In 1972, Title IX legislation “mandated that all educational institutions receiving taxpayer' money must provide equal opportunity to both sexes in all programs.” Authors Zimmerman and Reavill discuss the effect this legislation has had on girls' sports, the progress that has been made and the changes that still need to occur to level the field between boys and girls, men and women in sports.
This lays the groundwork for their discussion of how and why girls participate in sports from preschool through high school. They particularly emphasize the importance of girls' sports in the teenage years, or “Ophelia Years”, the years when girls struggle with their self-confidence and personal identity.
Other topics in the book include non-traditional sport, what we've come to know as “extreme sports”; problems girls may have in sports, from injury to eating disorders; and what parents can do to help their daughters get involved and stay involved in girls' sports programs.
With little data to back them up, (perhaps more studies will be done as more girls grow up participating in sports) I'm left wondering if the stories in Raising Our Athletic Daughters represent the whole as well as the authors claim. I'm also left feeling that it doesn't matter. Sports make a difference in girls' lives. Whatever their age, shape, size, color, or economic status, whether they play at an elite level or just for fun, girls benefit from participating in sports.