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Nine-Year-Old Girl Football Star Highlights Flaws in Gender Segregation of Sports

Dave Zirin at The Nation analyzes why Title IX—which mandates corresponding female teams for all male high school sports teams—may now actually be perpetuating inequality:

Why do we still segregate so much of youth sports based on gender? Does the practice of doing so actually stunt female athletic potential? Would ending gender segregation foster a higher level of athletic excellence? The early women’s rights activists certainly thought so. As Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote in a women’s issues magazine, The Lily, “We cannot say what the woman might be physically, if the girl were allowed all the freedom of the boy, in romping, swimming, climbing, playing ball.”

I believe this is a multi-faceted issue, with pros and cons on both sides, but I also generally believe that the prinicple of equality should win, and this seems like no exception.

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