Every spring I look forward to the beginning of the WNBA season and especially to attending Indiana Fever basketball games. Anyone who has attended those games can understand my excitement because the experience is truly exceptional in the world of professional sports. The high level of athleticism and skillful, strategic basketball that these women play is remarkable. You get a true sense of their camaraderie and teamwork; and, quite frankly, they win a lot of games while they also appear to be having fun.
Additionally, it is obvious that they play for the love of the game and not for million-dollar paychecks, which makes for a collegial, family-friendly atmosphere with ticket prices that are accessible to most of the public. There are no unnecessary elbows or cleared benches. They are role models for all aspiring athletes to look up to, and I appreciate their professionalism.
Not only are we in Indiana fortunate enough to have some of the best WNBA players such as Tamika Catchings, Katie Douglas, Tammy Sutton-Brown and Briann January, but we also have one of the best coaches in Lin Dunn. Two of my favorite Fever players, Tully Bevilaqua and Ebony Hoffman, were traded last season, but have been replaced by equally talented athletes, which demonstrates the depth of the league. There is also a lovable mascot, Freddy, who really works the crowd and a talented coed dance team, The Inferno, which is well choreographed.
Attending those games is like hanging out with your family, where everyone gets along and is relaxed. I'm always surprised that Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where the Fever play, same as the Pacers, is not sold out for the home games, but one can only hope that it is a matter of time before the community catches on.
Symbolically, the success of the WNBA, the first women's league to be fully backed by the National Basketball Association (men's basketball), represents the relative progress that has been made in the 40 years since the signing of the Educational Amendments Act, more popularly known as Title IX.
President Richard Nixon signed Title IX on June 23, 1972; and while most people associate this act with equity issues in sports for women, especially at the collegiate level, the act is really intended to address all types of discrimination in all areas of public education including K-12 schools and virtually all colleges and universities. Title IX covers issue of gender discrimination in terms of sexual harassment and violence; access to academic opportunities that have been largely unavailable to women in particular, such as in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) areas; and athletics, especially equity in opportunity for achievement, recognition and validation. And it is important to point out that this act is not just for women; it is about discrimination and oppression along issues of gender in education and an understanding that these types of laws are necessary in order to effect systematic changes that are long term and far reaching.
Title IX is necessary to protect students from the sexual harassment that nearly half in grades 7 to 12 say they experience, according to an American Association of University Women study called "Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School."
And while young women now make up around 60 percent of undergraduates, they are about 40 percent of all full-time faculty at colleges and universities. If we look to rankings within academic institutions, women become especially marginal at the full professor level with institutional barriers firmly entrenched.
We can look at 40 years of progress and our Indiana Fever team and be proud, while simultaneously acknowledging that we need at least another 40 years of progress to achieve full actualization of Title IX.
Jett is chair of the political science department at Butler University. Contact her at tjett@butler.edu.
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