Today, the words "female" and "athlete" are no longer contradictory terms.
This is due in large part to Title IX of the Education Amendment Act of 1972.
On June 23, 1972, President Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law, which states, "No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."
Since the establishment of Title IX, the number of women and girls participating in sports has increased significantly.
According to the Center for Research on Women, an interdisciplinary unit of The University of Memphis' College of Arts and Sciences, female participation in athletics rose by 800 percent in high schools and 400 percent in intercollegiate athletics in the 30 years following the inception of Title IX.
U of M soccer player Candace Halvorson has played soccer since she was five.
She said she has learned life lessons like leadership through playing collegiate athletics.
Halvorson also said Title IX is "a big equalizer" when it comes to the funding of women's sports.
However, Cynthia Fabrizio Pelak, U of M assistant sociology professor, said, more can be done.
"We have not achieved gender equity in athletics," she said.
Pelak said, for example, women make up 60 percent of U of M student population but only constitute 30 percent of athletes.
Pelak said there should be proportional representation in intercollegiate athletics that the idea the ratio of men and women athletes should be in line with the ratio of men and women on campus.
"If we can't reach proportion, then it should be 50/50," Pelak said.
The notion of proportional representation is one of three ways schools can show they are in compliance with Title IX under the Department of Education's 1979 policy interpretation.
Under proportionality, schools must demonstrate athletic opportunities for men and women "are substantially proportionate to their respective full-time undergraduate enrollments."
The second way schools may show compliance is to show that the institution exhibits "a history and continuing practice of program expansion for the underrepresented sex."
Thirdly, an institution can show it is "fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex."
Thus far, no school has lost federal funding because of Title IX violations, according to the Center for Research on Women.
"Women can maintain their femininity and be athletes," Pelak said. At the turn of the century, women were told their vaginas would shrivel up if they participated in sports, she said.
"It will be challenged," Pelak said about Title IX.
But we must work "constantly and collectively to maintain rights," she said.
