Transition Generation - Part One

I am part of a generation that got caught in the middle. For the most part, our parents were raised with specific gender roles. But when we came of age, society had changed significantly. And now? Trying to explain to teenagers what we went through, what our mothers dealt with, is like trying to describe an elephant to someone who can’t see.

For example – I can recall, in the mid-1970s mind you, only being allowed to go half-court while playing basketball in PE. It was the generally accepted opinion that girls couldn’t do such strenuous physical exertion without causing damage to us. ‘Us’ as in our reproductive organs. I also remember the earth-shattering court case that determined girls could play sports and had to be given the same opportunities as the boys.

As soon as possible, my parents signed me up for softball. My mother coached the second year. I wasn’t exactly talented at the game. Even my mother knew to put me in right field. But it was fun and my first experience at being part of a team.

It was even more ground-breaking when women began competing in marathons and running longer distances in the Olympic Games. There were debates on the long-term effects it would have their bodies. Again, the focus was on the 'toll of such strenuous activities on the reproductive system’ (my quotes to paraphrase the arguments). The rhetoric was fiercely contentious and, honestly, rather intimidating. In high school, I thought girls who played team tennis, soccer and softball were amazing and courageous. I envied them for doing what I didn’t dare.

I was one of the ones caught between two societies – the one of the past and the one of the future. I was seriously conflicted in what to do. Looking back, I wish I’d tried out for tennis, maybe softball. I loved tennis and was fairly decent at it so I might have made the team. Maybe. Like with softball, the talent of my classmates shone when given the chance. And they weren’t just athletes. The girls at the top of my class were swimmers, tennis and soccer stars as well as playing basketball and softball. They were magnificent at paving the way for girls to be scholar-athletes. They showed that, given the chance, girls had competitive drive and could do so much more than society thought they could.

Thing is – we had the chance. Something teenagers now don’t think twice about was a revolutionary event. We were ‘foot soldiers’ in changing society and had no idea. Try to describe that to girls now? Or even women who were in high school in the eighties and nineties and they look at you as if you’re crazy.

I look back and I’m truly amazed at how far things have come. Does progress still need to be made? Absolutely.

Yes, I would like to thank those who fought for girls to have the chance to prove themselves. Trailblazers like the indomitable Billie Jean King who took on men at their level. And beat them.

Most of all, I would like to express my admiration for those girls who seized the opportunity and played. Court battles are tough and hard-fought but it’s those who act after that truly make it last.

The ‘Transition Generation’ deserves its due.