Elizabeth (Libby) Sharrow 
Associate Professor of History and Public Policy | University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA, UNITED STATES
Libby Sharrow examines the ways public policy has shaped understandings of gender, race, sexuality, disability and class in U.S. politics.
Expertise (7)
History of Title IX
Politics of Sport
Transgender Athletes
Politics of Sex and Gender
Public Policy and Disability
Title IX and Sports
Title IX
Biography
Libby Sharrow has brought questions of how public policy has shaped understandings of gender, race, sexuality, disability, and class to national media, including the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and New York Times.
With particular interest in the history of Title IX, Sharrow's book "Equality Unfulfilled: How Title IX's Policy Design Undermines Change to College Sports" examines how, fifty years after its passage, sex-based inequalities in college athletics remain the reality.
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Education (4)
University of Minnesota: Ph.D., Political Science
with a minor program in Feminist and Critical Sexuality Studies
University of Minnesota: M.A., Political Science
University of Minnesota: M.P.P., Gender, Law and Sport Policy
University of Minnesota: B.A., Political Science
Links (2)
Select Media Coverage (7)
Biden Plan Allows Limits on Trans Athletes’ Participation in School Sports
The New York Times online
2023-04-06
Those laws would not be immediately undone by the Biden administration rule, said Dr. Elizabeth Sharrow, who anticipated a new host of legal battles over the interpretation of the rule, as well as new legislation that might seek to “skirt through whatever space the regulation carves out for exclusion.”
Fifty Years On, Title IX’s Legacy Includes Its Durability
The New York Times print
2022-06-23
Elizabeth Sharrow says the Equal Rights Amendment, Roe v. Wade and Title IX are all linked by their attempts to target gendered inequality in American society, but they differ in how they used law and policy to enact change.
Title IX Built Women’s Sports. Now, It’s Time for it to Change.
Mother Jones online
2022-06-23
Elizabeth Sharrow says “There were debates and tension around the question of segregating women’s athletics from the start of Title IX, yet because policymakers settled on separate, sex-segregated sports, we have actually forgotten that history and have imagined that the solution of segregation has managed to solve all of those problems of exclusion."
Title IX at 50: An Incomplete Revolution In Women’s Sports
Diane Rehm Show radio
2022-05-06
Elizabeth Sharrow appeared on the Diane Rehm podcast to discuss the 50th anniversary of the passing of Title IX that prohibits gender-based exclusion in education.
https://www.glamour.com/story/attacks-on-transgender-athletes-are-threatening-womens-sports
Glamour online
2021-03-22
Commenting about new laws requiring physical examinations to confirm gender in girls competing in athletics, Elizabeth Sharrow says, “We should be extremely skeptical and concerned about the notion that any athletes have to testify with their bodies in those ways in order for sports to be kept as a competitively ‘fair’ space.”
The Next Cultural Battle: States Take Aim at Trans Athletes
Sports Illustrated online
2021-03-12
Elizabeth Sharrow is quoted in an article that looks at efforts by state governments across the country to ban transgender girls and women from participating in scholastic and collegiate sports with cisgender athletes.
A.O.C. and the Daughter Defense
The New York Times print
2020-07-25
In a study called “The First-Daughter Effect,” Elizabeth Sharrow and colleagues determined that fathering daughters — and firstborn daughters, in particular — indeed played a role in making men’s attitudes toward gender equality more progressive, particularly when it came to policies like equal pay or sexual harassment protocols.
Select Publications (8)
Equality Unfulfilled: How Title IX's Policy Design Undermines Change to College Sports (Book)
Cambridge University PressJames N. Druckman and Elizabeth A. Sharrow
2023-07-20
The year 1972 is often hailed as an inflection point in the evolution of women's rights. Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a law that outlawed sex-based discrimination in education. Many Americans celebrate Title IX for having ushered in an era of expanded opportunity for women's athletics; yet fifty years after its passage, sex-based inequalities in college athletics remain the reality.
Title IX’s interpretation has reshaped athletics in good and bad ways
The Washington PostElizabeth A. Sharrow
2022-06-20
Elizabeth Sharrow writes about how Title IX has reshaped athletics in positive and negative ways in the 50 years since it was enacted. “Since 1972, women’s intercollegiate athletic participation has expanded roughly 12-fold, with the formation of thousands of teams for girls and women,” she says.
Texas isn’t the only state denying essential medical care to trans youths. Here’s what’s going on.
The Washington PostElizabeth Sharrow and Isaac Sederbaum
2022-03-10
Elizabeth Sharrow writes about how conservatives are increasingly imposing government control over sexuality and gender, citing the fact that more than a dozen state legislatures are considering legislation that would ban access to medical treatments for trans youths.
States are still trying to ban trans youths from sports. Here’s what you need to know.
The Washington PostElizabeth Sharrow, Jaime Schultz, Lindsay Parks Pieper, Anna Baeth and Anne Lieberman
2021-07-26
Elizabeth Sharrow examines efforts by state governments across the country to ban transgender youths from participating in scholastic sports with cisgender athletes.
How high school sports became the latest battleground over transgender rights
The ConversationElizabeth A. Sharrow
2020-12-22
Elizabeth Sharrow writes about the challenges facing high school transgender athletes and how high school sports have become the latest battleground over transgender rights.
Virginia Democrats’ political problems show us why intersectionality is so important
The Washington PostNadia E. Brown, Melissa R. Michelson, Libby Sharrow and Dara Strolovitch
2019-03-04
"Characterizations of the problems facing Virginia Democrats as forcing them to choose between supporting women and supporting African Americans promote a misleading narrative about the politics of race and gender. This narrative misunderstands feminist and anti-racist politics and denies the humanity of black women...."
Here’s how female candidates can sway fathers’ votes — if their first child is a daughter
The Washington PostElizabeth A. Sharrow, Jill Greenlee, Jesse H. Rhodes and Tatishe M. Nteta
2018-11-03
"In the 2018 midterm election campaign, many female gubernatorial candidates have argued that their campaigns would be good for young women and girls in their states. In Idaho, for example, where Paulette Jordan and Kristin Collum are running for governor and lieutenant governor respectively, Collum declared, “Whether or not I win . . . I’ve given [young women] a role model. They can do this, too, and they should not let anything stop them."
What would change public opinion on whether the Redskins’ name is offensive?
The Washington PostElizabeth A. Sharrow, Tatishe M. Nteta and Melinda R. Tarsi
2017-07-11
Three weeks ago, the Supreme Court decided unanimously in Matal v. Tam to protect Americans’ ability to trademark names that may be considered offensive. In response, Daniel Snyder, longtime owner of the Washington Redskins football team, declared, “I am THRILLED. Hail to the Redskins!” Not everyone was equally thrilled.
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