Social change takes an incredibly long time and is contentious
We had to learn to deal with the anger of football coaches and men’s sport officials who were not happy about sharing their financial resources
Deal with an increase in personal attacks on coaches and women’s sports leaders…males coaches alleging that female coaches were homosexuals or encouraged homosexuality…trying to play the homophobia card to silence Title IX advocates…importance of confronting this tactic head on to defuse it
Learned that large bureaucracies like educational institutions only change in response to two forces: (1) lawsuits and (2) embarrassing press coverage..both are present when parents sue
We learned that the sports press loves controversy and it wasn’t as in love with men’s sport as we thought
Sport journalists had daughters too and they were not happy with the arrogance of male athletes and officials who whined over their bloated budgets
The press loves numbers and facts and the discrepancies between men’s and women’s sports were so large they made for great newspaper material
We learned the importance of being immediately responsive to the press…quick position papers…strong answers and reasoned quotes from celebrity athletes and women’s sports leaders
We learned the importance of yearly meetings with key national media…personal relationships…exclusive stories…proactive outreach…visit with the media in every city I travel to
Women’s sports NGOs learned that data was so important that it worked with elected government officials to pass new laws to require colleges and universities to disclose financial and participation information
Every year the press collects this information and embarrasses more universities with report cards and disclosures
Learned to work with organizations outside of sport who championed women’s rights and to use them as mentors and partners
We learned to counter men’s sports allegations that gender equity was a zero sum game – that men’s sports must lose if women were to be given an equal opportunity to play
Over the last 30 years, nothing negative has happened to men’s football, men’s sports participation and sports budgets have continued to increase while women’s sports participation and budgets continue to grow
We learned to counter the media who wanted to create a macho contest -- who is better, male or female athletes or men’s or women’s sports…and to constantly come back to basic family values…do we want our children treated differently?
Different is not “less than”; different is “not the same as”
We learned the game of intellectual chess
Learned about the 4 stages of change
1. Anger – it’s okay if people are mad at you, it means you are winning
2. Backlash – coaches lost their jobs because they raised Title IX issues…we learned to have parents raise questions and teachers who had tenure and could not be fired
3. Acceptance – comes when parents see the impact of sport participation on the lives of their daughters
4. Celebration – in ’99 when USA women won the World Cup before huge crowds and a national TV audience…igniting national pride and celebration among all men and women…social change with the help of mass communication…like Canada defeating the USA for Olympic gold in hockey
Learned that cultural institutions slow to change – 30 years and we are only halfway to equality
Learned that losing engenders bitterness… press and men’s sports leaders are eager to exaggerate the failures of women’s sports…unfairly…using double standards
Learned that dinosaurs, men who grew up being taught that girls weren’t as interested in sport as boys or that no one would come to see women play sport – we learned that these dinosaurs still occupy critical decision making positions and obstruct progress
Learned it takes a while to get young fathers who believe their daughters should play to advance to these positions
