Despite Title IX’s progress, there’s still more to do

Playing basketball in a hallway certainly doesn’t cut it.

But that’s what students at the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School sometimes do because there’s nowhere else to play.

The all-girls public school in Chicago has a small multipurpose room with a low ceiling that accommodates jump-roping and yoga. It doesn’t have a regulation gym, so sports programs can’t be run at full-speed, meaning they are sometimes not run at all.

It reminds Margaret Stender, who was at the school Wednesday to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day, of her days as a young athlete.

The chairwoman and minority owner of the Chicago Sky played basketball at the University of Richmond in the 1970s, when girls didn’t always have access to gyms, programs, equipment and coaches, simply because that’s the way it was.

Then Title IX, the 1972 law that turns 40 this year and requires gender equality for women and men in all educational institutions that receive federal funding, was passed. By 1976, as Title IX was gaining traction, Stender, a junior in college, saw change.

“Before that, there were so many stark differences between our team and the men’s team,” Stender said. “There were no scholarships for us, but there were for them. They traveled together to games on buses (and planes) and we drove ourselves to games in our own cars. They had a training table just for them and we ate at the dining hall, which closed at 6:30 p.m. If we were late coming from practice, and we often were, we were out of luck. We would miss dinner. They got shoes and all kinds of things with their uniforms and we didn’t. We wore whatever shoes we brought from home, and we washed our own uniforms. They didn’t do that either.”

But then came the shoes.

In 1976, Stender and her teammates were stunned when their coach announced that, for the first time, they would get basketball shoes paid by the university.

“We just couldn’t believe it. We were overjoyed,” Stender said. “Our colors were red and blue and he opened the first box and inside was this really cool pair of red suede shoes. We all loved those shoes and we all picked them so that we could wear the same kind.

“We ended up having a really good season and I remember this headline in the newspaper said that it must be the red suede shoes. And you know what? It really kind of was. I think those shoes made us feel like we must be good enough and we must be important enough to warrant the school spending that kind of money on us. We had never felt like that before.”

As Title IX comes upon another milestone anniversary, Stender is thrilled that most collegiate female athletes today wouldn’t even recognize the world Stender and her teammates lived in.

Now women’s teams fly on charter planes to games, and receive most — if not all — of the same gear, equipment, meals, scholarships and support services that their male counterparts do.

“Girls grow up now knowing that they could be a professional athlete someday,” Stender said. “We have an entire generation of girls who have no idea what Title IX is and what some of the struggles were. I think even many of the players in the WNBA today don’t realize the history. Since those women were in middle school, they had the WNBA in front of them. And there weren’t Title IX issues for them at the college level. That’s a good thing.

“But we need to keep the discussion going and we need to keep the teaching going about Title IX, because there are still problems out there. The problems aren’t really at the college level anymore or at most high schools For girls at a high school like New Trier or at most schools in the suburbs, they have no problems with access to sports. There is no shortage of programming. But that’s not the case everywhere.”

Stender says that some of the biggest challenges remaining with Title IX are found in inner cities, where funding always seems to be an issue. Often what little funding there is goes to boys programs.

In Chicago, nonprofit organizations such as Girls in the Game help provide athletic opportunities to girls who can’t get them at school. Girls in the Game CEO Amy Skeen joined Stender at the charter school on Wednesday.

“We were there to celebrate Title IX but also to educate the girls about it and to explain why it still needs vigilance,” Stender said. “Title IX has done a lot of good for girls and for society as a whole. Girls are healthier, more confident and better leaders because they’ve been a part of teams. And young men are growing up seeing women as strong athletes, and I think that means they’ll be more accepting of women as teammates in the workplace.

“But in a lot of public schools, especially in big cities, there’s still work to do. Maybe no one’s enforcing Title IX there, maybe no one’s checking, and that needs to change.”

Sky high on Title IX: As part Title IX#146;s 40th anniversary, the Sky will offer a variety of related programming, events and ticket offers for fans this season.The Sky will select nine women who have inspired change across Illinois to be part of a Title IX Team. The Sky will accept nominations for the Title IX Team now through Aug. 1. Forms are available on www.chicagosky.net. The Sky will honor each member of the team individually starting on June 1 at Sky home games and will honor the entire team on Aug. 17 at the Women of Inspiration #8212; Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Title IX Game when the Sky take on the Atlanta Dream at Allstate Arena. A $40 ticket package in honor of the landmark legislation includes 2 tickets and 2 Sky Title IX Commemorative T-shirts for any 2012 home game. The Sky will also sell $9 dollar tickets in certain sections of the arena for the Title IX game on Aug. 17. Also, through the Sky Cares Foundation, companies and individuals will have the opportunity to sponsor nine girls to attend a Chicago Sky game for $81.Ÿ Patricia Babcock McGraw covers the Sky and the WNBA for the Daily Herald and also serves as a color commentator for Chicago Sky broadcasts. She can be contacted by email at pbabcock@dailyherald.com.