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Noticeable improvements in the opportunities given to female athletics can be seen at any level, including high school, college, and professional sports. For example, Title IX has helped augment the number of women’s intercollegiate sports teams from 32,000 in a few years prior to its passage, to about 150,000 teams today. The graph below shows just what a drastic improvement women made in High School Athletic Participation from 1974-1994. The number of female athletes increased from 294,015 to 2,124,755. The increase is incredible! More than being just an opportunity for girls to play sports, Title IX assured that females would also benefit from all of the positives of playing sports such as a healthy lifestyle, confidence, competitiveness, etc.
Not taking any credit away from this noteworthy achievement in the development of women’s athletics in the NCAA, this increase in teams and participants are but a couple of many accomplishments of Title IX. Beyond sports, Title IX had an immense effect on the opportunities for females. Since 1970, the percentage of female doctoral degrees has shot up from a mere 13.3 percent to about 50 percent in 2001—an improvement that no one in the mid 20th century would have ever foreseen. More than just permission to play sports, Title IX put women in equal footing to men. The equality which it worked towards opened the door for females more than just on the soccer field. True to what To Secure These Rights said, Title IX assured that women's fundamental Right to Equality and Opportunity would no longer be violated.
Sports Illustrated has an extremely in-depth photobook that outlines some of the best female elite athletes since the early 1920s and highlights the impact of Title IX. Check out the link!
One will immediately notice the exponential improvements in such a wide range of women’s athletics since the passage of Title IX and recognize its impact on society in general. From a financial standpoint, even though there are no female athletes in the list of 50 highest earning athletes, there is an undeniable increase in revenues from the likes of Danica Patrick, women’s NCAA basketball, Annika Sorenstam, and many others. These elite female athletes serve as role models for children and communities across the nation, while also proving to women that, given the opportunity, they can break barriers, compete, and succeed, just like their male counterparts. The right to equality of opportunity among genders has opened incredible barriers for 50% of the population. While there is no denying that the influence of Title IX was not immediate, it is quite intriguing and inspirational to recognize its development and positive impact on our nation. Even though female athletes still have a lot of room to grow in the area of money, news-coverage, and professional league popularity it will be incredibly exciting to see how this progress continues over the next several generations
