Analysis
Title IX set out to correct gender inequalities in American education. Over its twenty-five year history, the regulation has almost exclusively been used in an athletic context. It has forced an impressive growth of opportunities, funding, and scholarships for female athletes. The changes have not benefited all parties, however, and there is still a long way to go before scholastic athletics are equitable. In this section, we analyze some of the major pros and cons of Title IX and conclude with some comments on how athletics can be seen as a microcosm of several current issues in education and briefly discuss the future of Title IX.
Title IX is responsible for the tremendous growth in women's sports at the collegiate level over the last twenty-five years. Since the inception of Title IX, the number of women competing on intercollegiate sports teams has increased fourfold, to over 44,000 at the Division I level. Athletic scholarships for women, which were non-existent in 1972, today are valued at over $195 million (Naughton, 1997, A39). Clearly, women's sports have achieved impressive gains due to Title IX.
Title IX still has a long way to go to accomplish equity, however. Women currently make up 53% of the undergraduate bodies of four year colleges and universities, but they are only 37% of the athletes. They only receive 38% of the scholarship money and spend about one-third as much money for recruiting and competition sponsorship as their male counterparts (Naughton, 1997, A39). Of the 305 Division I schools, only 28 have achieved sufficient proportionality with respect to the unofficial accepted standard of 5%. Although many schools have come a long way towards gender equity, women are still underrepresented in many aspects of collegiate athletics.
Along with the positive influences, Title IX has caused many hardships. As a result of these regulations, men's sports have been dropped at an alarming rate. Many schools, constrained by fiscal pressure, have decided to cut small, non-revenue men's sports such as wrestling and gymnastics, instead of soliciting the additional funds necessary to expand their female program. For example, the number of men's gymnastics teams in 1982 was 80; in 1994 this number had fallen to 35. The number of men's wrestling teams in 1982 was 365. By 1994 the number of men's wrestling teams had decreased to 265 ("Gender Equity in Sports"). This does not seem to be in the spirit of Title IX. As stated above, Title IX was created to correct gender inequalities in education. Although cutting men's teams does make participation numbers more equal, it does not seem to correct the inequality as the law intended. Presumably, the congressmen who passed the law envisioned more opportunities for women without the loss of opportunities for men.
Another argument against Title IX states that the three prong test of compliance is unfair. The assumption that equal participation rates confers gender equity has been challenged frequently. There is not necessarily equal demand for competitive levels of athletics in college. At Brown University, for example, the intramural program that has no cap on participation has men outnumbering women by a ratio of eight to one (Mahoney, 1997, 78). Proponents of this argument point out that since there are different rates of interest, there should be allowances for some difference in funding and participation rates. Opponents of the fairness argument contend that the difference in interest is the result of a larger emphasis on sports for boys than girls in elementary school through high school. Until sports are stressed to young girls, they argue, there will not be equal demand for collegiate sports. Therefore, it is the school's job to bring women's athletic opportunities equal to those of men.
The Supreme Court recently agreed with the second argument when it decided not to hear the Brown University Case. Since the Supreme Court will not hear the case, the previous verdict stands and the women have won. The Supreme Court in effect said that there will be no leeway in compliance for schools. This outcome should encourage many female athletes to sue since the schools have been given a major loss. Title IX should continue to be a powerful tool in the fight for gender equity in athletics at the collegiate level.
There clearly are many controversies surrounding Title IX. The overwhelming opinion, however, is that it has done a good job but has a way to go to achieve equity. There are many trade-offs implicit in the future of Title IX compliance. For colleges and universities to continue towards equity, painful cuts will have to be made. The success that female athletes have had with Title IX litigation should prompt further groups of disgruntled females to sue. The threat of a suit is enough to make many schools continue to move towards equity.
There has been some discussion in Congress that football should be exempt from Title IX. The reasoning is that there is not a female sport that fields comparable numbers, and that it takes at least three female sports to equal football's participation numbers. Adding to the strength of this argument is the fact that Division I-A football is frequently a huge revenue producing sport. Since football programs often raise revenue for the university and increase its exposure, many athletic directors are calling for football's exemption. Although this argument may seem appealing to many, it lacks the broad based support to be a legitimate threat to Title IX because most people feel that it does not solve the problem.
Title IX, and sports in general, are an interesting microcosm of many other issues in education. Equity is obviously one of the underlying themes of public education. Title IX encompasses debates about equity in such areas as salaries, opportunities, funding, support, and coaching. These areas all correspond to other areas of education that are being debated today. Teacher salaries and public school financing, for example, are issues that are at the front of education reform. Although athletics may not seem to have much to do with education, Title IX and collegiate athletics are actually a microcosm of education as a whole. To learn more about some of the issues facing education today, feel free to link to the other areas of our project in the upper left hand corner of this site.
Government 375: Educational Reform and Ideology