The Victorious US Women's Soccer Team and the Fading Gender Divide

The US Women’s Soccer Team thrilled the world with their prowess on the field and leadership off of it. Their championship demonstrates the important impact of Title IX in funding and support for women athletics in schools and universities. Beyond soccer, women routinely eclipse male runners during marathons and other sports, pointing to a continuum of physical performance. The ambiguity of gender—as reflected in world class-athletes such as Caster Semenya—led the International Olympic Committee to adopt tests of testosterone levels and college athletic conferences to respond to intersex and trans-athletes. The physical ability and performances of women athletes are blurring historic and gendered divisions between men’s and women’s sports. Professor Mary Jo Kane will discuss the evolving state of women’s sport with Dr. Jamie Feldman, an expert in transgender medicine. Mary Jo Kane is the director emerita of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport and a Professor in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota. She is widely published on media coverage and women's sport and is a recognized expert on the impact of Title IX. Jamie Feldman, MD, PhD, is faculty in the University of Minnesota’s Program in Human Sexuality. She has chaired a Transgender Medicine and Research Committee and published on transgender hormone therapy and primary care.Center for the Study of Politics and Governanc