As a kid growing up in the 1960s, Julie Stavn wanted nothing more than to play baseball. She tucked her hair in a cap and tried to join the boys. But as a girl, baseball was off limits.
“I could have played as well or better than most of the boys,” said Stavn, a longtime girls cross country coach at Century High School. “But I couldn’t play because I wasn’t a boy.”
A few decades and one landmark civil rights law later, the athletic scene for girls couldn’t be more different. Title IX, passed 40 years ago this year, requires equal opportunities for girls and women in education.
The landmark federal civil rights legislation has had a broad impact on educational opportunities for girls and women. The rise of girls and women in sports is one of the most visible reminders of the deep impact Title IX has had.
In 1972, approximately 295,000 girls participated in sports across the nation, while 3.67 million boys did, according to the National Women’s Law Center. In 2011, 3.2 million girls were in sports, along with 4.5 million boys.
“The big thing that Title IX has done, it’s allowed female athletes to showcase their talents just like their male counterparts,” said Jim Haussler, Bismarck Public Schools activities director.
Creating Opportunities
Before the women’s movement heated up in the 1960s, athletic opportunities for girls were few and far between, especially at the high school level. Girls were considered too weak.
Title IX, signed by President Richard Nixon on June 23, 1972, did not focus on sports. But the law applied to athletics as well as other areas of education, and schools began striving to ensure that girls had the same access to athletics as boys.
“We’ve come a long way. Bismarck Public Schools handled it probably as well as any school could have,” said Linette Olson, who began coaching gymnastics and track at Bismarck High School in 1972.
She began coaching at Century High School when it opened in the 1975 and started the volleyball program there.
“I always thought it was fair and that I got whatever I needed for the sports that I coached and the athletes that I coached,” said Olson, who coached until 2005.
Fair doesn’t mean easy, however. Girls had interest, but they had in many cases not grown up playing sports.
“Some of the (basketball) games when girls first started, the scores were 12-6,” Olson said. “It was just because of the lack of experience. You have to give them some time.”
Throughout the 1970s, Bismarck added sports for girls. A timeline provided by Haussler shows the following additions of girls sports during the 1970s.
• 1972: girls swimming
• 1973: girls basketball
• 1975: girls golf
• 1978: girls volleyball
• 1979: girls cross country
By 2000, there were actually more girls sports in Bismarck Public Schools, 11, than boys sports, 8, along with four other programs. In part, that’s because the numbers of girls and boys should be comparable, and football teams have so many players, said Haussler, an educator in Bismarck schools since 1984. Haussler did not have numbers of participants available.
Striving for Fairness
Pam Ihmels was just entering high school when Title IX was signed in 1972. She was in basketball and track, the only sports available for girls at Sargent Central High School, and played sports during college as well.
In college, “I never felt that we were slighted as far as being females,” Ihmels said. “We had a knowledgeable coach who pushed for things for women in the program.”
As a volleyball coach at Bismarck High School from 1980 to 1999, Ihmels said she occasionally had to push for things for her athletes. She saw inequities with practice times and transportation, and recalls advocating for her team when she believed the boys’ teams had more favorable gym access. “I think it’s improved immensely,” Ihmels said.
North Dakota schools take Title IX requirements seriously, said both Haussler and Robert Marthaller, an assistant superintendent with the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction who serves as the state Title IX coordinator.
“I’m pretty comfortable saying that school districts by and large pay attention to it,” said Marthaller, who worked in school districts for 30 years before coming to the Department of Public Instruction.
The state does not monitor districts to ensure compliance. Complaints are handled by the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, although the state may assist, Marthaller said. His office has not been involved in complaints related to Title IX in his four years with the department.
The law has been controversial, however. For example, some have argued that, especially in colleges, the law has resulted in men’s programs being cut as a way to comply with the law.
Without Title IX, however, things would be much different for athletics, Haussler said. “The bottom line is that Title IX has been good for our country and good for our community.”
Stronger, More Confident Girls
As part of the first wave of coaches of girls’ sports, Stavn, Ihmels and Olson have seen the changes firsthand.
Stavn, the cross country coach, had nine or 10 girls each fall when she started coaching, compared to 20 to 30 girls in more recent years. A former track coach, she saw numbers climb from 20 girls to about 70 girls.
“The girls are coming to my programs stronger,” Stavn said. “They have more leadership skills in the athletic arena. They have more confidence. They feel more comfortable.”
And often, they are unaware of the far-reaching impact of Title IX. To Olson, that’s a good thing.
“It means it worked,” she said. “I don’t think that young kids now should have to have something that weighs on them, (to say) ‘If we didn’t have this Title IX we wouldn’t be here.’ I don’t want them to feel that way.”
-Andrea Domaskin is a freelance writer for the Great Plains Examiner.