Title IX — the federal law that ensured the fair treatment of male and female students — was enacted on June 23, 1972. Under Title IX, colleges are required to offer women an equal amount of sports opportunities as their male counterparts. In other words, the law marked the official beginning of many of Penn’s current varsity women's sports teams. This may seem like a long time ago, but it has in fact only been 52 years — many of Penn’s current coaches and professors likely remember a time when college athletics was solely a pastime for men. 

The first celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day was on Feb. 7, 1987. The day was established to acknowledge the accomplishments of female athletes while also honoring the progress in equality for women in sports. When looking through past editions of The Daily Pennsylvanian — even after Title IX passed — imagery of women in sports is sparse, with pictures of women of color even less apparent. Thirty-seven years after the inaugural celebration, much has changed. Let’s take a look at how the landscape of female participation in college athletics has changed at Penn. 

Despite the University being founded in 1740, it wasn’t until the spring of 1916 that the idea of some form of athletics for female students was introduced. However, women were not allowed to use the gymnasium and were limited to city-owned tennis courts. In 1921, the National Women’s Athletic Association was officially established, and over fifty girls participated on basketball, hockey, baseball, and tennis teams. In 1925, the women’s tennis courts were replaced by Bennett Hall, which quickly became the main building for Penn’s College of Liberal Arts for Women and included a gymnasium for women on the third floor.

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Penn’s long history of excellence in women’s rowing can be traced back to as early as 1934. Rowing was one of the few athletic activities offered to women. Many took advantage of this opportunity to take to the Schuylkill River to work on their craft, building the foundations of a rowing program that would end up producing multiple Olympic and world champions. 

In 1952, swimmer Mary G. Freeman Kelly would find herself etching her name onto Penn’s history books as the first female athlete with University ties to compete in the Olympics. In Helsinki, Kelly finished ninth with a time of 1:18.00 in the women’s 100-meter backstroke, just missing out on a spot in the finals. Still, she paved the way for future Penn athletes — in 1968, Eleanor Drye also made the trip to represent the United States in Mexico, bringing home a gold, silver, and bronze medal in the women’s 4x100-meter medley relay, 100-meter butterfly, and 200-meter butterfly respectively.

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By 1974, two years after the passing of Title IX, Penn offered eight varsity women’s teams under the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), with plans to create three more. However, throughout most of this time span, the teams were not allowed to practice in the facilities used by the men’s teams. Instead, many of the teams — notably field hockey and softball — resorted to using the grassy space found between Hill and Lauder College Houses. The AIAW would eventually cease operations in 1982, and the NCAA would swoop in and take its place. Many viewed this as a step in the wrong direction as AIAW leadership touted many women while the NCAA was a male-dominated organization. 

While the presence of women in sports increased, there was still a long way to go for people to take women in sports seriously. At the time, the closest women could get to the field were as cheerleaders supporting men’s teams, and even then, they were seldom respected. When senior cheerleader Nancy Lesser announced that she was transferring to UCLA due to the discomfort caused by the objectification of her figure by athletes, coaches, spectators, and DP photographers alike, then-president Martin Meyerson was quoted as saying, “She sure moved well. She sure wriggled well and when she kicked up her legs and, Oh Christ, I think I’m going to faint”

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At the 1972 Munich Olympics, crew team member and 1977 University of Pennsylvania Carey Law graduate Anita DeFrantz brought back a bronze medal. With that medal, DeFrantz became the first Black woman with Penn ties to compete at the Olympics. She would make another appearance at the 1976 Montreal Olympic games, which coincided with the first year women’s rowing was deemed a sport, and has remained active in the Olympic committees since.

2001 College graduate Diana M. Caramanico remains the most dominant women’s basketball player that Penn has ever seen. Caramanico is the only Penn basketball player — man or woman — to score more than 2,000 career points, and still holds nine different records nearly a decade after her last game on the court representing the Red and Blue. Caramanico has paved the way for the program’s success, as she led the team to its first-ever Ivy League title and NCAA tournament appearance, essentially putting Penn women’s basketball on the map. Much of the team’s current success with recruiting talented athletes stems from the dominance that Caramanico exhibited during her time on the team. 

2004 College graduate Susan Francia is a two-time gold medalist in the women’s eight at both the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympic games. However, her family has recently been in the spotlight for different reasons. Francia also happens to be the daughter of Katalin Karikó, and mRNA researcher and 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recipient. During her time at Penn, Francia recalled that much had been done to ensure that the women’s rowing program was receiving as much attention as the men’s program. However, the lack of support for women's sports programs in the past continues to have consequences, even as other aspects for women programs have seen visible improvements. 

“​​The men's team did have more alumni,” said Francia. “They had more of a stronger alumni base. But I think part of that is because rowing at Penn has had such an incredible history … We know that was mostly men.”

2022 College graduate Lia Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship, claiming the title with a time of 4:33.24 in the women’s 500-yard freestyle event, finishing ahead of Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant. Her success in the pool has launched her to the forefront of the public and ongoing debate regarding transgender women in women’s sports. 

On Feb. 18, 2023, then-senior guard Kayla Padilla broke the program record for the most number of career three-pointers, previously held by 2005 College graduate Karen Habrukowich. By the time the season was over, Padilla had extended the record from 196 to 210 three-pointers. Over four years at Penn, Padilla solidified her place as the most decorated Asian-American women’s basketball player in program history. 

During her time representing the Red and Blue, Padilla was also the sole player of Asian descent on the women’s basketball team. She has taken huge pride in her Filipino heritage, and is a part of the minuscule two percent of all NCAA Division I athletes that identify as Asian. The three-time First-Team All-Ivy selection is now finding success at the University of Southern California, and could very well be the first person of Filipino heritage to ever play in the WNBA.