Council ‘Raises the Bar’ for Girls Sports Participation

The Los Angeles City Council approved a plan Friday to increase the participation of girls in city sports programs, an action that ACLU attorneys said makes great strides toward addressing claims raised in a federal lawsuit of discrimination against girls.

The “Raise the Bar” plan seeks to remedy the underrepresentation of girls in city sports programs, where about 35% of the participants are female.

Under the plan, the city Recreation and Parks Department would provide sports clinics for girls, assign more women to administer the sports programs, recruit more women to serve as coaches and keep a tally of program participants by gender.

“The program represents significant progress toward achieving gender equity and increasing the participation of girls and young women in the city’s sports and recreation programs,” said Rocio L. Cordoba, staff attorney for the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.

But Cordoba said the lawsuit will not be withdrawn until the plan adequately addresses the allegation that girls’ sports teams have been denied equal access to city sports fields.

The council action supports the equitable distribution of playing fields. A task force is still developing a system for making sure that girls teams have the same access as boys teams to scarce recreation facilities, city officials said. Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg said the solution must involve an end to the long-standing practice by which boys leagues automatically hold onto fields year after year, often raising funds to improve the facilities.

“How do new permittees with girls programs get into the game if all the existing permittees continue to get renewed perfunctorily every year?” Goldberg asked. She suggested that a lottery system may be required, because there are not enough fields to go around.

Rick Sessinghaus, the acting general manager of the city parks agency, said a survey found that 20% of recreation facilities in the San Fernando Valley are not being fully used and could accommodate some of the girl sports programs. More than 3,000 acres of open space were also identified that could be developed with athletic fields.

The changes are in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in April on behalf of the 500 girls in the West Valley Girls Softball League, which charged it was not given the same access to ball diamonds as boys leagues.

The girls league has since found a temporary home at Canoga Park High School for the season that begins today, and settlement talks are taking place between the ACLU and the city to provide a permanent home for the league, said Dave Berman, the West Valley league’s president.

“I’m surprised it took a lawsuit to get what they did today,” Berman said. “You had little girls suing the city just so they could play ball.

“I’m elated over what the council did,” said Berman, who has three daughters who play softball in the league. “It hasn’t fixed what we’ve been after for our own league, but it makes things better citywide.”

Councilman Mike Feuer said the plan would encourage more girls to get involved in sports programs that develop teamwork, self-esteem and physical fitness.

“More than simply eliminate hurdles, this ‘Raise the Bar’ program affirmatively encourages, through concrete steps, the involvement of girls from a very young age in sports in this city,” Feuer said.

A survey done by the parks department found that city sports programs in the Valley had 3,503 female participants and 14,304 male players.

*

In addition to conducting outreach programs to let girls know about sports opportunities, the new plan will include events to get girls excited about sports.

The first is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. at Matador Field at Cal State Northridge, where 1996 Olympic softball star Dot Richardson will speak to young women to encourage them to participate in sports, Sessinghaus said. City workers will take 600 young women to the event, which will include a softball game.

Cordoba urged the council to hold parks officials accountable for carrying out the “Raise the Bar” program and for solving the remaining issues of contention about access to fields.

“We look forward to a not-too-distant future in which all girls in the city of Los Angeles can fully participate in and enjoy the breadth of sports and recreation programs offered through the Department of Recreation and Parks,” Cordoba said.