The Real Enforcers of Gender Equity in Sports: Angry Parents

A decade ago, Ginger Folger’s son, John, played high school football in Gainesville, Ga., their hometown, about 50 miles northwest of Atlanta.

“The financial resources of the football team were astounding,” said Folger, who marveled at the collegiate-level facilities, equipment, provided apparel and training services.

Several years later, Folger’s daughter Isabella joined the Gainesville High School softball team. Folger was thunderstruck when she went to the team’s first practice.

“Our softball field was horrible; a girl broke her ankle stepping in one of the many holes in the outfield,” she said. “We didn’t have protective barriers in front of the dugouts, the foul lines were washed out and the grass was nonexistent in some parts. Meanwhile, the boys’ baseball field had a beautiful press box, fantastic dugouts and a $10,000 pitching machine.”

Folger complained about Gainesville school officials. But when no improvements were made, Folger did something that many aggrieved parents across the United States have done for over 20 years. Inciting by Title IX 1972 legislation, Folger filed a federal suit accusing the school district of discriminating towards the high school girls who played softball.

The lawsuit ended with a common resolution: The Gainesville school district settled by spending about $750,000 to upgrade the softball facility, while also paying for Folger’s attorney fees, according to a district spokeswoman.

“We got a new press box, concession stand, dugouts, a completely renovated playing surface, new lighting, new bleachers, new scoreboard, new netting around the facility — basically a brand-new stadium,” Folger said of the 2017 settlement. “And we got the guarantee that going forward, any facility improvements at the baseball field would be mirrored at the softball field.”

Many discussions about Title IX, which President Richard M. Nixon signed June 23, 1972, have focused on inequalities in colleges and universities. The law’s impact has been felt in thousands of middle and high schools across the country for 50 years, resulting in millions of young female athletes having to take part in grass-roots activities. Yet at local schools, enforcing Title IX has most notably come through lawsuits — or the threat of one — driven by the families of students.

This has done more than just feed the college and university sports pipelines. Those in the trenches of the fight for Title IX compliance say it has been empowering and has created advocates for women’s sports based on personal experience.

As Sam Schiller, whose one-lawyer Tennessee firm has filed Title IX lawsuits against school districts in more than 30 states and never lost a case, said: “We’re now at the point where women who were high school athletes are raising families, and they definitely know their daughters are supposed to have what the men have had all along. It’s Title IX 2.0.”

Folger added: “I was never a bra-burning feminist. But I was able to show my daughter that she can stand up for herself and not be treated as someone lesser or not equal.”

Tracking the number of federal lawsuits related exclusively to sex discrimination in school athletics — as opposed to Title IX disputes involving discrimination in educational opportunities or sexual harassment — is difficult. But lawsuits are not the only way to measure how proactive parents have become about using Title IX to preserve their children’s athletic rights.

According to an Education Department spokesperson, the federal Department of Education has seen a 40 to 1 increase in complaints about sex discrimination at athletics between kindergarten and 12th grade. This is despite the fact that Title IX was not being enforced by colleges. The vast majority (more than 4,000) of those complaints were filed by individuals and not groups.

As girls have increased participation in sports since the law’s passage, there has been a push for equal access for boys and girls to high school sports. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, in 1971, there were 294,015 high school girls participating in high school sports. This represented 7 percent of all high-school athletes. In 2018-19, which was the last season in which the federation was able survey schools due to the coronavirus pandemics, more than 3.4 millions girls participated in sports. This represented 43 percent of all high-school athletes.

However, there are many obstacles to ensuring schools comply with the law.

One is being aware that it exists. Ipsos and The University of Maryland conducted a March survey of over 1,000 parents and 500 children between the ages of 12 and 17 and found that nearly half of the parents had never heard of Title IX.

Misinformation is another obstacle. Many high schools have booster clubs that are funded by parents and sponsors of athletes. They often raise thousands of dollars to support one sport. Most frequently, that kind of money is used to elevate football, boys’ basketball and baseball.

If that funding causes a disparity between what is spent on similar boys’ and girls’ sports, booster club leaders typically argue that they are a private entity outside the purview of school district officials — and therefore not obligated to comply with Title IX.

However, the law holds school districts accountable for any money or other resources that are funnelled towards each team regardless of their source. Even with independent funding, district leaders have to ensure that athletic experiences are fair for all athletes. This experience extends beyond the fields and facilities and includes details such as staffing, game and practice times, and transportation arrangements.

According to multiple state high school associations leaders, Title IX regulations are still being violated by a large number of high-schools, possibly even the majority. But gradually, progress has been made, and notably, Title IX clashes have rarely led to the elimination of boys’ high school teams to help achieve gender equity — a divisive decision that scores of colleges have made for decades.

In the mid-1990s Schiller was involved in his first Title IX athletic case. This was not long after he graduated from law school. Schiller’s practice is now entirely dedicated to cases involving sex discrimination of high school or middle school athletes.

Schiller softly stated that none of his hundreds of cases have been tried. He believes that a new breed school district leaders is more knowledgeable about Title IX rights. He said that for a recent case, he toured a school’s facilities for boys’ and girls’ teams with a newly hired superintendent, a woman who had been a high school athlete.

After the tour, Schiller said the superintendent told him, “I know what this is supposed to be, and we’re going to make this equivalent.”

Schiller added, “For whatever reason, it takes federal court to get their attention and make them realize they have to do this.”

Schiller also warns families that they should expect to face hostility from the community if they bring suit against school districts.

“Once news of my lawsuit got out, people started calling me the troublemaker — they thought I was destroying Gainesville athletics,” Folger said. “There are probably people still grumbling about me behind my back.”

Jennifer Sedlacek, who lives in Bennington, Neb., felt a similar backlash when she and two other families in her community filed a federal lawsuit against their school district for discriminating against their daughters’ teams.

“When news of the suit got out, it rocked our small town,” said Sedlacek, whose daughter, Taylor, played softball and basketball. “It divided the town because people thought it was going to impact boys’ sports, which is not true. People would give you this look and they won’t really talk to you anymore.”

Folger said the stigma of being the person in a community who sued the school district over discrepancies in boys’ and girls’ sports has probably kept thousands of parents across the country from filing a Title IX lawsuit. In her case, Folger was unable to convince another Gainesville family with a softball player as a co-plaintiff.

“They were worried their husband might have problems at work over the suit or they were apprehensive about people being mad at them,” Folger said. “It frustrated me because I was thinking: What about your daughter? What are you teaching your daughter? You’re worried about what someone is going to say to you and you’re teaching your daughter to be meek and mild? That’s the wrong message.”

Sedlacek did have coplaintiffs. They rallied parents from a variety of girls’ sports at their high school to highlight numerous discrepancies between how boys’ and girls’ teams were treated. They also criticized inequal access for weight lifting rooms, the lack of athletic trainers, as well as the use of portable toilets on the softball field without running water. This was a particularly difficult topic for parents and athletes.

The parents set up a website to support the lawsuit. They also organized a drive to sell T shirts they had made, embossed with the Roman numerals X. Athletes from girls’ teams wore the T-shirts to school and to a town board meeting. The local news reported on the case.

“When you’re in a lawsuit you can’t really say anything, but the girls were out there being vocal and trying to educate people,” Jennifer Sedlacek said. “It wasn’t always easy for them because when you’re an athlete, most of your friends are boys athletes and then the administration is mad at you, too. But I was really proud they persevered.”

Six months later, the lawsuit against Bennington schools was settled. Improvements to the girls’ softball field were quickly made. Uniforms for the girls’ basketball and softball teams were upgraded as were other amenities for multiple girls’ teams. The softball field was upgraded with new restrooms.

“That construction got started really fast, and the field got completely redone; it looks amazing,” Jennifer Sedlacek said.

Taylor Sedlacek, who will play softball at Wichita State next season, attended last year’s Women’s College World Series, the final portion of the N.C.A.A. With her mother, she attended the Oklahoma City Division I softball tournament. The parents of 14 of the players in the tournament were former clients of Schiller, Ray Yasser and are now retired.

“I thought that was a proud statement — to know that 14 of those girls, they did have Title IX at work for them,” Jennifer Sedlacek said. “Maybe that’s how those girls got their opportunity to get that far in their careers. It took somebody to stand up for them.”