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Title IX report: Gender gap persists in high school and college sports

(Mercedes Oliver/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

A new report published by the Women’s Sports Foundation has found that almost 50 years after the enactment of Title IX, girls still have fewer opportunities to participate in high school sports than boys.

Additionally, the number of opportunities for girls still falls below the number of opportunities available to boys in 1972. At the time of Title IX’s enactment, boys had just over 3.6 million high school sports opportunities. In 2018-19, girls had 3.4 million opportunities, while boys had 4.5 million opportunities.

Just 60 percent of girls are participating in high school sports compared to 75 percent of boys.

A report from Sport England’s Women in Sport in 2019 lends some insight into that statistic. The study found that 64 percent of girls will have quit sports by the time they finish puberty at age 16 or 17. Part of the reason, the study finds, is that seven out of 10 girls are afraid to fail and avoid trying new things. Six out of 10 said that failing during puberty led them to want to quit.

There are also other barriers, such as lack of confidence due to body image and appearance, feelings of physical and emotional vulnerability during puberty (for instance, 42 percent of 14-16 year olds said that periods stopped them from taking part in sport while in school), and feeling as though only those with talent have value.

There’s also the fact that the proportionally equitable opportunities that women and girls are supposed to receive under Title IX still lag behind. While women account for nearly 60 percent of all college students, only 43.9 percent of college sports opportunities are awarded to women.

Women also lag behind in scholarships by $252 million.

“We should absolutely celebrate the fact that girls’ participation in high school sports is nearly 12 times higher than it was when Title IX was passed, but we cannot rest on it,” WSF founder Billie Jean King said. “The mere existence of Title IX does not ensure equal opportunities unless it is enforced for everyone, particularly among girls and women of color, those with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ community – where the gap is consistently the widest.”

In high schools with majority Black and/or Hispanic students, girls receive 67 percent of the opportunities that the boys do. At predominately white schools, that number sits at 82 percent.

Recently, Republican-backed legislation has taken aim at targeting the exclusion of transgender youth in the name of protecting women’s sports.

As a result, the WSF recommends that the U.S. Department of Education “issue specific policy guidelines confirming that Title IX should be interpreted to provide opportunities to transgender and nonbinary students to participate in sports in a manner consistent with their gender identities” and that state policymakers implement “inclusive policies for transgender and nonbinary athletes.”

Additionally, the WSF recommended the development of a new federal reporting system to better monitor Title IX compliance and encourage colleges to hire more women and nonbinary individuals into positions in administration.

Aryna Sabalenka Wins US Open Final, Becomes 1st Repeat Champion in 11 Years

World No. 1 tennis player Aryna Sabalenka poses with her 2025 US Open trophy.
World No. 1 tennis star Aryna Sabalenka won her first 2025 Grand Slam with her US Open championship win on Saturday. (Elsa/Getty Images)

Aryna Sabalenka won her first Grand Slam of the 2025 WTA season on Saturday, with the world No. 1 defeating then-No. 9 Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6(3) to claim the US Open trophy — the final Slam of the year.

"To bring the fight and be able to handle my emotions the way I did in this final, it means a lot," Sabalenka said following the match. "I'm super proud right now of myself."

After successfully defending her 2024 US Open title — and claiming tennis's top 2025 paycheck in the process — Sabalenka is now the tournament's first repeat champion since 2014, when Serena Williams claimed a third straight trophy at the New York Slam.

The 27-year-old narrowly avoided a Slam-less year, going without a trophy despite reaching both the Australian Open and French Open finals as well as the Wimbledon semifinals.

"I think because of the finals earlier this season, this one felt different," Sabalenka said. "All of those lessons are making me tougher, tougher, and tougher."

As for Anisimova, the US rising star added a new career-high WTA ranking alongside her second straight Grand Slam final appearance on her 2025 resume, rising to world No. 4 in Monday's update.

Also earning a noticeable bump on Monday was Japanese star Naomi Osaka, who clocked in at No. 14 after a stellar Grand Slam comeback run to the 2025 US Open semifinals.

2025 Expansion Team Golden State Valkyries Break WNBA Attendance Record

Golden State Valkyries mascot Violet the Raven sits in the splits on the court while firing a T-shirt gun into a sellout Chase Center crowd during a 2025 WNBA game.
The Golden State Valkyries have sold out every home game in the WNBA team's inaugural 2025 season. (Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Golden State Valkyries have made WNBA history yet again, setting a new league attendance record by selling out all 22 of the 2025 expansion team's home games this year — and doing so in their debut season.

Even more, the WNBA surpassed the 3 million-fan mark over the weekend, an historic first for the 29-year-old league.

A hit from the very first tip-off, the Valkyries have seen unprecedented support while becoming the first-ever expansion team to make the WNBA playoffs in their inaugural year.

Making the announcement in their final 2025 regular-season home stand against the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday, the Valkyries have officially seen fans fill every one of the Chase Center's maximum 18,064 seats all season — claiming a WNBA all-time record for any team's per-game average along the way.

With those season-long record crowds, Golden State also now owns the WNBA total attendance mark at 397,408 fans on the year.

Just behind Golden State are the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty — the only other WNBA teams that will close out the 2025 regular-season with average crowds over 16,000 and totals breaking the 300,000-fan mark.

With one home game still left to play for each team, Indiana has welcomed 349,313 total fans so far, while New York currently sits at a 341,575 total attendance for the 2025 WNBA season.

Attendance has skyrocketed across the WNBA year, thanks in part to the league adding both a 13th franchise as well as two more home games to each team's 2025 schedule.

As a result, the league demolished the previous season-high attendance of 2.36 million set in 2002 and, with 11 games still on the 2025 regular-season schedule, the WNBA is currently on track to push past the 3.1 million mark before the postseason tips off.

WNBA Titans Sylvia Fowles, Maya Moore, and Sue Bird Inducted into Hall of Fame

Retired WNBA legends Sylvia Fowles, Sue Bird, and Maya Moore hold their induction trophies at the 2025 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony.
2025 inductees Sylvia Fowles, Sue Bird, and Maya Moore entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Three retired WNBA icons received their flowers over the weekend, as Minnesota Lynx legends Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore and Seattle Storm great Sue Bird took their places in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday — making the 2025 WNBA class arguably the most dominant in HOF history.

"Now that I'm in the Hall, I believe I have become Auntie Maya," Moore said in her enshrinement speech. "I want to challenge you up-and-comers to learn to love and seek out joy and connection as your biggest motivator."

With 11 Olympic gold medals — more than any other HOF group — and 10 league championships between them, plus countless individual honors, Fowles, Bird, and Moore comprise the strongest women's basketball Hall of Fame class in history.

Even more, this is the first year that the Naismith has added a full trio of WNBA players to its hallowed halls — a testament to the unmatched careers of Bird, Moore, and Fowles.

"Put us on a 3×3 team, you'd have some problems — we'd be pretty good," Bird joked. "It is pretty special to go in with people who aren't just amazing players, having impact on and off the court, but these are players that I got to experience life with."

"I think that would be fair to say that they would have the title of best class ever," Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve said.

Orlando Pride Falls to Chicago Stars as NWSL Skid Continues

Orlando Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse watches from the ground as Chicago Stars forwards Ludmila and Ally Schlegel celebrate a goal during a 2025 NWSL match.
The No. 5 Orlando Pride fell 5-2 to the No. 13 Chicago Stars on Sunday. (Daniel Bartel/NWSL via Getty Images)

The 2025 NWSL season for the No. 5 Orlando Pride has taken a sharp downturn, as the reigning league champions are now winless in their last seven games following Sunday's 5-2 loss to the No. 13 Chicago Stars at Northwestern University's Martin Stadium.

While left back Carson Pickett and defensive midfielder Haley McCutcheon each managed to take a goal back for the Pride, a leaky Orlando back line saw five different Stars players hit the back of the net — including a 10th goal on the season for Chicago star striker Ludmila.

"I apologize to the fans that were watching at home, and I apologize to the fans that were here with their support. That was not us today and we have to get it right," Pride head coach Seb Hines said following the match.

Orlando have continued to slide down the NWSL standings since their last win on June 13th, most recently logging three straight losses as the team struggles to find their form following MVP candidate Barbra Banda's season-ending injury on August 16th.

One of the Pride's rare bright spots on Sunday was record-breaking signee Lizbeth Ovalle, with the Mexican international subbing in at the half to make her NWSL debut.

Chicago, on the other hand, hasn't dropped a match since returning from the midseason summer break, with the surging Stars putting on a Sunday show in their impending lakefront home.

"I feel like it's just a really cool atmosphere, a lot more people can come now, and it's really good vibes," midfielder Julia Grosso said after the match.

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