Erika Donalds Commemorates Title IX Month and a Half Century of Opportunity for Girls

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In recognition of Title IX Month, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) today released the following statement from Erika Donalds, Chair of Education Opportunity, on the critical importance of Title IX in protecting opportunities for women and girls.

Erika Donalds, Chair of Education Opportunity at AFPI, said:

“As a former elected school board member, a founder of classical schools, a former high school athlete, and most importantly, as a mom, I have always believed the same thing: Every child deserves education opportunities that meet their individual and unique needs, and parents, not bureaucrats, should be the ones in the driver's seat.

Education freedom isn’t limited to the classroom. Athletic programs instill a student with discipline, resilience, and the drive to succeed. When Title IX passed in 1972, fewer than 300,000 girls played high school sports. Today more than three million do. Athletic opportunity teaches young women to set a goal, to work for it, to lose with dignity, and win with grace. Those are the lessons that build leaders.

This is why protecting Title IX is critical right now. The law was written to defend opportunity for women and girls, not erase the line of protection when ideologies redefine biology. When we erase Title IX, we take away fairness from the very girls the law was meant to serve. Girls deserve their own locker rooms, their own podiums, and scholarships that honor their work.

We will keep standing with moms, dads, and young women on this issue. The women who came before us turned a few lines of law into a half century of opportunity. We owe it to our daughters to keep that promise alive.”

Learn more about AFPI’s Education Opportunity and Athletes for America initiative here and here.