When the U.S. women’s soccer team won this summer’s World Cup, Seattle Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder was able to view the championship from a wider perspective than many other Americans. Gilder was in college not long after Congress in 1972 passed Title IX, the legislation that vastly expanded women’s roles in sports. From that point, Gilder went on to represent the U.S. on four national rowing teams, including two Olympic teams. She’s been part of the WNBA ownership group since 2008.
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It’s ingrained in our culture that men’s sports are more important than women’s. The idea that the best athletes are the strongest and fastest clearly plays toward men and is a narrow definition of what defines athleticism. People watch sports to be inspired, but if more than half the population isn’t men, it negates the value and importance of sports. It’s not about blaming men; it’s about creating more opportunity.”
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Photo by: ANTHONY BOLANTE / PUGET SOUND BUSINESS JOURNAL
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About Title IX’s impact: Four years after Title IX passed, I was a freshman on women’s crew at Yale. Both men’s and women’s crew traveled 12 miles to the boathouse for practice, but the boathouse had locker room facilities only for the men. So after practice, the women would sit on the bus in our sweaty gear waiting for the men to shower. Since it was mid-February and it was cold out, we were always getting sick.
Taking a stand: [We] decided to stage a protest. I was one of 19 women who participated by stripping. We wrote “Title IX” on our backs with a blue magic marker and marched into the women’s athletic office and took off our clothes. It was fun and exciting up until that very moment. We were standing up to a powerful university, and we had no idea what would happen. … We alerted a Yale Daily News reporter who doubled as a stringer for The New York Times, and the story went viral (to put the coverage in today’s terms).
Viewing Title IX now: Title IX is still being disputed and is used as an excuse to blame women for diminished opportunities for men. It’s about what’s fair.
About buying the Storm: I was a season-ticket owner in 2005, and I teamed with [Lisa Brummel and Dawn Trudeau] to buy the Storm. I was not a basketball player but rowed in college and pursued it to the top levels. Sports changed my life. … Investing in the Storm was the only way I could see to promote access to opportunity for women athletes on the pro level, and it combined my interest in business, love for Seattle and love of sports.
The challenges of ownership: The biggest challenge is the business, and building a fan base to support the cultural shift that needs to happen within women’s pro sports. There still isn’t space in our culture that allows for or accepts that women’s sports are as compelling as men’s.
— Teri Citterman, Puget Sound Business Journal
