Gender Quotas for the Congressional Baseball Game?
Representative Linda Sanchez writes on the Huffingtonpost this morning that she will be playing in the annual Congressional baseball game – as a personal tribute to Title IX. (Assuming that she doesn’t sprain a wrist from patting herself on the back).
Along with the self-congratulation (the congresswoman got a single in last year’s game!) Sanchez can’t resist throwing out the old trope that Title IX reform is really an attempt to prevent young women from playing sports. “It’s time to once and for all defeat those that want to keep girls off the field,” Sanchez declares. Who she is referring to is puzzling. As far as we can tell, there is no one in the Title IX policy debate that argues against women playing sports. Quite the opposite.
But I can’t help wondering what would happen if Title IX enforcement were applied to the Congressional Baseball Game? Sanchez indicates that she is the only woman on the Democratic roster. To achieve the proportionality quota, therefore, the Dems would have to cut all but one of the congressmen from their lineup. Could they still play with only a pitcher and catcher? Hmm, maybe Sanchez could throw a no-hitter.