50 years ago today, Richard Nixon signed Title IX of the Civil Rights Act into law. In celebration of that fact I am using this “Tennis Hits the Books” Thursday to run a revised review of the best tennis related book on Title IX. While the law had a seismic impact on educational and athletic opportunities for women, there is still significant opportunity to improve compliance and enforcement.
Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women’s Sports is a great resource to learn more about Title IX and its impact on women’s athletics. The book interweaves the biography of Billie Jean King with the events surrounding the emergence of women’s athletics. That combination makes the history much more accessible than if presented as a standalone topic. The story is virtually inseparable from the life of Billie Jean King anyway, so it is a natural combination.
Some claim that Billie Jean, through the “Battle of the Sexes” match with Bobby Riggs, was a driving force in the passage of Title IX. In truth, the landmark legislation passed a full year before the Battle of the Sexes match occurred. Additionally, author Susan Ware could find no reference to Title IX in any of the publicity run up for that match. The influence of that match came much later as implementation and enforcement of Title IX was debated.
Title IX was a part of the Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act passed. While it has come to be identified most closely with athletics, the scope is much broader. Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. More succinctly, this section is aimed at equal opportunity for both genders in education.
The fact that the implementation and enforcement of Title IX was dominated by athletics in the legislative and judicial process is revealing. In retrospect, it is a commentary on our society as a whole. Sports is life.
The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) is the dominate governing body of intercollegiate sports in the United States. That organization completely missed the implications that Title IX would have on athletics when it was passed in 1972. It belatedly and aggressively inserted itself into the debate in 1974. The NCAA identified Title IX as a grave threat to the status quo in college athletics, specifically the male dominated revenue generating sports. From that point on, Title IX was largely identified as a sports law.
When Title IX was passed, the NCAA was explicitly for men’s athletics. In fact, the organization had adopted an explicit rule in 1964 that confined its scope to the men. Women’s athletics were under the purview of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) when Title IX was signed into law. The AIAW’s approach to athletics was philosophically more recreational and less commercial than the way the NCAA viewed men’s sports.
Billie Jean did not play tennis in college due to the simple fact that athletic scholarships did not exist for women. Title IX leveled the playing field. Later, the NCAA lobbied for a provision that institutions had to offer athletic scholarships in proportion to the gendered general enrollment at the institution. At the time, more men than women were attending college, and the NCAA thought they had found a loophole to favor the men. That plan backfired in subsequent years as the enrollment of women in college surpassed men.
It wasn’t until Title IX elevated women’s athletics to revenue producing status that the NCAA took an interest in becoming the governing body for all collegiate sports. In 1982, following a bitter legal battle, the NCAA took over administration of Women’s athletics from the AIAW. It is debatable whether being under the purview of the NCAA has helped or hindered women’s athletic opportunities. In any case, the NCAA doesn’t come off very well as portrayed in Game, Set, and Match.
There are no better closing than words that the ones than appear in the epilogue of Game, Set, and Match. “Few public figures, let along athletes, can point to such a deep and far-reaching legacy.” The story of Billie Jean King, when interwoven with the story of Title IX, is a culmination of achievement in societal change. At the same time it issues an implicit challenge to do more. It is an unfinished agenda.
About That Unfinished Agenda: Demand IX
There is something everybody can do today to make a difference. Demand IX is a national initiative to support ongoing efforts for strong Title IX protections and enforcement. The sad fact of the matter is while Title IX produced a profound impact on opportunities for women, the vast majority of Federally funded educational institutions would currently fail a compliance audit.
Enough is enough. The Demand IX initiative is working to educate and empower people with the tools to demand more robust Title IX protection and enforcement. Pledge to join the fight is a petition to demand that the full promise of Title IX is achieved.
 | Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women’s Sports |
