Forty years later, and still not many women in the press box.

With all the hoopla on the 40th anniversary of Title IX, Rhiannon Falzone of ChicagoSide weighs in with a timely story about women in sports media, or lack thereof.

She writes:

In Chicago, as in most big cities, men dominate the business of sports reporting. It’s been 40 years since Title IX became the law, banning sex discrimination in American education, and giving girls equal rights in classrooms and gymnasiums. But while the law changed the face of sports, it hasn’t done much to change sports media, especially in Chicago. By my count, and based on interviews with local editors and reporters, it breaks down like this:

The Chicago Tribune sports department employs 15 full-time reporters, two of them women.

The Sun-Times sports desk has eight full-time reporters, two of them women. All of its columnists are men.

The Daily Herald employs one woman on a staff of twelve.

WSCR 670 The Score lists 24 reporters and hosts on its website; all of them are men.

WMVP ESPN 1000 has thirteen “personalities” listed on its website, all but one of them men.

ChicagoSide has been in business more than two months, and this is its first story written by a woman.

I may be a girl, but I know this math is wrong.

Falzone concludes:

In response, some women are creating their own opportunities. Julie DiCaro, a freelance Redeye columnist, recently started Aerys Sports, an online network of women sports bloggers.

“I decided to do my own thing and not try to break into the boys club,” said DiCaro, who grew up reading Isaacson in the Tribune. “I got tired of it. With Title IX a lot of women grew up with sports a big part of theirs,” DiCaro said. “This isn’t a group of women saying, ‘we’re girl writers.’ No, we’re sportswriters.”