The current United States Constitution, drafted in 1787, does not guarantee legal gender equality for women and men. According to the U.N., “85 percent of its member states have explicit constitutional provisions that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and/or gender,” and the U.S. is not one. Following the 19th amendment, which granted only white women the right to vote, suffragist Alice Paul drafted the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1923, declaring, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” The ERA passed in 1972 with the help of activists like Coretta Scott King, Aileen Hernandez, Gloria Steinem, and Shirley Chisholm carrying on Alice Paul’s legacy, yet did not receive bipartisan support. So, after nearly 100 years, the ERA has not been added to the U.S. Constitution with 12 states yet to ratify the amendment. Despite this significant abasement, the U.S. government has made substantial progress toward advancing the rights of women. The Equal Pay Act in 1963 promised: “equitable wages for the same work, regardless of the race, color, religion, national origin or sex of the worker.” A year later, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act passed, which prohibited “employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.” In 1973, Roe v. Wade made it legal for a woman to obtain an abortion, and the 1994 Violence Against Women Act “funds services for victims of rape and domestic violence, allows women to seek civil rights remedies for gender-related crimes, provides training to increase police and court officials’ sensitivity and a national 24-hour hotline for battered women.” While great progress has been made, there is work to be done in a country with deeply patriarchal values. Gender discrimination remains prevalent across all sectors of U.S. society, particularly for women of color, and transwomen. Despite women holding a record number of positions in the country’s current Cabinet, including the first female vice president, who is also the first African American and first Asian American vice president, women make up a mere 26.5 percent of Congress. According to the 2021 Global Gender Gap Report, which measures economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment, the US ranks 30th out of 156 countries. Gender-based violence is also a major issue in America, and a National Sexual Violence Resource Center report found that 81 percent of women had experienced some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime. Fortunately, the progressive women’s movement runs deep in America and remains strong. A number of organizations, such as the National Organization for Women, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the League of Women Voters, and many more are continuing the fight for gender equality.

June 23, 1972, saw the passage of Title IX, the historic piece of U.S. federal legislation that, among other things, guarantees girls and women equal opportunity to participate in scholastic sports. Before Title IX, substantial inequalities existed for female athletes, receiving a mere two percent of schools’ athletic budgets with no option of obtaining athletic scholarships. As a result, only one in 27 girls played sports, further broadening the gender equity divide by limiting opportunities to gain valuable lessons through participation. Since the implementation of Title IX that number is now two in five, with approximately 2.8 million girls playing high school sports with the opportunity to earn university scholarships. Simply allowing girls equal access to sports is proven to have significant effects both inside and outside the sporting arena. Studies continue to show that women who participate in sports suffer fewer health problems, have more self-confidence, and experience greater social and economic mobility. Title IX pushed America toward equalizing women’s rights and laid the foundation for generations of women across the globe to benefit from the beauty of sport. All of which proves that when you invest in women and sports, we all win.