Our voices are finally falling on the ears that need to hear them
Friend,
Independent Women's Forum continues to shine a light on the fact that men and women are equal but not the same, and grow support for keeping women’s sports for women. Last week we went to the front doors of the NCAA Convention in Phoenix, AZ, to make sure our message was seen and heard by NCAA President Charlie Baker, the NCAA Board of Governors, and its nearly 3,000 member attendees across all three divisions.
In protest of the NCAA’s policy that allows men on women’s teams, we organized our fourth “Our Bodies, Our Sports” rally featuring dozens of female speakers — athletes, coaches, and parents — and a coalition of women’s advocacy sponsor organizations from across the political spectrum.
Our Message: NCAA, Stop Discriminating!
Check out the highlight reel:
After the rally, we marched arm-in-arm chanting “Our Bodies, Our Sports” and “Save Women’s Sports” to the front doors of the NCAA Convention where we hand delivered a coalition demand letter and a petition with over 70,000 signatures — including 500 Olympians and Paralympians — to NCAA executives.
For over a year now, we have requested meeting after meeting with the NCAA. Our letters, calls, and emails have gone unanswered. Female athletes, coaches, and those representing women’s interest groups deserve to be heard. We deserve a seat at the table to provide valuable insight, share our concerns, and explain the real effects of the NCAA’s discriminatory policies on women and girls.
We are encouraged, however, at new developments that we want you to know about first.
We recently received an email from a senior NCAA official saying that the NCAA is “proud to invest in, support, and advance women’s sports” and that they are working on “promoting fairness and equity.” While we are thrilled to hear about their efforts to expand women’s basketball brackets and negotiate a new multi-million dollar ESPN media rights contract for women’s sports, their claims of advancing equity ring hollow.
That’s where IWF and our diverse coalition come in and can help.
Just yesterday during a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing, U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Lesko read President Baker a portion of our demand letter and asked if he would agree to a meeting with female athletes. His answer: “Sure.”
This is a step forward in our fight to save women's sports.
We will keep you posted as things unfold. Until then, you can do a few things such as signing our Keep Women’s Sports Female open letter to keep the momentum going.
