A Year of Title IX

Celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX have so far centered around June 23, the date when the landmark amendment was signed into law. But addressing the pervasive and continued bias in attention that continues to hobble women’s sports takes more than a day. It will require changes in behavior than begins with each of us. So I propose a simple change to your life, one that is achievable, shareable, and impactful: for every post you make about male athletes, make a post or comment about a female athlete. You can consider it your own personal Title IX. #MyTitleIX.

We all think we know the basics. The US Women’s National Soccer team should be paid the same as the men, if not more! Outrageous! Did you see those facilities and swag bags for the NCAA basketball tournament? Disgraceful! It’s easy to be indignant. It’s much harder to acknowledge that our own bias is the cause.

The bottom line is that attention matters, and the lack of it obscures how popular women’s sports already are and devalues tremendous competitors. The Women’s College World has for several years been the third highest rated college championship, but that’s not reflected in the broader attention landscape. Have you ever done an office pool for the WCWS bracket?

And that attention has real financial consequences. Candace Parker was recently named AP female athlete of the year for the second time. She tweeted her gratitude to her 384k followers, noting: “Now, if only my jersey could be available for people (INCLUDING MYSELF) online, in stores, or in the meta verse that’d be great.” For reference, LeBron has 50 million followers on Twitter.

I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority of my friends, acquaintances and colleagues recognize the countless ways that women do not have equal workplace opportunity and many are deeply committed to addressing that inequity. Yet the same people will casually post about the second round of the NBA draft while never recognizing the imbalance they are perpetuating and their own power to change it.

And if it turns out that this resolution is too easy for you, you can always try it while intermittent fasting.

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