Title Ix Essay, Research Paper

Title IX

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 athletics programs. Title IX is the most controversial subject facing intercollegiate and high school athletics today. There is a great emphasis on enforcing the twenty-five year old legislation due to the fact that, as we speak, ninety percent of American universities are not in compliance with the federal laws. Twenty-five years ago, Congress developed Title IX because of the gross inequities in college sports. Title IX is a good law. Sports should not be biased by sex or race or for any other reason. One problem with title IX though, while creating opportunities for women it is also taking away many opportunities for male athletes. I do not think that we should do away with title IX I feel that colleges are doing the wrong things to be title IX compliant. In this paper I will give an explanation of title IX, some examples of whom it has hurt and who it has helped and how much it has helped.

Title IX is not a law that deals only with college and universities. It is also very important for high schools too. To be title IX compliant, the school must have the male percent of male and female athletes equal to the percent that makes up the student body. For example, if there was a school with 60 percent females at a particular school, then 60% of the athletes must be females and 60% of the funding and scholarships goes to female sports. Schools don t have to be perfectly compliant with title IX, but if there evidence that females are discriminated against a law suite can be filed against the school.

Ninety percent of all NCAA Division I schools are not compliant with title IX. The loophole for title IX is that if a school is becoming closer to be title IX compliant, they are OK. If at a particular school, which is not title IX compliant, there is a female student requests a new sports team and there is ample support for the particular team, the school must start a new team.

Title IX has given many females many opportunities that they never had before. In 1971, a year before title IX went into effect, out of approximately 4,000,000 high school athletes, females made up for 300,000 of them. In 1995, the number of high school female athletes has risen to 2.2 million; while the number of male athletes has actually dropped to 3.5 million. It still isn t perfect gender equality, but it is getting closer and closer each year. A reason many lawmakers urge for title IX compliance in high school, because studies show that female athletes are: 80% less likely to become pregnant, 92% less likely to use drugs and three times more likely to graduate. Many more high school title IX lawsuits have been filed than from colleges. Even though only ten percent of Division I colleges are perfectly compliant with title IX, colleges are much more compliant than they were when title IX started.

In 1971, college female athletes made for 30,000 of the 200,000 NCAA Division I athletes. In 1994, the male and female numbers have risen, females are up to 105,000 and the number of male athletes is up to 190,000. Although the numbers still aren t perfect, the female participation rate has more than tripled and the male participation rate has gone up a mere 5%. Before title IX had become a law, 36% of all females had participated in a sport. Now 55% of all females have participated in a sport. The war isn t over either. Everyday all schools across the country are making more and more changes to be title IX compliant.

I do not feel that all of the efforts colleges are making to be title IX compliant are the right ones. Title IX is meant to create opportunity not take away opportunity. Even though there has been a large increase in female athletes, there has been a large drop in the number of certain male sports programs. To comply with title IX, schools have been found to ax, get rid of, the smaller male teams such as wrestling, gymnastics and swimming. In 1982, there were 360 wrestling teams; in 1994 there were 260 teams, which is a reduction of 28%. The men s gymnastics is down 38%, starting at 80 teams in 1982, to 30 teams in 1994, because men s and women s gymnastics usually work together, schools have dropped women s gymnastics too, from 180 to 110 down 39%. All along while schools are axing smaller less popular , the number of football teams is on the rise from 500 to 560 and increase of 10%. With approximately 100 players on each football team and 10 coaches with a huge operating budget, an increase of 60 football teams is huge.

I enjoy watching football. Football is not a bad sport at all. But there is a problem when schools are cutting smaller programs such as wrestling and gymnastics, sports that have athletes which have worked all their lives so they can compete in college, while the football teams are NEVER affected. The average football team in NCAA Division I has 100 athletes, and most colleges have the maximum amount of funding allowed for football teams. A study done in 1994 showed that 73% of all male funding goes to football and basketball programs. That gives the rest of the male teams a measly 27% of the budget to work with, which is not much. Football and basketball teams do make money but they don t make any where near amount of that they put in. In 1993, the average NCAA Division I football team had a deficit of 1,000,000 dollars, while the average NCAA Division I basketball team had a deficit of 226,000. Approximately 10% of the football teams made a profit in Division I. In 1982, just 10 years after title IX has pass, 76% of football teams made a profit. In 1992, after NCAA reduced the maximum scholarships allowed to football teams by 10%, spectatorship was up 2,000,000. Fans said that there was more parity and the games were more fun to watch. I don t understand how its so hard for them to understand, to increase fan interest in football, universities don t need to increase funding for the teams, but decrease funding and make it a more level playing field.

When schools have a problem with money or title IX, they always point the finger at the smaller and cheaper sports such as gymnastics and wrestling. One example of this is at JMU where we are one of the 90% schools not title IX compliant and some interest in softball has been noticed. Some girls have recently requested a team and the Athletic Director agreed. After looking at the budget, JMU realized that they would still not be title IX compliant and had a big problem funding their 28 sports. They proposed to ax seven teams. They were, men s and women s gymnastics, men s swimming, wrestling, tennis and women s fencing. The proposal didn t go through, but the interesting thing is that JMU never considered taking any funding away from any other sports. Here there are 63 full scholarships for football. The maximum number of players a NFL team can have is 58 players. Do they really need all of that money?