Fair Play for Girls in Sports

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Since the enactment of Title IX nearly 40 years ago significant strides have been made in securing equality for girls and women in collegiate sports. However compliance with the law in elementary, middle, and high schools is marginal at best. There is a similar need to ensure equal access to athletic opportunities for young low-income girls through their local Parks and Recreation Departments—a right afforded by California law AB 2404.

That is why the LAS–ELC has launched Fair Play for Girls in Sports.

With generous support from John and Terry Levin and the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of California, Fair Play for Girls in Sports will promote the health, well-being, education, and future employment opportunities for low-income girls in grades K–12 by:

  • Ensuring that sports programs provided by public schools in poor neighborhoods afford girls in grades K–12 with equal athletic opportunities as required by Title IX; and
  • Ensuring that sports programs sponsored by state Parks and Recreation programs that serve low-income communities provide girls in grades K–12 with equal athletic opportunities in accordance with California state law AB 2404.

The Need view

Participating in sports can have a profound and lasting positive effect on the future of girls. Studies have shown that high school girls who are involved in team sports are significantly more likely to graduate from high school and that they are also more likely to obtain jobs and have success in the workplace.

The skills that young women gain from playing sports—such as teamwork, leadership, and discipline—can be crucial to their later success in higher education and employment. These correlations are particularly strong for poor girls and girls of color.

The Gameplan view

The staff for Fair Play for Girls in Sports will work with our key partners to identify key schools, districts, and communities that have large numbers of low-income and minority girls. Fair Play for Girls in Sports will then employ a multi-pronged approach to this issue, including:

  • Education: We will create and disseminate information about the importance of equal access to athletic opportunities for low-income girls in grades K–12. We will reach out to community groups, professional organizations, and the media and through articles, opinion pieces, and other means to promote this concept.
  • Fair Play helpline: We will share information, address complaints and identify potential actions for clients who call our free helpline.
  • Data Collection: We will maintain a statewide database on compliance efforts for evaluation and informational purposes.
  • Outreach: We will reach out to community groups, professional organizations, and media to disseminate educational material and information.
  • Educate Stakeholders: We will provide advice and information to schools, Parks and Recreation programs, and other stakeholders about legal requirements and encourage compliance as needed.
  • Technical Assistance: We will offer technical assistance to school districts, parks and rec agencies, sister organizations and state and federal legislators regarding enforcing and improving existing laws.
  • Pre-litigation Solutions and Litigation: We will engage in negotiations to secure agreements and monitor their provisions and, in select instances, engage in litigation when other strategies prove ineffective and an affirmative ruling would likely have a strategic role in advancing opportunities for girls throughout the state.

Key Partnerships view

In all of these efforts, we will continue to develop new partnerships and build upon our work with key partners including:

The health of California’s girls—and particularly those living in low-income communities and communities of color—is in a state of crisis. The socio-economic conditions of their neighborhoods make them especially vulnerable to falling prey to a host of poor health outcomes including obesity, low-academic achievement, depression, substance abuse, violence, incarceration and pregnancy.

More than any other subgroup in our society, these young women may have no other choice but to spend their after-school hours hanging out in front of the corner store or sitting in front of a television screen eating unhealthy snacks … Providing high-quality organized sports programs to girls living in poverty offers one relatively low cost remedy with proven results.

Participation by girls in these programs can increase a girl’s chances of growing up to be a successful, healthy adult, reduce her likelihood of obesity and depression, and decrease her chances of illegal drug use or unprotected sex. Yet girls in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color have the fewest opportunities to access and benefit from the life-changing power of sports.

—“The Perils of Poverty”, Team Up for Youth

RECENT CASES

Ollier et al. v. Sweetwater

Lauren Cruz et al. v. Alhambra School District

In recent years, The Legal Aid Society–Employment Law Center has filed two significant lawsuits in California regarding Title IX enforcement at the high school level.

Read about these cases