In 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act helped abolish discrimination based on gender in sports that were funded by the federal government. This allowed more women to partake in sports in high school, with a 8% to a 40% increase in the span of 26 years. It helped encourage women to take a role in sports, and even set a new goal: to play the desired sport on a national/global stage. For example, we can see how in 1996, the American Women's national team won the gold medal. It also helped athletes in basketball such as Lisa Leslie.
Leslie was born on July 7th, 1972, the year when Title IX was introduced. Leslie never played basketball until middle school. When she started playing more in eighth grade, she joined a boys' club team. At first, everyone assumed that she wasn't good at basketball, but she defied all odds and proved otherwise, dominating that game. Later, Leslie began playing in the Olympics Girls' development league. Through hard work and determination, she got better at the sport thanks to her athleticism. She got so good that she helped the U.S. Women' s Team to win the 1996 Olympics, scoring a record breaking 35 points in one game. She left a grand legacy, winning four consecutive gold medals in the Olympics, winning two WNBA championships, three WNBA regular season MVPs, and eight time WNBA All-Star. She even leads the LA Sparks to this day in scoring and rebounding all time! Her journey has helped inspire many women to play in just the WNBA, but also participate in sports such as soccer.
This is just one of many WNBA players that were given the opportunity to showcase their talent and play at a bigger stage outside of high school thanks to title IX. As the number of female basketball players grew by 1996, the WNBA was created to help make a new league for all these players. Without Title IX, women would not participate in sports and all of this would not be possible. Title IX challenged the NCAA, who did not want to include women in sports, and brought more equality to the gender imbalance created by the system. It helped athletes bring attention to the NBA Board of Governors and led to the "We got next!" slogan formed after the Board approved the concept of a women's basketball professional league.