E&W Blog

Today, on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, House Republicans are introducing legislation to protect women’s sports. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, introduced by Rep. Greg Steube, will strengthen Title IX’s existing protections for women, ensure a level playing field for female athletes, and protect the law from the Biden administration’s radical regulatory scheme.

The effect Title IX has had on women’s sports cannot be overstated. Fifty years ago, female athletes received only two percent of college athletic budgets and athletic scholarships for women were extremely rare. Title IX changed all of that, mandating that colleges provide equal opportunities to male and female athletes. 

This has allowed many more women to participate in sports. Prior to Title IX only 300,000 women and girls participated in high school and college sports. By the 40th anniversary of Title IX’s passage, that number was up to 3 million, and the numbers have continued to grow in the years since. This is monumental progress!

On top of this, women now hold about 25 percent of all NCAA head coaching and athletic director jobs. And women are still making progress. In 2014 Becky Hammon became the first full-time female assistant coach in the NBA, in 2020 Kim Ng became the first woman to become general manager for an MLB team, and in 2020 Katie Sowers became the first woman to coach at the Super Bowl. 

We went from women having to sneak into marathons to women in sports being celebrated; just look at the celebrity of Serena Williams and Simone Biles. 

Yet a radical leftist agenda is putting these gains in jeopardy. 

Allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports is a travesty. Sports are about competition and fair play; allowing biological males to compete against women jeopardizes both of those things. 

Title IX was passed to give women and girls equal access to education and sports. Kicking girls off a sports team to make way for a biological male takes opportunities away from these girls. This means fewer college scholarships and fewer opportunities for these girls. Some families spend thousands of dollars a year to prepare their children to compete in sports on the national level in college, only to be out-run or out-swam by a biological male—this is grossly unjust. 

These actions have real consequences and girls should be allowed to voice their concerns without fear of reprisal. So, today on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, House Republicans are recommitting to promoting women and girls in sports.