Women's Sports Foundation

Research And Policy Institute

The Women’s Sports Foundation Research & Policy Institute is a multidisciplinary network of specialists who seek to enhance the quality of girls’ and women’s experiences with sports and physical activity through evidence-based research and policy development.

Know Your Rights

Even 35 years after the passage of Title IX, a federal law granting girls and women in high schools and colleges the right to equal opportunity in sports, female athletes across the nation are placed at a disadvantage in comparison to their male counterparts. The more you know about the rights of girls and women in sports, the more you will be able to improve athletic opportunities for them.

Equity Issues

It Takes A Team! Educational Campaign for LGBT Issues in Sport

It Takes A Team! is an educational program designed to end homophobia in sport. Learn more

Body And Mind

GoGirlGo!

GoGirlGo! is the primary programming focus of the Women’s Sports Foundation designed to combat the alarming physical and psychological health hazards affecting America’s young girls. GoGirlGo! uses sport and physical activity as an educational intervention that supports girls’ health and wellness in childhood and early womanhood.

Progress Without Equity
A first-of-its-kind report on gender and high school sports participation. “Progress Without Equity: The Provision of High School Athletic Opportunity in the United States, by Gender 1993-94 through 2005-06, flows from an analysis of high schools that is unprecedented in its national and historical scope. It uses merged data from the Civil Rights Data Collection and the Common Core of Data, which is collected by the National Center for Education Statistics.

The report examines gender differences in athletic opportunity in a nationally representative sample of 24,370 public four-year high schools across 1993-94, 1999-2000 and 2005-06.  Three measures of the extent of athletic opportunity are documented including the number of athletic participation opportunities, the number of teams, and the number of sports. This report was authored by Don Sabo, Ph.D., Professor of Health Policy, D’Youville College, and Phil Veliz, M.S., University at Buffalo, the State University of New York.

Her Life Depends On It II
In December 2009 the Women’s Sports Foundation released a new and expanded comprehensive review of its essential “Her Life Depends On It” report, first released in 2004. The benchmark 2009 review draws critical conclusions that further emphasize the vital roles that sports play in the physical and social health of girls and women. The report is compiled from more than 2,000 studies examining women’s athletics and health, including hundreds of new studies conducted in the five years since the last report was released.

Her Life Depends On It
The most comprehensive compilation of research to date about the impact of physical activity on the physical, psychological and cultural health of girls. The report points to physical activity and sport as fundamental solutions for many of the serious health and social problems faced by girls. These include obesity, heart disease, substance abuse, teen pregnancy and depression – which accounts for much of the more than $1 trillion spent on healthcare for treating these issues.

Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in America
An exhaustive study of children’s participation in sports and exercise, "Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in America" is the first to document the benefit of sports to the wellness of families. The Women's Sports Foundation partnered with Harris Interactive to survey 2,185 third- through 12th-graders and 863 parents in this unprecedented investigation of the numbers of children playing, types of sports being played, the demographic profiles of today’s child athletes and the role of family and community in shaping kids’ physical activity. Although the report finds children’s play linked to healthier children and more content families, many parents, especially African-Americans and Hispanics, reported that schools are shortchanging their daughters. The first study to examine sports among children from immigrant families and children with disabilities, "Go Out and Play" reports these subpopulations are in greater jeopardy of being shut out of sports. The most at-risk group — urban girls — receive far fewer opportunities to play.

Who's Playing College Sports: Money, Race and Gender
Money, Race and Gender, the most accurate description of college sports’ participation patterns to date, shows that both men’s and women’s sports participation have increased over the past 25 years. It examines factors, including Title IX and athletic expenditure growth, impacting today's college sports participation trends, which vary widely by sport. Changes in high school sports participation, rising health care costs, increased numbers of international students, and college recruitment are explored, as well as the implication of these participation trends on college sports’ diversity.

Who’s Playing College Sports? (part 1) 
June 23, 2007, marked the 35th anniversary of Title IX -- the pivotal legislation credited with increasing gender equity in sports. In addition to celebrating, the Foundation is unveiling original research, entitled "Who's Playing College Sports." This study provides the most accurate and comprehensive examination of participation trends to date. Read more about the study or browse our online database to find out if your college makes the grade.

Physical Activity and Athletic Competition for Individuals with Disabilities: A Women's Sports Foundation Position Statement
Do schools have an obligation to provide physical education for students with disabilities? Do students with disabilities have the right to compete on their high school sports teams? Read the Foundation's position statement on the rights of individuals with disabilities in physical activity and athletics.

Women in the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
Increasing women’s participation in the Olympic Movement as participants and leaders has been a slow and challenging process. While the number of ”events” open to female athletes has increased steadily during the past 30 years, the actual number of opportunities for females to medal within those events has yet to equal the number of male participants or medals.

Women in Intercollegiate Sport A Longitudinal, National Study Thirty One Year Update: 1977-2008
Prepared by Linda Jean Carpenter, Ph.D., J.D., Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College, and R. Vivian Acosta, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College, this study is perhaps the most comprehensive in American women's sports history. New findings reveal highest numbers of participation ever, contrasted with low representation of women in sports information and physical training positions.

The Womens Sports Foundation (WSF) seeks a partnership with a compatible university to develop and house the first university-based comprehensive Women’s Sports Research & Policy Center (RPC).  The WSF intends to continue its leadership role as the gold standard of scientific legitimacy in girls and women’s sports and physical activity research and the RPC will be the engine and delivery vehicle for meeting our objectives. We strongly believe that such a partnership will be a powerful asset to both the WSF and the university.  

Grants

Behind every Women’s Sports Foundation grant lies one concrete objective: provide girls access to sport and physical activity despite background or financial ability. Grants are awarded to girl-serving organizations who strive to provide diverse, underserved populations of girls ages 8 to 18 with a way to get involved in sport and physical activity. 

The Women’s Sports Foundation awards grants nationwide, but places a strong emphasis on Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and San Antonio metropolitan areas via the leadership of our community offices.