WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) announced it is relaunching a nationwide letter campaign to demand the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) update its student-athlete participation policy to protect women’s sports. The renewed large-scale marketing campaign, which has already driven over 7,000 personalized letters from NCAA female athletes to the NCAA Board of Governors, comes after NCAA President Charlie Baker once again ignored the safety and privacy of young female athletes under his jurisdiction, as he testified in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Baker shamefully put the burden on these young women much to the astonishment of many members of the committee.

“[Your handbook] says that ‘transgender student athletes will be able to use the locker room, shower, and toilet in accordance with their gender identity’ […] that means that if a man, a biological man, wants to use their locker room, they just have to accept it or else the women have to go somewhere else; they have to find an alternative,” U.S. Senator Josh Hawley said to NCAA President Baker. “Your testimony here today is that you’re not even subject to Title IX. Mr. Baker, I cannot even tell you how disappointed this makes me […] You won’t even take responsibility, it is outrageous.”

Adriana McLamb, marketing director for Independent Women’s Forum, said: “The NCAA needs to listen to its athletes — many young women have taken courageous and bold moves this year to stand up for the integrity of their sport and advocate for the grownups in charge to make changes to keep women’s sports female and put an end to the charades that sideline women. By relaunching Independent Women’s layered marketing campaign, we will make sure Baker and other members of the NCAA leadership know that women won’t back down until they stand with women and prohibit men from women’s sports.”

McLamb is also a former Division I volleyball player, and now coach and recruiter to aspiring collegiate female volleyball players.

Independent Women’s Forum’s letter campaign, Calling All NCAA Female Athletes: Contact NCAA Board of Governors, can be found here.

Learn more about Independent Women’s Forum’s work to keep women’s sports female: 

  • This month, the Ladies Professional Golf Association and United States Golf Association implemented new eligibility policies prohibiting males who have transitioned after puberty from participating in women’s events. This monumental rule change came on the heels of IWF’s global letter campaign, which drove more than 8,000 personalized letters to LPGA and USGA officials, demanding the end of discriminatory participation policies in women’s golf.
  • IWF led the Our Bodies, Our Sports “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour, traveling coast to coast, visiting 30 states in 30 days, featuring over 50 speakers including NCAA female athletes, renowned Olympians and coaches to build upon the growing calls to restore fairness in women’s sports.
  • IWF and Independent Women’s Law Center have produced a first-of-its-kind report entitled, “Competition Report: Title IX, Male-Bodied Athletes, and the Threat To Women’s Sports,” to help athletic associations, policymakers, and courts understand the growing threat to female athletes.
  • IWF, alongside a coalition of women’s advocacy groups, led the second “Our Bodies, Our Sports” rally and protest outside the 2024 NCAA Convention. Learn more about the rally HERE.
  • Learn more about IW Features’s storytelling campaign to fight for fairness in women’s sports, which has amplified the stories of other female athletes who have felt compelled to lend their voice to the fight to save women’s sports and end the discrimination of women HERE. 

Direct all press inquiries to [email protected] 

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Independent Women’s Forum is dedicated to developing and advancing policies that aren’t just well intended but actually enhance people’s freedom, choices, and opportunities.