Category: Sports

Student-Athletes Can Now Sue Discriminatory Universities for Money Damages, a Victory for Title IX

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U.S. District Court Judge Todd W. Robinson ruled that the female student-athletes suing San Diego State University (SDSU) for violating Title IX can pursue claims for equal athletic financial aid, equal treatment and retaliation. The decision is the first in the nation to hold that female student-athletes can sue their schools for damages.

“SDSU has been cheating its female student-athletes out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in equal athletic financial aid each year… And it blatantly retaliated against its female student-athletes for standing up for their rights. Now, it can be held accountable.”

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: How Is Life for Texas Women? Will Denver Get Its First Woman Mayor?

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: New Zealand Women’s Soccer team retires white shorts from their uniform to address the period anxiety many players face; five women are eying the opportunity to be Denver’s mayor; during the 2022 midterm elections, Texas trended closer than ever before to achieving gender parity; Finland’s youngest minister to take office Sanna Marin loses her reelection bid; and more.

Male Sports Commentators Should Shut Up and Let Women Athletes Play—Starting With Angel Reese

The NCAA women’s March Madness tournament just broke all records for attendance and TV viewership. But what pundits and fans have been talking about is LSU forward Angel Reese’s giving Iowa’s sharp-shooting National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark hell with a couple of hand gestures.

Still, Reese has everyone talking, doesn’t she? Is that really a bad thing for women’s basketball?

War on Women Report: World Athletics Bans Trans Women; Maternal Mortality on the Rise; E. Jean Carroll’s Rape Case Against Trump

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U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

This month: The FDA is set to review the application for the first over-the-counter birth control pill; World Athletics voted to ban all trans women from elite athletics; Republicans have introduced bills that would bring homicides charges for abortion; and more.

Title IX’s Generational Divide: Mother Denied, Daughter Empowered

For my daughter Gwen Jorgensen, the benefit of Title IX offered not only a gateway to activities. Gwen’s generation grew up with a belief system—a mindset that young women deserve the same as men.

The impact of Title IX presents a stark generational contrast between my daughter and me. Equal opportunity afforded her the chance to pursue sports in elementary school, high school, college and on the world stage. She grew up believing in herself, her talents and her skills.

Gender Integration in Sports: ‘I Have Been Suggesting This My Whole Life,’ Says Billie Jean King

Because sports historically have been socially constructed to highlight characteristics of male bodies and to preserve male dominance, sports can be reconstructed to be gender-integrated. People of all genders can and do play sports together in a lot of ways. The real question is whether or not society is ready to let sports start to challenge the gender binary and male dominance, rather than reinforce them.

(This story also appears in the Summer 2023 issue of Ms. magazine. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get the Summer issue delivered straight to your mailbox!)

Ms. Global: Nigerian Elections; Spain Gains on Abortion and Trans Rights; Earthquake in Turkey and Syria Jeopardizes Pregnant Women

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The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.

This time with news from Spain, Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Turkey and more.

Soccer Players Also Face Retirement Inequity

The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) won pay equity in 2022. While that’s an amazing achievement for these young women, another inequity looms for them down the road—retirement inequity. Across the board, women retire with 30 percent less retirement income than men.

Retirement services provider TIAA has launched a campaign to highlight retirement inequity and call for pay equity across all women’s careers.

The Latest Title IX Battleground: Publicity Rights in College Sports

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Most institutions today are failing to support female athletes equally to males in publicity, promotion, recruiting and athletic financial aid. These failures are now significantly compounded by a new form of inequality: payments to student athletes for use of their names, images and likenesses, known as NILs.

In a recent letter sent to the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education, The Drake Group requested that the agency issue guidance warning institutions, their conferences and national governance organizations of their obligations under Title IX and how they apply to these new NIL-related activities, and that actions by “collectives” may be attributed to the universities.