Title IX celebrated its 50th anniversary last month.
The civil rights law passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972 meant to prohibit sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program receiving federal financial assistance.
It was a landmark passage, one that fueled the future and continued growth and success of women’s sports.
Yet despite all of the good the law has done, it’s clear just how much work remains to be done.
We have seen the ongoing fight by women for better pay in sports over the last fifty years, with a few victories such as the recent win by USWNT in March 2022 for better pay and adequate resources such as flights and training conditions.
But the gender pay gap remains real.
It’s one of the primary reasons why WNBA players, including the still-wrongfully detained Brittney Griner, are forced to play overseas in order to supplement their income during the off-season.
Income which they should rightfully be afforded in the U.S.
Modern sport remains shrouded in an imperialist, white-supremacist, racist, sexist, classist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynoir-istic system to this day. While we have seen an increase in women’s and girls’ participation in sports since Title IX’s passage, as well as the introduction of new events to the Olympic stage (e.g., women’s water polo in 2000), media coverage of women’s and men’s sports remains heavily unbalanced in favor of men.
Recently the sports media landscape has witnessed a wave of success in women’s sports broadcasts.
The ratings for the 2022 Women’s College World Series topped that of the men’s.
The 2022 WNBA All-Star Game posted its best rating since 2015.
Yet despite those accomplishments, the ESPYS decided to take a step backward and snub women’s sports.
Prior to last night’s live broadcast, it was learned that the “Best College Athlete, Women’s Sports” award would not be televised.
To add insult to injury, several women ESPY nominees were not invited to the event, including the only Black woman at the collegiate level to be nominated for an ESPY— South Carolina Basketball star, Aliyah A. Boston.
With the continued gender pay gap, unbalanced media coverage, and other forms of gender discrimination in sports, is it any wonder that on the eve of the ESPY Awards, women would once again be among the snubbed?
Unfortunately, the answer is no.
ESPN attempted to rationalize their decision through a statement sent to The State.
“We have the utmost respect for Aliyah Boston, Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks,” said ESPN in their statement. “Due to both COVID restrictions and a new venue with much less seating capacity than previous shows, ‘The 2022 ESPYs’ prioritized athlete invitations to focus on specific awards that will be handed out during the broadcast.”
After feeling the heat of the backlash from major forces like South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, ESPN issued a late invitation to Boston, which she “respectfully declined.”
Boston’s words hit hard.
“To every Black girl and Black woman…You matter. You are valuable. You are a priority.”
Far too often Black girls and women are the last ones to be thought of.
The last to be protected, cherished, or simply held.
Our passion is interpreted as anger, and our continued survival against oppression is read as superhuman strength. Yet our accomplishments are as easily erased (disappeared) as we are.
We live in a world where a world-class WNBA player can be wrongfully detained after weeks of a media blackout and silence around her situation.
And that she happens to be a Black, lesbian, woman cannot be divorced from that reality.
We live in a world where COVID restrictions and seating limitations are blamed for omitting important invitees from events, like Boston at last night’s ESPYS.
We live in a world where Black women and girls go missing with little or no recourse.
Race, gender, sexuality, and class all still matter in sports and society writ large. Our lives at these intersections shape our lived reality, and for those of us who are Black women, we see the way the world reacts toward us, daily.
The fact remains that with a seating capacity of 3,400 at the ESPY venue, the only Black collegiate woman athlete to be nominated for an award this year should have been present. And not through a backdoor invite offered for appearances sake.
In thinking about who and who not to include, in the climate that we are currently in, how this could have been overlooked?
Seems less like an oversight and more like a deliberate attempt to as Boston put it “erase Black girls and women,” from view.
So, fifty years post-Title IX, we must really ask ourselves, how far have we come, how far left do we have to go, and are we still willing to put in the work to get there?
