REVIEWS | EXCERPT | CONTENTS | AUTHOR BIO | SUBJECT CATEGORIES
A reader of influential essays on the history and future of Title IX
Equal Play
Title IX and Social Change
edited by Nancy Hogshead-Makar and Andrew Zimbalist
Significant University Press Titles for Undergraduates, 2007-2008
"[A] good primer on [Title IX’s] history and struggles...the authors clearly spell out the periodic backlashes to Title IX as well as its victories."
—Michele Kort, Ms.
One of the least-understood issues in federal sports policy, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 reflects the nation's aspirational belief that girls and boys, women and men, deserve equal educational opportunities in athletics. Equal Play shows how this ideal has been implemented-and thwarted-by actions in every branch of the federal government.
This reader addresses issues in sports before Title IX and the backlash that has resulted from the policy being instituted. The editors have collected the best scholarly writing on the landmark events of the last four decades and couples these with new original essays, primary documents from court cases, administrative regulations, and relevant supporting sources. The result is the most comprehensive single-volume work on the subject.
Equal Play includes essays by many well-known sports journalists who discuss how government actions have shaped, supported, and hindered the goal of gender equality in school athletics. They discuss the history of women in sports, analyze the meaning of "equal opportunity" for female athletes, and examine shifts in arguments for and against Title IX. Equal Play will interest anyone who is concerned with gender issues in American athletics and the growth of college sports.
Excerpt
Reviews
"Equal Play is a gem. Two nationally respected Title IX experts, one a lawyer and one an economist, have teamed up to accurately portray the origins of Title IX, the impact of its application and the complexity of the issue of gender equality in sport programs sponsored by educational institutions. The result is an insightful analysis of the difficulties encountered when federal social justice legislation challenges the culturally ingrained sexism of American sport."
—Donna A. Lopiano, Ph.D., former CEO, Women’s Sports Foundation
"For any student of the history and arguments about Title IX, Equal Play is immensely valuable. It is a comprehensive and authoritative summary in support of young women's athletic rights."
—Frank Deford
"For being one of the most profound civil rights laws in the history of this country, Title IX is still a great mystery to many. Equal Play should be required reading in all history classes across this country. Nancy Hogshead-Makar and Andrew Zimbalist do a wonderful job of providing much needed clarity on a federal sports policy that should be applauded every day of our lives."
—Julie Foudy, Hall of Fame member, Olympic Gold Medalist, Sports Commentator, ESPN and NBC, and former captain of USA Women's Soccer Team
"A particular strength of this collection is its strategic reliance on primary source materials, government documents, scholarly analyses, and contemporary writings to tell the story of Title IX’s impact on women’s sports and American society overall."
—Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics
"[A] valuable edition to the literature...Recommended."
—Choice
"In Equal Play, editors Nancy Hogshead-Makar and Andrew Zimbalist bundle primary documents and administrative regulations with a diverse and excellent collection of excerpts from well known publications, essays, and speeches…Equal Play will prove to be an invaluable addition to your private collection of resources and references. Similarly, it would serve as an outstanding companion text for a number of courses or as a pre-course reading to establish a common baseline of knowledge regarding the historical, social, and legal context of Title IX…Equal Play is a well written and thoroughly researched text that provides a critical review of the historical, social and political context in which Title IX was conceived, became law, and now exists….[T]he arguments are clearly presented and supported by thorough documentation and research."
—The Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport
"Hogshead-Makar and Zimbalist have assembled an impressive array of contributors…They also include original legal documents, commission reports and recommendations, conservative political attacks on Title IX, and forceful counterarguments that respond to the attacks. The documents and data make this book a rich source of information for researchers and students."
—Women’s Review of Books
Contents
Acknowedgements
Introduction
Part I: Women's Sports before Title IX
Introduction
1. Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Sports
2. Heroines as Well as Heroes
3. Didrikson Was a Woman Ahead of Her Time
4. Sport is Unfair to Women (Part 1)
Part II: Staking a Claim: The First Decade
Introduction
5. Speech of Senator Birch Bayh to the New York Women's Political Caucus
6. Amendment to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
7. Statement of Hon. Birch Bayh, a U.S. Senator from the State of Indiana, on the Tower Amendendment
8. Jarvis Amendment
9.1975 Title IX Regulations
10. A Policy Interpretation: Title IX and Intercollegiate Athletics
11. United States District Court, D. Kansas: National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Joseph Califano et al. (Decided January 9, 1978)
12. Supreme Court of the United States: Gealdine G Cannon v. University of Chicago et al. (Decided May 14, 1979)
Part III: The Initial Backlash: The 1980s
Introduction
13. Supreme Court of the United States: Grove City College et al. v. Terrel H. Bell et al. (decided February 28, 1984)
14. Civil Rights Restoration Act 1987
15. Reducing the Commercialization of Intercollegiate Athletics
Part IV: Accelerated Pace: The 1990s
Introduction
16. Testing Title IX: Amy Cohen and Brown University
17. United State Court of Appeals, First Circuit: Amy Cohen et al. v. Brown University et al. (decided November 21, 1996)
18. 1996 Classification of Intercollegiate Athletics Policy Guidance: The Three Part Test
19. Letter from U.S. Department of Education to Bowling Green State University
20. Women in Intercollegiate Sport: A Longitudinal, National Study, Twenty-Nine Year Update, 1977-2006
21. Stronger Women
Part V: The Second Backlash: 2001-2008
Introduction
22. United State Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit: National Wrestling Coaches Association et al. v Department of Education (decided May 14, 2004)
23. Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex and Title IX
24. A Critique of Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex and Title IX
25. What to Do about Title IX
26. Open to All: Title IX at Thirty
27. Minority Views on the Report of the Commission of Opportunity in Athletics
28. Limitations of the Department of Education's On-Line Survey Method for Measuring Athletic Interest and Ability on U.S.A. Campuses
29. Bush Administration Uses Stealth Tactics to Subvert Title IX
30. Football is a Scuker's Game
31. Title IX by the Numbers
Index
About the Author(s)
 | Nancy Hogshead-Makar is a Professor at the Florida Coastal School of Law. She is a former President of the Women's Sports Foundation (1992-94) and currently serves as its legal advisor. She has testified in Congress numerous times on the topic of gender equity in athletics, written numerous scholarly and lay articles, serves as an expert witness in Title IX cases, and has written amicus briefs representing athletic organizations in the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Hogshead-Makar is an Olympic Champion from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, winning three gold medals and one silver medal in swimming. |
 | Andrew Zimbalist is Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College. He is the author or editor of eighteen previous books, including The Bottom Line: Observations and Arguments on the Sports Business (Temple) and In the Best Interest of Baseball? The Revolutionary Reign of Bud Selig. He is a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Sports Economics, and has consulted extensively in the sports industry for players associations, leagues, cities, and owners. |