By Tara BushSports
Is 'Sport for All' just lipservice?
By Tara Bush
One of the most revolutionary developmentsin modern American sports history is the Title IX Law. Title IXwas established in 1972 to provide education equality in areasthat include athletics, to both high schools and colleges.
In part, the Title IX Law reads: "No person in the UnitedStates shall, on the bias of sex, be excluded from participationin, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discriminationunder any education programme or activity receiving federal financialassistance."
Pictured left: Women's Basketball Tourament in 1997shows a Jamaican player in flight with the Caymanian team grounded.
The question asked by many in the localsporting fraternity is: has the time come for the Cayman Islandsto enact legislation along the same lines?
In an interview last week with Cayman Net News, Minister for Sports,Mrs. Edna Moyle stated that the philosophy of the Ministry is'sport for all' and as such there is no gender bias. Women inthe Cayman Islands participate in all areas of sports, she said.
The Sports Ministry's budgeted figure for sports grants for theyear 2000 was $451,500. However, just how much of that is filtereddown into women's sports is the big question.
"Money is not set aside specially for women in sports. Moneyis given to the Association and it is up to them to disburse accordingto their needs. However, when a request is made for a women'scompetition [activity] the money has been made available,"Mr. Charles Branche, Director of Youth and Sports, confirmed.
However, Mr. Branche did say that Associations are asked to setaside a percentage of the grant for youth development programmesand that the amount varied according to the sport.
Just how much did Title IX assist the United States women's sportscan be clearly seen in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, not to mentionthe Women's Soccer World Cup team and women's basketball.
Cheryl Miller, an Olympic athlete and outstanding member of the1984 gold medal women's basketball team said, "Without TitleIX, I'd be nowhere."
Title IX has helped girls and women participate in interscholasticand intercollegiate athletics in far greater numbers than theyhad in the past. When Title IX became law, dramatic changes wereneeded to level the playing fields of the US schools and to changethe perception of the places of girls and women on them.
Just one year before Title IX was enacted, in 1971, a Connecticutjudge disallowed girls from competition on a boy's high schoolcross country team even though there was no girl's team at theschool. That same year, fewer than 300,000 high school girls playedinterscholastic sports. Today, according to the statistics, thenumber is 2.4 million. 
Pictured left: Cherry Whittaker bounds for the ball witha Brizlian player chasing during a international competition in1998.
In many ways, the image of women insports has been redefined by Title IX due to their many accomplishments.Women are now seen as sports stars in their own right. MarionJones in track and field, Mia Hamm in soccer and Sheryl Swoopesin basketball are just a few of the outstanding names.
Before the passage of Title IX, athletic scholarships for collegewomen were rare, no matter how great the talent. The case of Donnade Varona is a prime example. De Varona collected two gold medalsin the 1964 Olympics and yet could not obtain a college swimmingscholarship. For women at that time, scholarships did not seemto exist.
At the time Title IX was voted into law it was estimated thatthere were 50,000 men attending US colleges on scholarship whereasthe number of women scholarships was significantly lower at 50.Today, college women in the US receive about one-third of allathletic scholarship dollars.
But is it just a question of money why there are not more women'sleagues? Merta Day, a past Sports Person of the Year, opines:"I believe that one of our biggest obstacles right now isthat some parents do not want us [women] to compete because theydo not want the girl child to sweat," she said.
Greg Ebanks, Scholars International's women's coach said he didnot believe that women were getting as fair a shake in the sportingarena as their male counterparts. "Women are not recognizedlike how men are in sports. Of course women have great talentI find them to be very intelligent and very consistent in allthings they try. Women on a whole seem to be more goal-orientedthan men and they always accomplish their goals more than men."
Marcy McCaw, a physiotherapist who competes and who assists withvarious teams noetd: "The talent is out there. The womenare often put on the sidelines for the men. I think there is hugeneed for organisation in certain schools. There is a lack of women'ssports in certain of them."
However, Mrs. Elizabeth Ibeh, one of the secretaries for CaymanIslands Amateur Athletic Association said she thought that inher sport their is gender equality. "Once a girl qualifiesshe makes the team," she stated.
Nevertheless, one only needs to look at the number of women'snational teams that have traveled overseas or the level of participantto see that gender equality in the Cayman Islands is an oxymoronand that something is desperately needed to rejuvenate women'ssports. Take notice too of the message the previous governmentsent when they approved a number of male athletes for CaymanianStatus. What were they trying to say?
Pictured left: Merta Day tries to block Wanda SueNixon as she shoots.
Additionally, the number of scholarshipsthat the ministry gives out also tells another tale. In the year2000 ,one full and four partial scholarships were given. The recipientswere all male.
However, in all fairness, the Sports Ministry cannot award scholarshipsto women if they do not apply or meet the criteria and women cannotapply if they have not developed in sports. It is a chicken andegg situation, one could say.
But consider that the critical values learned from sports participation- teamwork, leadership, discipline, self-sacrifice and pride inaccomplishment - are being brought to the workplace as women enteremployment is greater numbers, and at higher levels than everbefore.
For example, 80 percent of female managers of Fortune 500 companieshave a sports background. Also, studies have shown that high schoolgirls who participate in team sports are less likely to drop outof school, smoke drink or become pregnant.
Now, can we afford to let the status quo remain?
Photos by Tara Bus
Source: US General Accounting Office, Intercollegiate Athletics.