Black and White Women Far From Equal Under Title IX

 By William C. Rhoden
 Sports of the Times

 New York Times
 June 10, 2012

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/sports/title-ix-has-not-given-black-female-athletes-equal-opportunity.html

 Last week, 20 African-American women with various
 connections to athletics met in Harlem at the Schomburg
 Center for Research in Black Culture. This was a private
 event - no stage, no audience - but a gathering of
 accomplished, like-minded women who had come to tackle the
 vexing issues of gender and race. The topic was "What's Not
 Being Said About the Title IX Anniversary."

 They were diverse. There was an 88-year-old grandmother and
 a 21-year-old recent college graduate. They were executives
 of sports foundations and nonprofit groups. A lawyer, a
 psychologist, coaches, recently retired athletes and grass-
 roots organizers. They talked about their experiences - and
 lack of experience - in sports. But the overriding question
 of the evening was how to widen sports opportunities for
 black girls when access increasingly hinges on financial
 resources and a steep time commitment from parents.

 This month marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX of the
 Education Amendments becoming law. On June 23, 1972,
 President Richard M. Nixon signed into law the statute known
 as Title IX, which declared, "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."

 ...A few days before the Schomburg salon, the Aspen
 Institute Sports and Society Program held a public symposium
 in Washington with a similar theme: "Title IX and Beyond:
 How Do We Get the Rest of Our Girls in the Game?" The focus
 was broader - women of color - but it dealt with the same
 issues of a widening gap of opportunity separating white
 women and nonwhite women...

 There was a distinct difference in how the two groups framed
 the array of problems. At the Aspen Institute forum, the
 sense was that the inequality of opportunities was an
 intentional blind spot that could be corrected with good
 will. In Harlem, there was a sense - among some, although
 certainly not all - that the gap was in some ways a moat
 designed to protect white privilege, opportunity and power.

 Tina Sloan Green believes the latter...

 She said she did not think that the inequities in sports
 opportunities were an accident. "These white women don't
 want us to compete with them," she said. "They want their
 kids to get the scholarships. They're thinking about
 themselves. They give us all kinds of awards, but when it
 comes time to distributing the money, it's a whole other
 story."

 Read more:
 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/sports/title-ix-has-not-given-black-female-athletes-equal-opportunity.html

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