It wasn’t until recently, the 2012 Olympics, that women competed in all events.
Dear Friend,
Today, as we celebrate the start of the Tokyo Olympic Games, it’s important for us to remember how much westill must do to protect female athletes and ensure a fair playing field for women and girls.
To give a little history about women in the Olympics:
Women have only been allowed to compete in the Olympics for a little over 100 years.
Worth noting: The Olympic games in Greece started around the 8th century B.C.
Starting in 1991, any new Olympic sport was required to have women’s competitions.
But it wasn’t until recently, the 2012 Olympics, that women competed in all events.
Less than half of all athletes in the 2016 Olympics were women.
Women have worked so hard for so long to have the basic right as men to play and compete on a fair playing field. But now that progress is at risk, as new policies require programs to allow male-bodied athletes to compete on female teams and against biological females.
As a former college athlete, coach, and mom of a young female athlete, I know first-hand how beneficial women’s participation in sports is. And I recognize how hard those before me worked to secure the right for me to play and compete at a higher level, which gave my teammates and me so many opportunities that we may not have had otherwise.
I want my daughter, her teammates, and my young players to have those same opportunities that female sports provide. And not just the opportunity to play and compete… but the “life” opportunities they get from female sports, like personal growth, friendship, and leadership development… and the potential to get a college scholarship, play professionally, or even go to the Olympics.
But these opportunities are at stake if we don’t act now and preserve what Title IX sought to do 50 years ago: give women equal opportunities and a fair playing field.
