Central to many colleges and universities’ sports programs since the nineteenth century, especially the Ivy League universities, crew is an expensive sport (racing shells cost as much as $20,000) and is generally available only to wealthier Americans at university or Olympic levels. Rowers along rivers like Boston’s Charles and Philadelphia’s Schuylkill (immortalized in Thomas Eakin’s paintings) thus have drawn ire from residents of surrounding communities. Hence, Philadelphia administrators have occasionally suggested that the city’s boathouses (used for equipment and social activities) should provide camps or other low-cost facilities to disadvantaged kids.

Visibility of women in the sport grew dramatically after the passage of Title IX. Since colleges already had the necessary equipment, rowing easily served to move towards funding parity. By 1997, 96 NCAA schools had women’s varsity rowing teams.

Reaching parity was made easier still in 1997 when the NCAA made women’s rowing a sanctioned sport, while men’s rowing remained a varsity or club sport. Consequently in many schools women rowers outnumber men.

This has had increasing impact on gender conventions beyond the crews. Bodybuilding sports, before Title IX at least, generally had been considered unfeminine. Now these constitute the backbone of many women’s sporting programs.