February 12, 2025

Wyden, Bonamici Reintroduce Legislation to Promote Gender Equity in Sports

Washington D.C.–U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici today reintroduced legislation that would promote gender equity in college and K-12 sports in Oregon and nationwide. 

“With so much excitement and momentum around women’s sports in America, including a new WNBA team coming to Portland, I call foul on retreating to a time before Title IX when girls didn’t receive the athletic support they deserve to nourish their potential,” Wyden said. “I’m putting a full-court press on any legislation that blocks progress we’ve made, and the Fair Play for Women Act will ensure every young Oregonian gets the same shot at succeeding, no matter their gender.”

"Since the passage of Title IX we've seen an increase in the number of female students participating in sports. Despite that increase, college women still have nearly 60,000 fewer athletics opportunities than men, and high school girls have about one million fewer opportunities to play sports than high school boys. I'm co-leading the Fair Play for Women Act to promote strong Title IX protections and compliance from K-12 schools and colleges,” said Bonamici. 

The Fair Play for Women Act would promote fairness in participation opportunities and institutional support for women's and girls' sports programs, ensure transparency and public reporting of data by college and K-12 athletic programs, hold athletic programs and athletic associations more accountable for Title IX violations and discriminatory treatment, and improve education and awareness of Title IX rights among college and K-12 athletes as well as athletics staff. 

Specifically, the Fair Play for Women Act would:

  • Hold schools and athletic associations accountable for discriminatory treatment. The bill would codify that state and intercollegiate athletic associations, including the NCAA, cannot discriminate based on sex, along with asserting non-discrimination protections within all school-based athletics, including club and intramural sports. It would also provide a robust private right of action for all athletes in their discrimination claims, making it easier for athletes to push for change at their schools. The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Education to levy civil penalties on schools that repeatedly discriminate against athletes and require schools to submit publicly available plans to remedy violations, providing more tools to compel compliance and resolve ongoing discrimination.

  • Expand reporting requirements for college and K-12 athletics data and make all information easily accessible to the public. The bill would establish a one-stop shop for key athletics data by expanding the scope and detail of reporting by colleges, extending these requirements to include athletics at elementary and secondary schools, and requiring the U.S. Secretary of Education to house all data on the same public website. The bill also requires that schools certify the data they submit and report how they are claiming Title IX compliance and directs the U.S. Department of Education to publish an annual report on gender equity in school-based athletics. These provisions will help weed out reporting tricks by programs to skirt non-discrimination laws and make it easier for athletes and stakeholders to evaluate persisting gaps in athletic programs or use publicly available data in their claims against schools. 

  • Improve education of Title IX rights among athletes, staff, and stakeholders. The bill would require Title IX trainings on an annual basis for all athletes, Title IX coordinators, and athletic department and athletic association staff. The bill would also establish a public database of all Title IX coordinators at colleges andK-12 schools, included in the one-stop shop for athletics data. These provisions will ensure all people involved with K-12 and college athletics understand what Title IX means and what students’ rights are under the law.

Wyden co-sponsored the senate bill with U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn), who led the legislation. Bonamici, Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C), and Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

A one-page summary of the legislation is here. Full text of the legislation is here.