Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Aug. 13, 2010, Reno Gazette-Journal.

If you’ve wondered what the real impact of Title IX, the law that required schools to offer comparable athletic programs for men and women, has been, just thumb through the yearbook from a typical American high school of 50 years ago.

For someone accustomed to the vigorous sports programs available to so many young women in middle school, high school and college today, the dearth of girls in the athletics sections of those yearbooks is shocking.

With just a few exceptions, women weren’t expected to play sports, or even invited to play sports. (It should be noted that 50 years ago, many schools still steered boys into “manual training” — carpentry and auto mechanics — and girls into cooking and sewing classes.)

The credit for turnaround is owed almost entirely to Title IX.

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