Essay on Title IX

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

Great inequalities in the educational system between the sexes have occurred for many years and still occur today. Efforts have been made to rectify this disparity, but the one that has made the most difference is Title IX. Passed in 1972, Title IX attempted to correct the gender discrimination in educational systems receiving public funding. The greatest correction it made was in the area of athletics, but social justice of Title IX applies to many other areas as well. Title IX has an effect on women who are not athletes in many ways, including quality of education, receptivity to education, empowerment and creation of ideals.

The idea of equity in society particularly in athletics has been a major topic in athletics for many years. However, in spite of the long and storied history of the fight for equity in athletics we still see a lot of misunderstanding especially involving one particular law. This law is Title IX which has a number of awful misconceptions associated with it even from female athletes themselves. One misconception that is very popular especially among the critics of Title IX is the idea that “Title IX exists to force to schools to drop men’s sport’s”(Kane, pg. 3). This is something that was reinforced by an report authored by Dr. Mary Jo Kane who is a Professor at the University of Minnesota regarding the 40th anniversary of Title IX. Dr. Kane indicated that she opens her sport sociology class discussions on Title IX by asking her class what they know about this subject. Dr. Kane indicated in her report that Title IX “remains a mystery to the vast majority of her students, both male and female” (Kane, pg. 3). Dr. Kane goes on to point out the misconception mentioned above is commonly said by her students including her female D1 scholarship athletes who are the ones that have benefitted most from this law. Overall Title IX is a great law even if it is a law that takes a lot of bad press although this is largely due to the actions or in some cases lack thereof from the leaders who reside in college athletics.

While the development of this bill speaks some to the progressive spirit of the 1960s and 1970s, the public backlash to this bill says even more about the lasting impact of discrimination in educational contexts. As Edwards (2010, p. 307) notes, some of the emphasis on Title IX and athletics came from the executive branch as they tried to construct these regulations; gender discrepancies were easy to examine in the context of athletics. However, much of the public attention on Title IX and athletics—and the intense controversy surrounding Title IX—came from the backlash against women athletics. Edwards (2010) suggests that “[The] focus turned to athletics primarily because of those groups fighting against Title IX. Those opposed to Title IX, such as the NCAA and the American Football Coaches Association, drew attention to an issue that the women’s groups originally fighting for Title IX had ignored," (p. 307). Thus, in attempt to quell the encroaching threat of female athletics, groups that opposed Title IX’s role in defending female athletes stoked the flames of controversy that transformed the public understanding and the meaning of the bill.

In 1972 Congress passed the Educational Amendments. One section of this law, Title IX, prohibits discrimination against girls and women in federally funded education, including athletic programs. As a result of Title IX, women and girls have benefited from more participation opportunities and more equitable facilities. Women who were under 10 when Title IX passed have much higher sports participation rates than women who grew up before Title IX. Fifty-five percent of the "post-Title IX" generation participated in high school sports, compared to 36% of the "pre-Title IX" generation.35 Because of Title IX, more women have received athletic scholarships and thus the opportunity for higher education than would have

In 1972 Congress passed the Educational Amendments. One section of this law, Title IX prohibits discrimination against girls and women in federally funded education, including in athletic programs. Since its arrival, in regards to athletics, there have been arguments for and against the many aspects pertaining to this law. Title IX has had a large impact on high school and college athletics in the attempt to give females an equal opportunity, but the means by which they are achieving this goal is an ongoing debate.

Over two decades have passed since the enactment of Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education, including athletics. As a result of Title IX, women and girls have benefited from more athletic participation opportunities and more equitable facilities. Because of Title IX, more women have received athletic scholarships and thus opportunities for higher education that some may not have been able to afford otherwise. In addition, because of Title IX the salaries of coaches for women's teams have increased. Despite the obstacles women face in athletics, many women have led and are leading the way to gender equity.

This article specifically focuses on gender issues and the possible harm that Title IX has caused on male sports while trying to help females. It discusses the college’s decisions about how to adjust to Title IX, such as whether cutting male programs is really a

Female athletes would have to be paid as much as the male athletes are paid. According to smithsonianmag.com, “…the ruling from the NLRB would impact women’s sports, too. If men get paid to play, then Title IX says women do too” (Eveleth). Title Nine 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. Not only would athletic departments have to spend money on the men’s athletes but would also have to pay women athletes the exact same amount given to the men. This would put schools at a major deficit and it would cause huge cuts in other school related programs as

As stated previously, women have a much lower interest in competing in athletics, statistically speaking. For example, high schools must also obey the regulations put into play by Title IX by offering the same number of sports teams for each gender, thus giving high school students equal opportunities to participate in athletics. However, even though both male and females are offered the same opportunities, 1.4 million fewer females choose to compete in high school sports than males. Based on recent reports from the 2010-11 academic year from the state high school athletic associations from all 50 states, sports participation among genders is approximately 4.5 million boys, or 60% of total participation, as compared to approximately 3.1 million girls, or only 40% of total participation.(Toporek) Although this statistic clearly

In the “Female Intercollegiate Athletes and Women’s Athletics” by Brad R. Humphreys. They wanted to review the economic research on female intercollegiate athletes and women’s athletics. In this study they wanted to find the answer two key research questions that were not answered. The first one being is there an economic basis for legislating equality of opportunity in intercollegiate athletics and what was the overall impact of Title IX on opportunities in intercollegiate athletics for all college students? To study the first question they brook it up in three areas which includes increased academic success of participants in intercollegiate athletics, higher graduation rates, and increased lifetime earnings. Without Title IX colleges would

Many schools have had to start turning away qualified males for less qualified females to maintain the required ratio of genders at their institution. Because Title IX specifically says that this gender ratio is individually measured at each college on a university’s campus, some universities have had to downsize or even get rid of colleges that not enough females applied to. Also, because of the same ratios being applied to sports teams, many universities are having to cut their men’s athletic teams and add women’s teams to remain compliant. An example of this can be found at the University of Delaware, where, “officials say they are ending the track program, which has its 100th anniversary this year, out of concern that they could not remain compliant in the future” (New York Times “Colleges Cut Men’s Programs to Satisfy Title IX” paragraph 3). The University will also be adding a women’s golf team to try and even out the gender ratio on

In order to prevent either sex from having more benefits from a federally funded program the United States government passed Title IX, which 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 receiving Federal financial assistance”(Iannone). This means that any federally funded program must an equal number of male and female participant, or else the government will lower their funding. Many college sports teams were affected by what Title IX wanted because it prevented many schools to get the proper funding for their sports teams since there were not enough females participating in a sports team. This has prevented many college sports teams from participating in any sport related activities, even though their teams were good enough to participate, but they lacked the funding. Even with Title IX feminists still claims women are are under represented in the educational system, but over the years women have been doing better than men is school, and even more women go to and graduate college. Women have shown their superiority in school, but many feminist want there to be more opportunities for women to enter college than men. Women make up over fifty-five percent of people who enroll in medical, dentistry, law, business, and banking courses in schools, but feminist are only looking at the statistics for the amount of women in S.T.E.M. fields, which is one of the only area they do not make up the majority of people. The S.T.E.M. fields, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and math, lack women because most of them lack the interest,or abilities to perform well in those fields. There was a study done by the

“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 educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” (Anderson). These thirty seven words, known as Title IX, have transformed the athletic community for both males and females over the past forty two years. Many wonder why there is still so much talk about the inequalities of female and male sports even after forty two years of the enactment of Title IX. Violations of this law still occur and some may be closer to home than one thinks. In 2009, the Office of Civil Rights received a complaint for New Hanover County being out of compliance with Title IX which initiated a full investigation of all facilities and programs within the county (George). Soon, a list of issues found in the county was released with proper solutions that needed to be fulfilled within a short amount of time for risk of losing federal funding (George). Title IX is responsible for the constant maintenance and changes being done to equalize female and male sport’s programs because of the major impact sports have on female’s lives. After analyzing the current quality of athletics under Title IX, it becomes evident that the situation needs to be improved because of the positive influences equal opportunity athletics have on female empowerment and other aspects.

Before the birth of Title IX, there were 3 million boys playing sports and about 290,000 girls that participated in interscholastic sport. Once ten years passed the number jumped from 3.5 million boys and 1.2 million girls now participating. And bring that to present day, 2.8 million of 6 million participants are girls. Girls now participate in over 29 high school sports, few of them are, basketball, volleyball, track and field, soccer, and softball. aside from the improvements and the largely increased population of girls’ increased participation in sports, there are financial constraints. The budget for boys’ sports are larger than the girls’ sports activities. But an unfortunate side is that the significant cuts on both sides of the