SPORTS IN CONFLICT ZONES, ARE WE MISSING OUT ON SOME CORRELATION?

A few months ago, I was on a panel that was asked to discuss how more women could be engaged in sports or how equal opportunities could be created for women in sports. Sitting on a platform set up by the country's largest industry body that is backed by the government, it certainly did not make sense for anybody to criticize existing policies or programmes. Hence, I chose to present a case study - one of the most successful initiatives by the US government to increase women's participation in <a href="http:// www.upadhyay.co/ "> sports </a>- Title IX (pronounced title nine)
And before I write about the Title, let me make a prediction: the United States will once again be lifting the highest medal haul in the Rio Olympics (just as it did in London) and most of those medals will be won by their women. I say that because unlike any other country in the world, women in the US have become a force for the Olympic team making the gap for their male counterparts wider to match.
The credit for the rise of American women in sports is Title IX, the 43-year-old federal law that broadly prohibits gender discrimination in any educational programme that receives government funding. This rule means that schools must offer equal athletic opportunities to both sexes, a requirement that essentially funnels females into Olympic sports. Colleges and high schools promoting soccer teams for boys have created different sports facilities and subsequently teams for their girl students in many streams. The trickle-down effect of Title IX is seen where at one point of time it was almost unthinkable. It reflects in the number of youth leagues for the girls present in the country. I wonder if other nations - I could not Google even one - offer girls so many great sports options.