trast, the increase for males was from 7.3 to 7.4 teams (McPherson, 225-6). With this increase between 1977 and 1984, it could be predicted that these numbers are even larger today. The majority of these new opportunities owe their existence to some form of political pressure or government legislation.Another current example of going past taken-for-granted, to achieve equality in sports was due to government regulations. People tend to complain about government regulations, but literally millions of girls and women would not be playing sports today if it were not for liberal local and national legislation mandating new opportunities. Various policies and rules have come into existence as a result of concerted efforts to raise legal issues and apply pressure on political representatives. These efforts have been made by individuals and groups committed to the struggle to achieve fairness in sports. One important policy which affected women in sports in the seventies to the present, was the American policy Title IX, the 1972 federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions. Which could be seen below. Combined with the advocacy efforts of the womens sports movement, this legislation had a significant impact by expanding physical activity opportunities for girls and women and changing attitudes about the appropriateness of sports for females, to dispel take-for-granted beliefs. During the decade and a half that followed the passage of Title IX, the number of girls participating in high school rose from 294, 015 in 1971 to 1,836, 356 in 1986-87. Another study reported that 30.5 percent of high-school girls took part in interscholastic sports in 1990-1991, compared to less than one percent of high-school girls who participated in such sports in 1971, before the enactment of Title IX. These figures not only reflect an unprecedented increase, but also demonstrate that when girls sporting invo...
