Ashley Badis thought it was rough when she and her girls water polo teammates had to practice in the Pacific Ocean. They battled choppy waves because their school in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, didn’t have a pool.
But it was humiliating, Badis says, when she learned how other female athletes at her school, James Campbell High, were treated. They had to lug around their gear all day and run to a nearby Burger King to use the bathroom or change clothes under the bleachers or on the bus. The boys faced no such challenges because they had their own locker room and other facilities.
“Hearing how many concerns and complaints that they had—it made me feel like I’m not alone in this, but it’s so wrong that we’re all being treated like this,” says Badis, now 21.
Badis is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that alleges widespread gender-based discrimination against female athletes at Campbell, the biggest public high school in Hawaii. The suit is based on Title IX, the 1972 federal law that prohibits such discrimination in schools and colleges that receive funding from the U.S. government.
The outcome of this trial could affect generations of girls in Hawaii and act as a wider test case for the promises and responsibilities of Title IX, says Ellen J. Staurowsky, a professor of sports media at Ithaca College in New York. She was the principal investigator for a recent Title IX report published by the Women’s Sports Foundation. This case, Staurowsky says, “has the potential to really be a wake-up call for schools that continue to ignore the law and don’t take it seriously.”
Ashley Badis thought it was rough when she and her girls’ water polo teammates had to practice in the Pacific Ocean. They battled choppy waves because their school in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, did not have a pool.
But it was humiliating, Badis says, when she learned how other female athletes at her school, James Campbell High, were treated. They had to carry around their gear all day. They had to run to a nearby Burger King to use the bathroom. And they had to change clothes under the bleachers or on the bus. The boys faced no such challenges because they had their own locker room and other facilities.
“Hearing how many concerns and complaints that they had—it made me feel like I’m not alone in this, but it’s so wrong that we’re all being treated like this,” says Badis.
Badis, now 21, is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit. It claims widespread gender-based discrimination against female athletes at Campbell, the biggest public high school in Hawaii. The suit is based on Title IX, a 1972 federal law. Title IX bans such discrimination in schools and colleges that receive funding from the U.S. government.
The outcome of this trial could affect generations of girls in Hawaii. It also could act as a wider test case for the promises and responsibilities of Title IX, says Ellen J. Staurowsky. She is a professor of sports media at Ithaca College in New York. She was the principal investigator for a recent Title IX report published by the Women’s Sports Foundation. This case, Staurowsky says, “has the potential to really be a wake-up call for schools that continue to ignore the law and don’t take it seriously.”