SENTINEL WATCH September 28, 2009 Issue

GENDER EQUALITY—A STABILIZING FORCE

DAVE HOHLE

WHEN I WAS A BOY, ATHLETIC OPPORTUNITIES abounded for me. I played organized baseball, for instance, from the time I was seven. We had try-outs, uniforms, sponsors, coaches, umpires, well-maintained fields, and all the equipment we could use. I played year after year.

It didn't seem odd to me that no such opportunities existed at that time for my sister. Organized sports for girls were rare then. But that began to change in 1972, with the passage of Title Nine in the United States, a piece of Federal legislation designed to ensure that girls have equal access to all educational programs, including athletics. And since then, a growing tidal wave of girls' and women's sports activity has flooded across the landscape, sparking tremendous interest and the highest levels of athletic accomplishment. Today's playing fields are teeming with both girls and boys—challenging themselves, perfecting their abilities, and developing their talents.

Equal participation of women and men is key, and not just in sports. On August 18, an article in The New York Times titled, "A New Gender Agenda," reported on an interview with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in which she touched on a wide variety of gender-related issues around the world today that need help. They include lack of education for girls, lack of economic opportunity for women, poor maternal healthcare, and a particularly brutal form of oppression, mass rape, occurring in war zones like the Congo. Every step toward resolving these issues is a step toward stability and progress in society. Clinton concluded that "the transformation of women's roles is the last great impediment to universal progress."

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