What Women Athletes Won When Title IX Became Law

This Landmark Legislation Has Evened the Playing Field for 49 Years—In Fits and Starts

Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 decreed, “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.”

Forty-nine years to the day it was signed into law, a Zócalo/ASU Global Sport Institute event assembled to assess, “How Have Women’s Sports Changed Since Title IX?”

Sports reporter Lindsay Gibbs, who moderated the discussion, began by asking the panelists—a historian, a hall of fame athlete, and …