Billie Jean King a crusader for equality |
nwitimes.com - Munster, IN, USA - In 1972, America was at war in Vietnam, President Nixon signed Title IX into law and future soccer star Mia Hamm was born.
Billie Jean King testified before Congress on behalf of Title IX, and three generations later the result is more female athletes, doctors and lawyers.
Saturday marks the 35th anniversary of the landmark legislation that bars gender bias in athletics and other educational programs.
"I kept thinking about women's teams sports," King said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I grew up with team sports and knew how vital it was that we have opportunity for girls to be in team sports. Title IX is what made the difference for girls to have that opportunity."
The law withstood attempts to weaken it in the 1980s and current efforts include the possibility of an e-mail survey to determine the sporting interests of female college students.
That aggravates King, whose life has exemplified the arc of progress for women and female athletes. Her fight for equal pay and equal rights for girls and women resonated with a generation during the 1970s and beyond.
King testified in the fall of 1971, the year she became the first female athlete to win more than $100,000 in prize money in a single year. She didn't benefit from Title IX, growing up without organized high school sports in Long Beach, Calif., and with no college scholarship to look forward to at Cal State-Los Angeles.
"Nobody worried about Billie Jean King or kids like me or girls having a scholarship," said King, who won the first of 20 Wimbledon titles at 17. "You didn't hear any outrage, you didn't hear any outcry. I'm just using that as an example because that kind of sets the times."
King went on to win 39 Grand Slam titles, the most of any American-born woman.
She's been a torch bearer ever since for Title IX.
King believes a ground swell of the civil rights movement, anti-war movement and the women's movement coalesced to make the law possible.
"I think civil rights probably helped make people think about equality a lot more," she said.
Title IX Fast Facts
* Athletics is one of 10 major areas that Title IX of the act address. Others include employment, access to higher education and sexual harassment.
* The exact wording of Title IX: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
* College athletic departments can comply with Title IX by showing a proportionality of female athletes to female students on campus; a history of increasing sports for women; or prove it has met the interest and ability of the underrepresented group.
Billie Jean King testified before Congress on behalf of Title IX, and three generations later the result is more female athletes, doctors and lawyers.
Saturday marks the 35th anniversary of the landmark legislation that bars gender bias in athletics and other educational programs.
"I kept thinking about women's teams sports," King said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I grew up with team sports and knew how vital it was that we have opportunity for girls to be in team sports. Title IX is what made the difference for girls to have that opportunity."
The law withstood attempts to weaken it in the 1980s and current efforts include the possibility of an e-mail survey to determine the sporting interests of female college students.
That aggravates King, whose life has exemplified the arc of progress for women and female athletes. Her fight for equal pay and equal rights for girls and women resonated with a generation during the 1970s and beyond.
King testified in the fall of 1971, the year she became the first female athlete to win more than $100,000 in prize money in a single year. She didn't benefit from Title IX, growing up without organized high school sports in Long Beach, Calif., and with no college scholarship to look forward to at Cal State-Los Angeles.
"Nobody worried about Billie Jean King or kids like me or girls having a scholarship," said King, who won the first of 20 Wimbledon titles at 17. "You didn't hear any outrage, you didn't hear any outcry. I'm just using that as an example because that kind of sets the times."
King went on to win 39 Grand Slam titles, the most of any American-born woman.
She's been a torch bearer ever since for Title IX.
King believes a ground swell of the civil rights movement, anti-war movement and the women's movement coalesced to make the law possible.
"I think civil rights probably helped make people think about equality a lot more," she said.
Title IX Fast Facts
* Athletics is one of 10 major areas that Title IX of the act address. Others include employment, access to higher education and sexual harassment.
* The exact wording of Title IX: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
* College athletic departments can comply with Title IX by showing a proportionality of female athletes to female students on campus; a history of increasing sports for women; or prove it has met the interest and ability of the underrepresented group.
Categories : Speaker, Athletes, Celebrity News
Posted 6/23/2007 02:06:12 AM | Permalink
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