by Karen Matis and Charlene Klassen Endrizzi
Thirty-seven words offered in 1972 began a slow moving shift toward greater equity between female, male and nonbinary athletes.
Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act provides: “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.”
Last year, educators along with sports enthusiasts paused to commemorate Title IX’s 50 years of change, and consider the struggles and achievements of women and nonbinary athletes gaining a greater promise of equity.
Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight, a timely narrative outlining the history of how Title IX became law, introduces readers to Patsy Takemoto Mink, Hawaii’s first woman of color and nisei elected to the House of Representatives. Jennifer Bryant introduces readers to Patsy by depicting her life as a mover and shaker, intent on finding a path forward in the midst of obstacles. Equal rights were ever present on Patsy’s mind, evidenced by numerous campaigns spanning her life. For example, one early initiative from her college years involved campaigning to help international students gain access to equal housing.
Throughout Patsy Mink’s life, she found ways to use her agency, her determination to confront inequality. Jen Bryant along with illustrator Toshiki Nakamura depict successes and key struggles Patsy encountered, including her 1956 arrival to the political arena when she was elected to the Hawaiian legislature. One specific statement Patsy offered at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in L.A, “How can America stand as the land of golden opportunity if indeed there is only that opportunity for some and not all,” foreshadows her work on equal rights for women. Check out Bryant’s webpage for documents to support a study of these issues.
Jen Bryant repeatedly uses a refrain to describe Patsy’s agency and her need to find a path forward. In a nod to Patsy’s Japanese American heritage, Bryant chooses the Japanese proverb, “Fall down seven times, stand up eight” as her overarching theme, enabling us to get to know this innovative wife, congresswoman, mother and enduring activist from Hawaii.
We pause to wonder — where are we as a nation in fulfilling the Title IX amendment? More specifically, how are we as teachers, families and librarians ensuring that we affirm this social justice issue through books, critical conversations and our focus on female athletes? Do we strive to amplify the voices of female and nonbinary athletes through our book selections? We invite you to visit a library of your choice — a classroom, school, Free Little Library, neighborhood library or even bookstore. Can you readily locate children’s and young adult books featuring female and nonbinary sports figures?
We turn to three children’s authors and illustrators and the female athletes they showcase who help us celebrate steps forward regarding women’s sports. As you explore the following picturebooks, consider these questions pertinent to any female, nonbinary or male athlete. What does it take to compete as an athlete? Skill? Physical strength? Agility? Stamina? Determination? Talent? Pinpoint focus? Endurance? Patience? Courage? Commitment? Perseverance? Resiliency? Optimism?
Yusra Mardini displayed a high level of agency. Trained in her homeland of Syria to become a competitive swimmer, Yusra experienced the familiar challenges female athletes face. What’s unique to Yusra’s experience was the escalation of the 2015 Syrian Civil War. Her training was disrupted when a bomb shattered the roof of the complex where she was swimming. Her dream of competing at the Olympics took a hiatus as Yusra’s agency was no longer focused on her athletic abilities. Her hope, optimism and motivation focused on survival.
Yusra Swims (Abery, 2020) offers young readers a picturebook in rhyme where illustrations capture both her dream of competing in the Olympics and her reality of finding a safe home. Early in the picturebook, Julie Abery captures Yusra’s dream, “Unrest spreads, Conflict strains. Staying focused, Yusra trains.” Focusing on her athletic agency, Yusra knows that to be her best, training daily is imperative. However, when conflict in her homeland can no longer be ignored, Yusra must escape from her homeland. Her drive to be a competitive swimmer is replaced by sheer instinct to survive. Arriving at the Turkish coast, Yusra bravely boards a small dinghy headed for Lesbos, a Greek island. When the boat’s engine fails, Yusra, her sister, and two others on board enter the water to tread and guide the boat ashore. Yusra’s persistence is evident in the lines, “Treading water, Gripping rope. Yusra swims, Keeping hope. Water deep. Crashing waves. Pushing forward, Being brave.”
Yusra’s strong commitment is evident; she competed in the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. Currently she is attending the University of Southern California as a film studies student.
As mentioned, a key to athletic agency is a sense of belonging. So, what happens when the “official rules” do not allow a woman to participate in an event? Ask Bobbi Gibb. Girl Running: Bobbi Gibb and the Boston Marathon tenders her response to marathon organizers who denied her request to run the race in 1966. She simply ran bandit along with male participants who encouraged her while spectators cheered her on.
Gibb’s athletic agency meant she needed to embrace the situation at hand and focus on hope for a future change spurred on by her motivation to belong. Only a few years prior to the passing of Title IX, Bobbi was determined to show race officials that women can be competitive. “Bobbi has shown that it’s time for some rules to change.” Thirty years following her first marathon in 1966, she was formally recognized for running the event with the addition of her name, finally engraved on the monument that showcased winners of the marathon.
Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammed, an emerging author, offers our third picturebook, The Proudest Blue, A Story of Hijab and Family, showcasing the resiliency of her sisters as they faced schoolyard bullies. But where is the focus on her Olympic sport of fencing? It is carefully displayed on each page as she thoughtfully examines the courage and resiliency of her two sisters (Asiya and Faizah) who hear words designed to hurt. They remember their mother’s wisdom: “Don’t carry around the hurtful words that others say. Drop them. They belong only to those who said them.”
After enjoying this book, we hope you research Ibtihaj’s life as an African American Muslim. We readily see her desire to shift beyond a focus on her sport of fencing and her 2016 Olympic achievements. She aims for something higher – the stamina and optimism needed to become a world class athlete and change agent. We encourage you to examine Ibtihaj’s work with Mattel to promote the first Barbie doll featuring her fencing attire and hijab. At first glance, athletic agency seems to be miles apart from iconic Barbie and Ken toys. However, Ibtihaj’s ability to embrace and re-image Barbie through a 21st century lens of confident, athletic females can be useful to girls, even when playing with dolls.
We return to our overarching questions — What does it take to be an athlete? Skill? Physical strength? Agility? Stamina? Determination? Talent? Pinpoint focus? Endurance? Patience? Courage? Commitment? Perseverance? Resiliency? Optimism?
Each time social media features GOATS like Simone Biles, Serena Williams and Brittney Griner, pause momentarily to celebrate Title IX. Their agency reminds us to encourage our students to value all sports teams, starting with the girls’ teams. We hope you find ways to support female athletes in your school as they strive to belong. Athletic agency involves motivation, hope and a sense of purpose, along with your encouragement and recognition.
WOW Currents is a space to talk about forward-thinking trends in global children’s and adolescent literature and how we use that literature with students. “Currents” is a play on words for trends and timeliness and the way we talk about social media. We encourage you to participate by leaving comments and sharing this post with your peers. To view our complete offerings of WOW Currents, please visit its archival stream.
- Themes: Annette Bay Pimentel, Charlene Klassen Endrizzi, Fall Down Seven Times Stand Up Eight, Girl Running: Bobbi Gibb and the Boston Marathon, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Jennifer Bryant, Julie Abery, Karen Matis, Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family, Title IX, Yusra Swims
- Descriptors: Books & Resources, WOW Currents