Rose Purdish

Parent – Johnson City, New York

Basketball used to mean something completely different for the male and female athletes at my daughter's high school. For mens' basketball games, the stands were filled with fans and parents who paid admission to watch the team, as well as the cheerleaders and dance team members performing on the sidelines. At my daughter's games, people could enter without paying admission and no cheerleaders ever performed.

I decided to take action against this disparity when one of my daughter's teammates, who was sitting next to me at a boys' game, watching the cheerleaders and dance team, looked at me and asked "Mrs. P, why don't they do this for us?" I had no answer, but I decided to find out.

I met with the athletic director, school superintendent, and school board, but no group responded to the issues I shared with them. I contacted my state's Title IX coordinator, but nothing happened. The school collected admission to the girls' games a few times, but nothing really changed. The girls' and boys' teams still experienced entirely different levels of support.

I finally decided to file OCR complaints against every school in the league, because every school in the league was treating their girls in this discriminatory way. The OCR investigated seventeen of the twenty complaints I filed, and about fifteen have settled. The schools agreed to provide cheerleaders for the girls' games if they were provided for the boys'. Even better, word got out about the cases, and some schools made the proper corrections themselves.

I hope that my action inspires others to take a stand against discrimination. I received some angry letters from athletic directors and some negative media coverage, but I changed the way female athletes are treated in my school, school district, and region. I hope that more moms take notice when their daughters are mistreated, and realize that they can take action!