Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

History

Supervisor

Shire, Laurel

Abstract

Enacted as a provision of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, Title IX dramatically reshaped intercollegiate athletics opportunities for young women at American institutions of higher education. Yet, discrimination in intercollegiate athletics continued in the decades after the law went into effect. Using the oral history testimony of ten narrators, each a woman who played intercollegiate basketball between 1975 and 1992, this thesis explores the experiences of women’s basketball players in the first two decades after the passage of Title IX. Approaching the Title IX era through the lens of social history, this thesis asks two major questions: whether female athletes benefitted from Title IX’s introduction, and how; and why inequity persisted in intercollegiate basketball under the law. While much of the literature to date has rendered verdicts on Title IX’s success, this work finds that playing women’s college basketball under Title IX was neither all good nor all bad.

Summary for Lay Audience

Title IX, an American antidiscrimination law passed in 1972, dramatically reshaped intercollegiate athletics opportunities for young women at American colleges and universities. However, discrimination in intercollegiate athletics continued in the decades that followed. Using the oral history testimony of ten narrators, each a woman who played intercollegiate basketball between 1975 and 1992, this thesis explores the experiences of women’s basketball players in the first two decades after the passage of Title IX. Approaching the Title IX era through the lens of social history, this thesis asks two major questions: whether female athletes benefitted from Title IX’s introduction, and how; and why inequity persisted in intercollegiate basketball under the law. Though many have argued for Title IX as a good or bad law, this work finds that playing women’s college basketball under Title IX was neither all good nor all bad.

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