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Despite Title IX, Boy-Girl Disparities Still Exist in Sports

By: CHP | Posted on: June 19th, 2009 | Share:
Categories: Disparities • Education • Public Health • Urban Issues

This week, a series of articles in the New York Times explored the fact that girls in urban areas participate in sports significantly less than boys (but in many suburbs, girls play sports at rates nearly equal to boys). “Girls in cities from Los Angeles to New York ‘are the left-behinds of the youth sport movement in the United States.’”
The reasons for this include being asked to do chores and babysit younger siblings (which boys aren’t asked to do), parents who are overprotective of girls compared to boys, and cash-strapped school districts that don’t prioritize girls’ sports the way they do boys’.
The second article in the series looks at ways some schools are trying to get more girls involved, as well as the challenges they face.

Facts & Figures
According to the National Federation of High Schools, 2,953,355 high school girls participated in sports, an all-time record. Sounds good, right? Maybe not when compared to the 4,206,549 boys who competed in high school sports.

National trends hold true in Oregon, too, but even more so: in the 2007-2008 school year, 39,070 girls participated in high school sports, versus 57,753 boys (a difference of 48%).

Why does it matter?
It turns out that school sports are about more than healthy competition, fun and games. Being active in school sports has a huge impact on a person’s health and well being, both in high school and beyond. Benefits include:
    * higher high school g.p.a.,
    * greater chance of graduating from high school
    * increased likelihood of both attending and graduating from college,
    * vhigher-paying jobs at age 25
    * reduced likelihood of using drugs or smoking cigarettes
    * lower obesity rates
    * higher self-esteem

In light of this, it makes us consider how Oregon girls’ lives will be different because they don’t participate in sports as much as boys. What do you think?

Are there equal opportunities for sports in your community? What facilities are available for boys’ sports? For girls’ sports?
Perhaps most importantly, what can we do to advocate for a fairer distribution of sports opportunities?

Join the conversation in our Comments section, below.