Let Me Play Sports

I have always loved this Nike ad. You youngsters might not understand the title because you have probably been surrounded by girls athletics all of your lives. Girls today are able able to swim, play soccer, run track, play basketball, baseball, lacross, volleyball, etc. You have to remember, though that it was only 36 years ago that women got the right to register for and run sanctioned marathons like Boston. The first woman to do it, Roberta Gibb, hid in the bushes at the start and ran bandit. The first official female entrant, Katherine Switzer, had to register in such a way that her gender was not obvious (K. Switzer) and was then forcibly shoved off the course repeatedly. That was in 1967. It took another four years to get the American Athletic Association to change the rules so that women were allowed to register for marathons, including Boston.

We’ve come a long way, baby. If you think Title IX is superfluous or not necessary please consider that in 1971 about 300,000 girls participated in sports (compared to 3.5 million boys) and in 1999 that number had increased to 2.5 million girls (compared to 4 million boys). Clearly girls want to play sports and there are some very good reasons for encouraging them.