Category: Sports

The Latest Title IX Battleground: Publicity Rights in College Sports

and

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.

On Cherelle Griner and the Black Lawyer American Dream

Brittney Griner is home, against odds that increasingly seemed too insurmountable. Activists, journalists, athletes and artists, many of them Black women, loudly and persistently called attention to her unjust incarceration. But without a doubt, the lawyer in her family—her wife, Cherelle Griner—is responsible for her homecoming. Her advocacy matches the historical and current reality of the critical importance of Black lawyers to Black liberation.

I’m Sounding the Alarm Now About Media’s Response to Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show

The Super Bowl Halftime Show is a time-honored but impossible set-up. Women artists have experienced especially harsh post-show takes. So what will it be in Rihanna’s case?

There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on her performance post-baby, her first live appearance since 2018. The gendered expectations and sexist labeling of women in music vary by individual, and racism has a significant impact in certain cases. But this abuse in all cases works to enforce norms of behavior expected of women.

Perhaps if we recognize the cycle, we might better tune out the toxic takes to come.

They Fought Like Girls: How a 1979 Softball Team Saved the Sport

The women of the 1979 Oregon State University softball team used Title IX as a tool for institutional change. Decades later, they’re finally getting the recognition they deserve.

“At that time the most successful teams on campus were women’s and we had to fight with the athletic department for everything … I think I just reached my limit and felt like we had an opportunity to try to do something. I wanted justice.”

In ‘The Swimmers’ Film, Director Sally El Hosaini and Olympian Yusra Mardini Bring the Refugee Experience to the Screen

In 2015, sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini, trained as professional swimmers by their father, fled Syria with hopes of escaping their war-torn homeland. During the harrowing 25-day journey, the dinghy’s motor broke and the boat began to sink—so Yusra and Sara jumped into the frigid waters to drag the boat to shore. Eventually granted asylum in Germany, Yusra began training again at a Berlin pool and was selected to compete as part of the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Their story has been captured in The Swimmers, an evocative biographical drama directed by Sally El Hosaini and released on Netflix last month. In this Q&A, Sally El Hosaini and Yusra Mardini discuss the experience of making the film, how to tell true stories, and what they hope viewers will take away.

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: ‘We Are Meeting Because We Are Prime Ministers,’ Jacinda Ardern Tells Reporter; Ukrainian Women Are Vital in Fight Against Russia

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

This week: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern makes a male reporter shrink into a ball of shame; a new school is training women to fly drones—a key component to Ukraine’s resistance against Russian forces; an all-women referee trio for the first time at the World Cup;

What to Expect When Expecting (and Running)

Running for office while pregnant or parenting can be a major challenge.

I discovered I was pregnant the week the Dobbs decision was announced. I briefly considered suspending my campaign because I knew how hard it was going to be for my family and me. But at the end of the day, the reason I ran for public office hadn’t changed or become less significant to me, and so I decided to stand up for what I believe in.

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: Black Women Win Big at the Emmys; U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Officially Scores Equal Pay

and

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

This week: U.S. women’s soccer team officially secures equal pay; Black women win big at the Emmys; how ranked-choice voting would help women candidates compete in New York City; and more.

Women Will Be Playing Hardball on TV This Season

“There’s no crying in baseball,” says Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own. But the film’s more subtle theme is that there are no lesbians in baseball. The 1992 film made no mention of the fact that many of the athletes in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) were gay.

But last Friday, Amazon Prime Video unveiled an eight-episode series, also called A League of Their Own, that includes openly lesbian AAGPBL players.

Fifty Years After Title IX, a Look at Billie Jean King’s Activism

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the law that opened all educational programs, including sports, to girls in the United States.

Tennis legend Billie Jean King has done more than any other athlete to make the promise of Title IX a reality. She also won a record 20 Wimbledon titles, 13 US titles, four French titles, and two in Australia between 1961 and 1979.