World middleweight boxing champion Laila Ali has more going for her than stellar athletic ability. As the youngest daughter of world-renowned boxing champ Muhammad Ali, she has some pretty big shoes to fill. But she proved her boxing worth right from the get-go when she knocked out her very first opponent without a hitch.
That was back in 99. Since then, Laila has kept rocking the ring and using her time in the spotlight to advocate for positive social change. Ali currently serves on the board of trustees for the Women’s Sports Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to “advance the lives of girls and women through sport and physical activity.” She works for better health and fitness through her partnerships with the American Diabetes Alliance and the Nation’s Food Bank Network, which helps to alleviate hunger for low-income children in the United States. She has participated in fundraisers for ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History. She is an outspoken advocate of women and girls in sports, and also addresses the specific challenges faced by women of color and low-income women in sports. Rock on, Laila.
Watch this short video segment where Laila talks about how media representations affect young people, women, and people of color.
The Women's Sports Foundation has made some significant waves recently, with their research on inner-city girls and sports, and now with growing national attention focusing on their funded program Go Girl Go!
Go Girl Go is a subsidiary program of the Women's Sports Foundation designed to "combat the alarming physical and psychological health hazards affecting America’s young girls." In order to encourage health and wellness in young girls, the program focuses on the following objectives:
Groundbreaking Research
Education and Awareness Initiative
Grant Program
Community Activation
GoGirlWolrd.org (a website designed that enables girls to connect with other girls who embrace sports and physical activity).
The Go Girl Go program also includes curriculum-based outreach for schools and communities.
Take a look at the YouTube videos below that feature GGG! curriculum and success stories as told by ESPN.
A recent study by the Women's Sports Foundation says that young girls residing in inner cities have less opportunity in sports.
I tackled a similar issue last week when I discussed the conundrum facing African American female athletes.
Not surprising, we now have researched evidence that not only speaks to
"race" identity politics, but also suggests that class (despite "race")
is a contributing factors to inner city girls participating less in
sports than inner city boys.
Besides the most obvious "gender" identity politic, the following contribute to such disparities:
Race
Economic inequality
School location
According to a Houston Chronice article,
when communities and schools lack funding, boys will come first and
benefit from most from the money left to support sports activities.
But is this really "new knowledge"? Honestly, I could've told you that
minority and economically disadvantaged young female athletes have less
opportunity in sports. Other than gender, race, class, and geographic
location, I also think that culturing has much to do with girls' lack
of participation.
According to the study girls enter sports at approximately
10-years-old, whereas boys enter the sport at approximately
7-years-old. Perhaps the fact that some young girls are more
encouraged toward ballet shoes than basketball shoes has something to
do with the delayed interest.
My above analysis is, of course, plauged with generalities. While
growing up I was actually encourage toward ballet shoes AND basketball
shoes. Yet at the same time media, my peers, and school had somehow
conquered my subconscious and made me believe that it's better girls
take a back seat to boys when it comes to opportunity through sports.
So yeah, culture has lots to do with girls' participation in sports.
I came across this cool Nike ad, "Girls." The ad really makes a subtle
yet poignant point about girls and sports. Afterall, shouldn't sports just
as empowering for girls as it is for boys?
(Alice Coachman - the 1st African American women to win an Olympic gold medal: Photo courtesy of www.afrosportshall.com).
While perusing the Internet for stories related to Latin Heritage month, I came across a recent report by the Women's Sports Foundation. The study focused on money, race, and gender in sports. Though I was looking for something specifically geared toward Latina athletes, I couldn't help but to be drawn to the research on African-American female athletes. (I'll be covering more on Latin Heritage month this week).
While more African-American female athletes are participating in collegiate sports, they are segregated into two main sports; basketball and track & field. No surprise there, ya girl is one of those statistics.
(Rutgers Women's Baskeball Team at the height of the Imus controversy: Photo courtesy of www.gothamist.com).
The potential drawbacks that arise with these findings concern the following:
African-American female athletes have less access to sports scholarships. This is of a particular concern especially considering that many AA female athletes rely on athletic scholarships to go to college (again, ya girl fits this description). With fewer scholarships available, this creates more competition within a given sport. Unless we start seeing more Serenas and Venuses, then AA female athletes will continue to lack access to an array of scholarship opportunities. Also, AA female athletes who participate in basketball and/or track arguably do so as a result of "culturing" and/or recognized opportunity.
For instance, growing up I was more incline to pick up a basketball and put on track shoes than to pick up a tennis racket or put on golf shoes. Of course, I don't mean to generalize. My best friend and teammate played tennis in highschool (she's African-American). However, she, like me, accepted a track & field scholarship. Perhaps there was more opportunity for her to pursue track & field than to pursue tennis. Heck, track & field is the reason why I was able to attend the University of Houston and receive an undergraduate degree from one of the top schools in English/Creative Writing.
You get the point.
The Women's Sports Foundation release a report, Gender Equity and the Black Female in Sport, which lays out some more interesting considerations – in addition to my own. Here they are:
The African-American female is in double jeopardy. She is discriminated against by her gender. She is discriminated against by her race. African-American females represent less than 5% of all high school athletes, less than 10% of all college athletes, less than 2% of all coaches and less than 1% of all college athletics administrators. This data is scanty and old so the situation may be worse.
We also know that the African-American female, like the African-American male, is a victim of sport discrimination and positional stacking within sports. Her participation is restricted to basketball, track and field and the least expensive sports. Within those sports, she is underrepresented in skill/outcome control positions. She is seldom the setter in volleyball or the point guard in basketball.
We know she is almost non-existent in officiating and behind the 8-ball if she coaches because she has few if any assistant coaches and lacks recruiting dollars and other basic financial resources required to be a successful coach.
As a female and an African-American, she, as a sportswoman, has been neglected by the feminist movement and the civil rights movement because sport has been seen by feminists as either frivolous or reflective of a male model that should not be emulated.
I've never before encountered research of this kind. I've been through the rigors of a graduate Women's Studies program, I've also encountered the challenges as a female athlete, but to actually read about that which I've experienced as a woman-of-color athlete and student makes me even more aware that women-of-color athletes have been under our activist radar.
The Women's Sports Foundation offered some suggestions to address the above concerns. What are some of your thoughts, and how can these thoughts be turned into positive solutions?
