Women playing sports today isn’t uncommon. Female sports have almost become just as popular as men’s sports. But just about thirty-five years ago, women didn’t have the equal opportunity to compete in sports until President Nixon signed Title IX in 1972.
Title IX is a law that was requires gender equality for boys and girls in every educational program that receives federal funding. The law forbids sex discrimination in educational institutions. It applies to many different areas including the ability to receive a higher education, receive a career education, receive employment of all types, and more. Since all of these programs require federal funding, they must be in compliance with the title. However, there was one aspect of Title IX that really promoted change. Due to the equality that it promised, women began to take advantage of the fact that they would now be able to participate in competitive sports.
Title IX completely revolutionized the face of sports. In a time where women were slated to become mothers and get a job, this law changed the outlook that had once existed. Women could become professional athletes and coaches, and now others, men and women, would be able to watch females play at a competitive level.
Since Title IX was passed more than thirty years ago, the female and male generations seem to take women’s opportunity to play sports for granted. The ability to participate seems to be something that always existed. And two seniors at Woodland Regional High School, both actively involved in sports, decided that they wanted to promote Title IX at Woodland in order to protect and preserve the law that means so much to girls and women across the nation.
Seniors Alma Rizvani and Sydney Corneau created a campaign called “Preserve. Promote. Protect.” in order to protect the right for women to play sports.
“We wanted to raise awareness by saying that Title IX is here and that’s the reason we as women can participate in sports and receive scholarships,” said Rizvani.
Rizvani and Corneau knew they wanted to integrate sports into their senior project but they weren’t exactly sure how. Corneau has been on the swimming and diving team for four years and both the indoor and outdoor track teams for three years. Rizvani has played Varsity soccer and basketball throughout her entire high school career. While being involved with these sports last year, the girls heard that it was the 40th anniversary of Title IX. From there, they began to pursue their senior project.
There were a variety of ways the girls began to advertise the importance of Title IX. Posters went up, Facebook pages were created, and then the purple tye-dying began. Since the color of the national organization that promotes awareness is purple, Corneau and Rizvani wanted to find a way to make the color purple be seen on February 6th, National Woman and Girls in Sports Day.
“We wanted every one to wear purple on this day so that people would ask “Why are you wearing purple? and we would tell them why.” said Rizvani.
With t-shirt contributions from Woodland for Woodland Worldwide and others, the girls spent one weekend, with a little help, tye dying over one hundred t-shirts purple for students to wear on February 6th, 2013.
And they were very succesful. On February 6th, not only were students who were given shirts wearing purple, but the rest of the students of Woodland found their own purple clothing to help promote the importance of girls being involved in sports. As the Woodland student body masked the school in purple, Rizvani and Corneau passed out rubber wristbands that read “Promote. Preserve. Protect. Title IX.” The wristbands will help students remember that girls involved in sports is a right that can be taken away if not remembered and respected.
On the day of the event, the girls put on a presentation that was presented to the underclassmen at Woodland.
“The video presentation basically consisted of the history of Title IX, and how it has affected us throughout the years,” said Rizvani “and we also showed a timeline of how things have changed over the past forty years.”
With interviews with UConn’s assistant girls soccer coach and informative videos involving America’s favorite athletes, the video intrigued the underclassmen and changed their outlook on the importance of girl’s involvement in sports.
Title IX has affected women from all over the nation and it has been especially important to one of Woodland’s assistant principles.
Dr. Dana Mulligan has been an athlete for her entire life and has used her athleticism to coach other teams. Without Title IX, she wouldn’t have had either of these opportunities. She not only played Division 1 basketball at Fairfield University, but also coached Division 1 basketball at Sacred Heart University while pursuing her masters there. Both of these opportunities allowed Mulligan to attend school for free while playing and coaching her favorite sport and continuing to achieve her educational dreams. For a female athlete, Mulligan added that playing sports truly has a positive impact on girls.
“Sports builds confidence, it builds leadership skills in young women, and I think it teaches them to be a team player, not only in sports but in life,” said Mulligan.
After Corneau’s and Rizvani’s project, the students of Woodland have begun to appreciate just how special Title IX is. Since it is a law, it can be changed at anytime (and there have been attempts) and it is important for girls and women to promote how much the law has impacted the lives of girls and women. Junior Brianna Pacileo, who is a three season athlete, wouldn’t know where she would be without the ability to play sports.
“Personally sports are a huge part of my life and without them I would not be the person I am today,” stated Pacileo, “they have been a part of my past, my present, and hopefully my future and that’s all thanks to the title.”
