When then-President Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law in 1972, the door seemed to open for women’s sports. Women’s athletics programs began to form at colleges and universities that had previously only sponsored men’s sports teams. Women’s collegiate programs gained funding and began to play competitive sports against other women’s college teams.

The Title IX federal civil rights law states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

But in the nearly 50 years since Title IX came into force, women in sports have consistently faced gender inequality. In recent years, the