Title IX (9) Essay

The literature review of this article focuses on Title IX itself, as well as statistical numbers that provide the reader knowledge about the impact it has had. Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that has removed many barriers that once prevented people, on the basis of sex, from participating in educational opportunities and careers of their choice (Bower & Hums, 2013). Acosta and Carpenter (2012) reported that the number of female athletes playing college sports has risen from 16,000 in 1968 to over 200,000 in 2012. Although the increased number of opportunities has provided women the chance to participate in the sport, the percentage of women coaching women’s teams has decline over time from 90% in 1972 to 42.9% in 2012 (Acosta & Carpenter, 2012). Alongside coaching is the lack of women working in intercollegiate administration. In 1972, the percentage of female athletic directors overseeing women’s programs was 90%, Today, the percentage of female athletic directors is 20.3%, a small increase from 2010

While it is true that Title IX has allowed for more equality in the world of sports, some members of society do not accept it and some men consider it reverse discrimination.

This provides an argument that men’s intercollegiate sports should not be dropped in order to reach Title IX compliance. The article states that colleges should look to increase women’s sports to achieve substantial proportionality rather than the cheaper,

According to United States of Department of Labor, the Education Amendments of 1972 states “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity” (U.S. Department Of Labor).

Athletics: Title IX regulations allow a school to sponsor sex-segregated sports based on competitive skill, level of contact, and/or relevant research-based medical knowledge regarding the impact on the

As women participation became more involved in sports in college there became a bigger need for equal rights and to end discrimination. While women where fighting for the right to vote they where also fighting to organize Intercollegiate competitions among women. Before Title IX a lot of colleges would play intramural games for their women “competitions included intramural, clubs, and

In order to comply with Title IX the schools had to effectuate with what's called proportionality. (CBS news) Proportionality states that the portion of the school that is female must also be the portion of athletes that is female. Therefore setting a balance between the schools ratio and the athletic ratios and also enforcing Title IX. The problem that balancing caused was that the school had to add more women sports which cost more money to the school, or choose to cancel some of the schools male sports. Subsequently, the schools had to do what was best for the school and to avoid going into debt for sports the male sports had to be put on the burner. Many schools cut male wrestling, track and field, tennis, and gymnastics teams instead of adding women sports. Jason Lewis a gymnasts whose team was eliminated said that the number of men’s teams are dwindling because colleges are dropping what are called the minor men's sports, the ones that don't draw crowds or make money, and investing more and more in just one sport – football. The Fact that just twenty-three years ago, there was 107 men's gymnastics teams in this nation, now there are only 20 teams left just so happens to prove Lewis's statement to be true.(CBS news)

Women in sports, over the past 100 years, has become a topic of intense interest in society. Men have long argued that women have no right to play in the same arena as men do while on the flip side, women argued that they possess the right to the same physical activities that men enjoy. Women participation in sports, up until that time, had been frowned upon universally. Women were eventually granted the right to play sports in the collegiate setting however there was no equality to the treatment within the athlete’s school and no treatment outside of it either (History 1). Until title IX was passed, women’s collegiate athletics were given no scholarships to award to exceptional high school athletes and those programs were given very little budget to fund their programs (Ibid 1). As a result of these shortcomings, in 1972 only 30,000 participated in athletics as opposed to the 170,000 men who participated in athletics (Ibid 1). Title IX was designed to correct those imbalances within athletics. Since then people have formed their own mixed responses about the success of Title IX, both good and bad. While there are both good and bad beliefs concerning Title IX the overall consensus is that Title IX, by and large, was needed and vastly improved the state of women’s athletics.

The problem, however, is statistically more men participate in athletics compared to women according to those who argue against the title IX law. So whenever an imbalance is created, and there are too many male athletes, the school either has to increase women sports and consequently women athletes or cut back on male athletes. The former is time consuming and costs a lot of money while the latter is easier and less time consuming. Therefore, many schools opt for the cutting back of male athletes (Jennings 21). This is not only unfair but also totally counterproductive to the aim of the law. Women have an easier time getting into professional athletics and basically less competition for scholarship opportunities, and there are many cases of women winning scholarships instead of men who are more qualified just, so that colleges can attain to the equality proportion.

It is United States government civil right law that is an added edition from the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title IX states that, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance” (Title IX and Sex Discrimination, 2015). This Act was signed by President Nixon. Any private or public educational institution that is receiving funds from the federal government must submit to Title IX act, comply with the United States Supreme Court decision, and adhere to the guidance of the Department of Education.

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” (Bayh)

"No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid."

Title IX is a piece of legislation included in the Education Amendments 1972 that requires schools that receive federal funds to provide girls and women with equal opportunity to compete in sports. So, fast forward into the early twenty first century, a lot of things have changed and notably in the way people think. However, things have not changed so much in the sports industry. In fact, some people still mock the idea that sports should have no gender boundaries, even though certain women have obviously succeeded at proving the industry and society wrong. Female athletes like, Lea-Ann Ellison, and Jen Welter have done an exceptional job, but the odds remain that they will still face

In 1972, Title IX has banned sexual unfairness not only in education programs, but also in the athletic programs.  This federal law applies to all organizations that receive federal funds and must function in an equal manner. Gender equity has been a major problem in our society for quite some time, and now it has migrated to athletics. According to the Office of Civil Rights some keys issues which recipients have Title IX obligations are: “recruitment, admissions, financial assistance; athletics; sex-based harassment; treatment of pregnant and parenting students; discipline; single-sex education; and employment” (OCR, 2015). Fair treatment for female athletes has been a huge matter in athletics.  The Office of Civil Rights issued guidelines offering equal opportunity rights to all athletes including the temporary disability of pregnant female athletes. Prior to OCR putting this policy to effect there were many reasons universities neglect pregnant female athletes. According to Pitt Law there are a few reasons: “first, too many individuals in society believe sport is “pervasively masculine organization that is constructed around men. Secondly, women’s ability to reproduce is used against them to exclude them from sports. Furthermore, the “beliefs of gender and race have long combined to stigmatize young women who have children outside of marriage and in precarious financial circumstances” (Brake, 2008).

Although Title IX was authorized to enforce gender equality within college athletics, it has also had a huge impact on women’s professional athletics. This impact includes a significantly higher amount of women being able to compete in athletics at the high school, college, and professional level. Many advocates say that the use of Title IX has given women’s professional sports teams a chance to reach greatness. They prove this by stating that because there are more opportunities given