And we’re on the frontlines to bring back single-sex competition to preserve equal athletic opportunity
Friend,
We have HUGE news.
Today, Independent Women’s Forum Ambassador Riley Gaines, alongside 15 other student-athletes sued the NCAA for discriminating against women in violation of Title IX. As Independent Women’s Forum has repeatedly told the NCAA:
Without single-sex competition there can be no equal athletic opportunity. The NCAA knows this, yet it continues to propagate a policy that allows male athletes on women’s teams, even as international sports governing bodies and state legislatures increasingly reject these unjust and inequitable policies that harm female athletes.
The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Georgia and demands that the NCAA immediately comply with Title IX and reassign female awards invalidly given to males.
Independent Women’s Forum has been on the front-line of protecting women’s sports, alongside partners including the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS). I have testified before Congress and in state legislative bodies about the Title IX and women’s rights violations we’re seeing, as have IWF Ambassadors Riley Gaines, Paula Scanlan, and Coach Kim Russell, and Independent Women’s Law Center founder Jennifer Braceras.
Title IX and women’s rights violations we’re seeing, as have IWF Ambassadors Riley Gaines, Paula Scanlan, and Coach Kim Russell, and Independent Women’s Law Center founder Jennifer Braceras.
IWF leads the Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition, where we have traveled across the country to demand the NCAA and other governing sports bodies keep women’s sports female. Just this week, IWF met with key leaders in the U.S. Senate, led by Senator Coach Tuberville, to press Congressional action to preserve Title IX.
Today’s step is a big one, but the fight is far from over.
The NCAA and sports bodies like the LPGA have the power to protect women tomorrow, without a court battle, as does every state in the country. IWF stands behind this lawsuit while simultaneously demanding leadership. It should not fall on the shoulders of young women to bring a lawsuit. The adults in charge must wake up to the discrimination and harm they are imposing on women and girls who simply seek equality.
YOU can help us in this fight. Only with your support can IWF press leaders across this country to act.
