Billie Jean King, Candice Lee host lecture honoring 50th anniversary of Title IX
Billie Jean King and Vanderbilt athletics director Candice Lee discussed the 50th anniversary of Title IX and the current status of equality in sports on Tuesday at a forum hosted by Vanderbilt..
Title IX is a 1972 law that prevents discrimination on the basis of gender in educational institutions that receiver federal funding. The law applies to school sports at both the high school and college levels. At the college level, schools are required to provide equal opportunities for male and female athletes, including an number of athletic scholarships proportional to the amount of students of each gender enrolled at the school.
King said that although she is most known for her "Battle of the Sexes" win against Bobby Riggs, she is proudest of being part of the Original Nine, a group of female tennis players who founded their own tour, eventually to become the WTA. When facing Riggs, she felt pressure to win the match because she didn't want to undermine Title IX.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SENIORS: Vanderbilt basketball seniors Jordyn Cambridge and Brinae Alexander embrace last ride in SEC Tournament
Many workplaces are still male-dominated. For women to survive in a man's world, King said, "you learn that from sports." She spoke of how many female athletes had gone on to become leaders in their fields and that Title IX helped create those opportunities whether or not the women finished their career in athletics.
As the founder of the Women's Sports Foundation, King said things for men and women in sports aren't equal. Girls in high school sports today don't have the same opportunities as boys did in the 1970s, she said.
"You don’t know how many parents yell at the women’s tennis team that their kids don’t have as much because of them," King said, referring to those who blame Title IX for taking away opportunities for men.
King said that she hopes to create more opportunities for women of color in sports, specifically. Growing up, King felt it wasn't fair that she was only able to play with white women.
As the first Black female athletics director in the SEC, Lee said it's difficult sometimes to exist in spaces not made for you.
“I have also spoken very publicly about being a member of this community and so many wonderful things but also not feeling 100% comfortable, and I’ve been here for 25 years,” she said.
King said the advice she would give to young women in sports is to build relationships, be innovative and be a problem-solver.
Although King recognized that there is work to be done, she noted the impact Title IX has had. Lee herself was a women's basketball player at Vanderbilt, an opportunity she likely would not have had without the law.
“Title IX is history,” King said, “but it’s your story, my story, our story.”
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Candice Lee, Billie Jean King forum on Title IX hosted by Vanderbilt
