Women and Sports Essays

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

Before Title IX was signed by President Nixon on June 23 and went into effect on July 1 of 1972, both women and young girls were excluded from many activities that men and young boys were allowed to do. Since the passing of Title IX, women have excelled in all sports tremendously. This essay will argue that because of Title IX, women can now participate in various activities and sports. Title IX of Educational Amendments prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving any type of financial aid, and because of this enactment made by Congress in 1972, women have left their mark on sports history.

Women in professional sports fits into the Sex and Power: Global Gender Inequality class because many female athletes have experienced the inequalities in a professional sports setting. Female athletes are being put down by gender inequalities, causing less females participating in athletic programs. Women athletes are being paid less than their male counterparts. Along with being paid less, female and males are receiving unequal benefits in the form of scholarship, media coverage, transportation, and stadium conditions. The professional sport’s world is filled with the obsession of body image and sexuality. Through this obsession, female athletes have been abused from the people they trust the most. There is an increasing inequality in women’s professional sports in the form of pay, sexuality, and abuse.

"Gender Oppression Involving Men's and Women's Sports." : Analysis of a Scholarly Source: Equal Pay? Not on the Basketball Court" by David Woods. N.p., 28 Oct. 2014. Web. 28 Oct. 2015. .

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.

Imagine being a female athlete before 1972, you practice playing basketball everyday just like the boys do, but they have multiple scholarship opportunities to go to college where as females do not. They tell you to be a cheerleader or work in the kitchen and stay at home, but in your heart you are a competitor and have a passion for sports. This is a feeling that many females felt before Title IX; was explicated to give female’s gender equality in sports. Title IX has positively affected women’s sports over the years, but can negatively impact men’s teams, especially within the collegiate field. Title IX has changed budgeting and participation numbers between males and females, while opening up several opportunities for women. I am going to inform you how Title IX affects females and males in collegiate and high school sports, the history about Title IX, facts and statistics, how it has positively changed the way women participate in sports, and what it has to do with race and minorities.

     What you have just read above is the “Prohibition of Sex Discrimination”, also known as Title IX. Title IX has been effective in the realm of education for nearly three decades, but has been a source a controversy in collegiate sports. Since the beginning of time, women were believed to be inferior to men in every way. Women were socialized to bear children and take care of the household when, and only when, the men were out hunting.

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.

Throughout history, according to the laws of almost every country, males have been the dominate sex. In almost every sector of life, the law has granted men more rights and privileges, whether it be property rights or the right to vote. However, in the United States, ever since women’s suffrage, all women’s rights have been increasing steadily. One privilege that men have had in the past, active and supported participation in intercollegiate sports, has also been opened up to women through Title IX, part of an amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Although Title IX does not solely target sports, its effect on college sports across the United States

Even when Title IX was first introduced, it was not embraced with open arms and immediately implemented into society. Scholarships and funding toward women’s sports were a huge controversy, as many men’s athletic teams, mostly football, found themselves having to give up funding toward their program to compensate for the new women’s teams being formed. In fact, schools, men’s collegiate sport teams, and the NCAA challenged Title IX countless times for it’s discrimination against men and it’s push for equal federal funding for both men and women. Many male coaches, athletic directors, and particularly members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) feared that women athletes would siphon off too much of their funds. So The NCAA had actively and publically opposed Title IX, trying first to exclude athletics from it altogether in 1975, and then working to exempt revenue producing sports like football.

In the early 20th Century, women lacked much needed opportunities to participate in college athletics; however, with the coming of a new law called “Title IX”, these opportunities would soon become a reality. Title IX is a law that granted women equal rights to those of men, specifically within college athletics. Prior to Title IX, women were denied entry into specific universities for no other reason than the fact that they were women. When more and more women began to speak out and bring attention to the situation, it became a huge topic that needed a solution quick. Around the nation, Civil Rights Movements and Women’s Rights Movements began to dominate streets everywhere.

Money is usually a problem with many things in life, one of them also happens to be gender equality. Colleges and universities spend an average of $1.6 million on the men’s athletics program. Yet, the women’s athletic teams receive nearly half that amount (Almond 2). Women should not be receiving half the amount that a men’s team gets just because their sports are less ‘popular’ than men’s. A school’s main objective may be to promote the men’s team first, to get out of a deficit. Then they may be able to finance the women’s team with the money they make from the men’s sporting events. That is not an equal or fair solution. It would take years to pay off a deficit and then sufficiently finance the female athletic programs. Numerical equality would take a vast quantity of public tax money in addition to the financial assistance that now pays for most of women’s sports. Universities increased its support of women’s athletics over the years but according to Ellen Voelz,

It is the year 2016, the United States has had its first African American president, gay marriage is legalized, and women and men are supposedly seen as equals in the workplace and educational institutions. It is important to note that while steps to equality have been made through the Equal Pay Act and Title IX, gender discrimination is still prevalent in society. The NCAA reported since 1988, in the 2007-2008 academic year, institutions yielded a net gain of 2, 342 women’s teams added to varsity rosters (Pickett, Dawkins, Braddock, 2012). There are now more than 174,000 female collegiate athletes thanks to Title IX (Koller, 2010). Though there has been a substantial increase in female athletic participation, this number is still nowhere near the participation of male athletes. Many women still do not participate in sports due to discrimination and the concept of equality in Title IX could potentially affect women’s interest in athletic participation.

Women’s equality is an issue that has been around for awhile. While women have been given many rights to increase equality, including the right to vote and go to college, the problem hasn’t completely vanished. One area that still sees this is in sports. Women’s sports do not draw nearly as many fans and are not covered in the media as much as men’s sports, pay differences between male and female athletes are large, and female athletes have to wait longer to start their professional career than men, which risks their professional career before it even starts.

Before I conducted this media analysis about women in sports and sport broadcasting, I hypothesized the obvious - that more male sports would be in the media, and that there would be more male sports broadcasters as well. Through my observations I did find that the sports arena and sports broadcasting sphere are male dominated. However, I also found that although there are not many stories about women, there has been a steady progression and magazines like Sports Illustrated are becoming bold enough to highlight women athletes in a magazine that is targeted towards a male audience. Although women still have a long way to go, they are making some headway into the male-dominated sports arena.