The U.S. legislation meant to combat gender inequality is called Title IX, but its a mess of a policy that's constantly being reinterpreted.  Essentially, the law states that all sexes must receive equal opportunity to participate in sport-- but there are conditions about 'interest and ability' among athletes written into the law that become problematic.  Some people might say that the 'interest and ability' among girls to play football is pretty low, and that football should remain a male-dominated sport.  Some would argue that by providing an alternative like cheerleading or a dance team, the interests of women are represented-- but 'interest' is a tough thing to gauge.  Are women naturally uninterested in wearing shoulder pads and head-butting each other, or do little girls just grow up being taught that contact sports are 'unfeminine'?  More importantly, how exactly does one gauge whether or not the 'interests and abilities' of a particular gender are being represented?  In most Title IX lawsuits, representation is gauged by mathematical proportions of the student body-- a great way to remove the human element from things and turn equality into a checklist.

 

 

  

It wouldn't be a big deal if these arguments were simply things that people liked to discuss and ponder in their spare time, but there are serious issues of professional advancement woven into Title IX.  And they aren't limited to women's sports, either.  There are a number of pundits who think that Men's collegiate gymnastics go under appreciated and underfunded-- female gymnasts' bodies are in prime competitive condition at a young age, and skilled female gymnasts often go to compete internationally while their male counterparts compete at the college level, honing their skills for a few more years-- comparing men's and women's college gymnastics is something of an apples-to-oranges comparison, and Title IX, for all its good intentions, complicates things further, turning athletes into numbers that are somehow supposed to be representational of their student bodies, their genders, and their sports of choice.  On the brighter side, if you get involved in an individual sport, you're a bit less likely to encounter college or government bureaucracy.  So get out your bikes, your skates, your juggling balls and your frisbees, and lets make our own equality outside the inefficient confines of organized sports!  Let's get disorganized!