Barriers to Fair Play

With the 35th anniversary of Title IX, the federal law that bans sex discrimination in all aspects of education, there is much to applaud. Women and girls have opened doors to institutions, programs, and careers that were previously closed to them. In sports, the rise in participation by female athletes has not only attracted national attention, but has been a source of national pride.Despite substantial progress, discrimination against and barriers to progress by women and girls remain all too prevalent across educational programs and activities. To identify trends that underlie the statistics, the National Women’s Law Center undertook an examination of the athletics complaints filed with, and compliance reviews conducted by, the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education over a five-year period.The results of this investigation provide a context for what the statistics demonstrate: 35 years after the enactment of Title IX, girls and women are still given fewer opportunities than their male peers to participate in sports.