City Council Declares Equity in Athletics Day

Pittsburgh City Council presented Women and Girls Foundation and Womenʼs Law Project with a resolution honoring their work on the passage of the bill and declaring July 17, 2012, as Equity in Athletics Day in the City of Pittsburgh.
Forty years after the enactment of Title IX, Pennsylvania passed its own milestone legislation with the signing of HB 1901 The Equity in Interscholastic Athletics Disclosure Bill (sponsored by Senator Mary Jo White) on June 30, 2012.
“The Women and Girls Foundation was honored to partner with the Womenʼs Law Project to advocate for the passage of this bill that will advance gender equality by holding schools publicly accountable for the adherence to Title IX,” said Heather Arnet, chief executive officer, Women and Girls Foundation.
“Hundreds of our teen girls also were involved in the multi-year advocacy effort to help make this bill a law.” The bill requires all public high schools, middle schools and junior high schools in Pennsylvania to report annually the number of athletic opportunities they provide to girls and boys, broken down further by race/ethnicity, as well as other data that may reflect the quality of the athletic programming offered. Pennsylvania will join Kentucky, Georgia and New Mexico in requiring secondary schools to disclose basic information that will help inform students, parents and community members of whether their schools may be in violation of Title IX.
Participants at the July 17th press conference included Heather Arnet, Sue Frietsche, Womenʼs Law Project; Senator Mary Jo White (PA R-21) lead sponsor of the HB 1901; Mary Ann Eisenreich, Pittsburgh Office of the Governor; City Councilwomen Natalia Rudiak, Teresa Smith and Darlene Harris, as well as members of Women and Girls Foundationʼs GirlGov Program.