For Utah State University's women’s basketball head coach Raegan Pebley, gender equality can be explained over supper.
“If you were sitting at a dinner table with boys and girls, would the girls be fed only hot dogs and the boys only fed steak? No, of course not,” Pebley said at a Wednesday event focused on Title IX, which ended gender restrictions to educational programs and activities. “You would feed both of them steak or both of them hot dogs because that is what you have to feed them with.”
The event, called “Title IX: Past, Present, and Future” was held in the Merrill-Cazier Library. The three-person panel featured USU staff and alumni who attended college before, during and after the implementation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
Joining Pebley on the panel were Loye Painter, who graduated from USU in 1963 and Dr. Hilda Fronske of the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Service’s Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department.
“When I graduated from here 49 years ago, it was an age where I was not able to play collegiate sports,” Painter said. “I am really grateful that even though I didn’t get to play under the benefits of Title IX, students today are able to.”
Title IX, also known as the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Those words provided opportunities for women to play sports in high school and college.
“Before Title IX, the percentage of women getting law degrees was at 7 percent and the percentage of women getting medical degrees was 6 percent,” Pebley said. “Today, the percentage of women getting law degrees is 43 percent, and medical degrees are 47 percent. Scholarships for sports allowed women to reduce college loan debt and gave many the opportunity to attend college.”
Fronske was attending the University of Arizona in 1972 when Title IX was passed. Traditionally, she said, only girls who were physical education majors played sports at the collegiate level. Title IX “opened the door” for women from other academic disciplines to play sports and attend school.
According to the panel members, Title IX revolutionized the world of women’s sports. However, they felt that women still have a long way to go in terms of total sports equality.
“I would very much like to see all-women referee teams and all-women coaching staffs,” Painter said.
Pebley said that even USU has its problems embracing women’s sports. As the head coach of the women’s basketball team, she thinks that more can be done to raise attendance.
“It was heartbreaking during the double-header the other day when after the boys game, most of the crowd got up and left,” Pebley said. “The girls work just as hard as the boys and we are second in the WAC right now. The Cache Valley community and women’s basketball could have a perfect marriage but everybody has to get behind it.”
She said other schools, such as the University of Wyoming, often have sell-out crowds for their women’s basketball games. USU averages from 300 to 400 spectators.
Despite the problems, the panel members believed that things have improved greatly for women in recent years. They said women are entering decision-making roles and colleges. For example, the University of Nevada, Reno and Columbia University have female athletic directors.
“As society grows so do women’s opportunities,” Fronske said.
Rebecca Eisenhower, Eric Jungblut, Trevor Anderson, Ryan Neeley, Marisa Nielsen, Trey Williams, Nicole Murray, Bailey Nielsen contributed to this report.
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