James Howell

Professor Suzanne Ingram

UWRT 1102-047
10 February 2015
Has Title IX been effective in creating equality for men and women in sports?
Source

Annotations

"10 Key Areas of

Title IX."
TitleIX.info. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 04 Feb.
2015.

Before Title IX the primary sport women

could participate in were
cheerleading/dancing and only 1 in 27
girls played high school sports.
Once Title IX was passed the number of
female athletes has increased in all
levels. Also the number of women to
receive scholarships and funding to
women sports has increased. With more
opportunities for women to play sports,
it will and has helped increase the
overall health of women. As good of a
job that Title IX has done there is still a
long ways to go. Women are still not
given as many opportunities as men. It
is not just more opportunities for women
that need to be created but the funding
needs to be balanced out as well.
The law which was passed in 1972
stated, "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." Sports
have been affected the most from Title
IX. However it has also helped out in
other ways as well. There are three
areas that can tell if a school is following
Title IX:
1. Financial Aid
The total amounts of athletics aid
must be substantially
proportionate to the ratio of male
and female athletes.
2. Accommodation for athletic
interests
Selection of sports and the level

"About Title IX."

Http://bailiwick.li
b.
uiowa.edu/ge/ab
outRE.html. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 04 Feb.
2015.

Thoughts/Co
nnections
My main goal
from this
website, with it
being one of
the first I
viewed, was to
get a solid
understanding
of the law and
some of the
numbers.

The sports side

is the area I
am going to
focus on for a
couple
reasons:
1. I am
more
interest
ed in
the
athletics
2. It would
be a ton
of
research
to cover
the
whole
law so I

of competition must effectively

accommodate the students'
interests and abilities.
3. Other
Equipment, supplies, scheduling,
practice, travel just to name a few
Bolger, Dana.
"Know Your IX."
Know Your IX.
N.p., n.d. Web.
03 Feb. 2015.

"Gender Equality
in Athletics and
Sports Interesting Facts
About Athletics,
Sports, and Title
IX - Feminist
Majority
Foundation."
Gender Equality
in Athletics and
Sports Interesting Facts
About Athletics,
Sports, and Title
IX - Feminist
Majority
Foundation.
Feminist Majority
Foundation, n.d.
Web. 08 Feb.

1. Title IX prohibits sex

discrimination.
2. Title IX does not only apply to only
female students.
3. Schools must make sure school is
free of sex discrimination.
4. Schools must have a procedure
for dealing with complaints of Title
IX.
5. Schools must take immediate
action if accused of sex
discrimination.
6. Schools cannot retaliate against
someone for filing a complaint.
7. Schools must offer a way for
students to unanimously put in a
complaint.
8. Schools are not allowed to
promote mediation of the
complaint.
9. Schools cannot discourage you
from finishing your education.
Pre Title IX women only made up 2% of
college athletes. Now that number is up
to 43%. That is a 400% increase. The
numbers in high school are even bigger.
Before Title IX only 7% of high athletes
were women and now that number is up
to above 41%. That is 300,000 athletes
to 2.7 million athletes. That does not
mean the number of male athletes has
decreased, that number has increased
as well. There has been an increase of
400,000 male athletes in high school
since the passing of Title IX. In college
there are 30,000 more male athletes
now than before Title IX. With all these
accomplishments, there are still many
more challenges it has to face.

plan on
thoroug
hly
covering
the
athletic
side.
Interesting
facts, some of
which I was
not completely
familiar with.

2015.
Fagan, Kate,
and Luke
Cyphers.
ESPN. ESPN
Internet
Ventures,
29 Apr.
2012. Web.
16 Feb.
2015.

Equal
Opportunity In
Intercollegiate
Athletics:
RequirementsUn
der Title IX of the
Education
Amendments of
1972." Equal
Opportunity In
Intercollegiate
Athletics:
RequirementsUn

5 Myths of Title IX:

1. Title IX is controversial: Nancy
Hogshead-Makar a former
Olympic swimmer took a poll on
Title IX and her results were
somewhat surprising. Out of all
the people interviewed 80% of
them were say they want Title IX
left alone if not strengthened.
The law if favored by the general
public but a debate usually starts
when the sports side is brought
up.
2. Title IX forces schools to cut
mens sports: There is a chart that
shows that is not true but
something interesting is true.
Rutgers University cut its mens
tennis team and took all that
money to the football program.
3. Opportunities are now equal: At
the college level, female athletes
still receive 86,000fewer
opportunities than men and $148
million less in athletic
scholarships.
4. Schools must spend equal money
on men and womens sports: The
law says nothing about equal
spending.
5. Mens programs make money;
Womens programs lose money:
Fewer than 7 percent of Division I
sports programs operate in the
black, according to an NCAA study
published in 2010.
A school is not required to offer
particular sports or the same sports for
each sex. Also, a school is not required
to offer an equal number of sports for
each sex. However, a school must
accommodate to the same degree the
athletic interests and abilities of each
sex in the selection of sports.
A school may sponsor separate teams
for men and women where selection is
based on competitive skill or when the
activity is a contact sport.
If a school sponsors a team in a

These are
interesting
because it
brought stuff
to my
attention that I
had not heard
yet. I had
actually heard
the opposite of
2 so I need to
do some more
research on
that to clarify
and make sure
I had accurate
information.

The selection
of sports is a
messy topic in
Title IX. It is a
long process to
determine if
the schools are
following that
part of the law.

der Title IX of the

Education
Amendments of
1972. N.p., 14
Mar. 2005. Web.
16 Feb. 2015.
Brennan,
Christine.
"Brennan: Title IX
Needed Now
More than Ever."
USATODAY.COM.
N.p., 20 June
2012. Web. 14
Mar. 2015.
Owoc, Karen, and
Patrick Tow. Title
IX and Its Effect
on Mens
Collegiate
Athletics (n.d.):
n. pag. Web.

"Women's Sports
Foundation."
Women's Sports
Foundation.
Women's Sports
Foundation, n.d.
Web. 14 Mar.
2015.

particular non-contact sport for

members of one sex, it must allow
athletes of the other sex to try-out for
the team if, historically, there have been
limited athletic opportunities for
members of the other sex.
Title IX officially 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."
Things sound so good for this law at this
milestone (40 years in 2012) that the
natural inclination would be to say that
Title IX has done its job, success has
been achieved, every girl who wants to
play a sport or two or three is playing
them and the law isn't needed anymore,
thank you very much.
But that's not so. Boys statistically still
are given many more opportunities to
play sports than girls. Men are now
gobbling up the women's team coaching
jobs that women once aspired to. And in
spite of the whining about Title IX that
we still occasionally hear from guys who
seemingly would prefer life in the 1950s,
women have not yet come close to
achieving the proportional
representation Title IX mandates.
1. State and federal courts
considering cases in which the
scheduling policies of a state high
school athletic association require
girls sports to be played in nontraditional seasons have ruled
that schedules be changed.
2. Title IX clearly addresses the issue
of whether institutions covered by
title ix (all educational institutions
receiving federal funds) can use
athletic governance organization
rules to obviate their obligations
under the law.
3. Title IX applies to state high
school athletic associations.
4. It is not justifiable for state high

As much as
Title IX has
helped balance
the playing
field out the
fight for
equality is
nowhere near
over.
I was able to
find a lot of my
numbers from
USA Sports.

Found
examples of
Title IX being
broke and
what schools
had to do to fix
the problem. I
didnt realize
schools moved
girls sports to
different
seasons so it
wouldnt
conflict with
boys seasons.

school athletic associations or

their member schools to argue
that increased costs, scheduling
difficulties, lack of gym time or
lack of coaches prevent member
schools from complying with the
law.
5. Requiring female student-athletes
to participate in sports during
seasons, which are different than
traditional seasons, discriminates
against these female athletes and
takes away from their athletic
opportunities and experiences.
"Athletics."
Athletics. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 14 Apr.
2015.

Title IX is the federal law that prohibits

discrimination on the basis of sex in
schools that receive federal funding,
including in their athletics programs.
Since Title IX became law in 1972, NWLC
has worked hard to ensure that women
and girls are treated fairly in athletics
programs, from challenging schools to
provide female athletes with equal
access to athletic opportunities, to
fighting efforts to weaken enforcement
of Title IX protections for women.
Despite the fact that Title IX has opened
many doors for women and girls in
athletics, schools across the country are
still not providing equal opportunities for
girls to participate in sports and are not
treating girls teams equally in terms of
benefits and resources.

Backing
information I
have found in
previous
sources. This
source led me
to other
possible
sources.

"Debunking the
Myths About Title
IX and Athletics."
National
Women's Law
Center. N.p., 30
Jan. 2012. Web.
14 Apr. 2015.

Myths:
Title IX requires quotas
o It requires that schools
allocate participation
opportunities in a
nondiscriminatory way.
The percentages of
male and female
athletes are
substantially
proportionate to the
percentages of male
and female students
enrolled
It has a history and

This will help

me clarify a lot
of things
throughout my
paper. I was
actually
surprised by
some of the
myths on the
website.
More myths I
had to double
check to be
sure were

Title IX
Frequently Asked
Questions.
NCAA.org. N.p.,
27 Jan. 2014.
Web. 14 Apr.
2015.

"FindLaw | Cases
and Codes."
FindLaw | Cases
and Codes. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 22 Mar.
2015.

continuing practice
of expanding athletic
opportunities for the
underrepresented
sex
Its athletics program
fully and effectively
accommodates the
interests and abilities
of the
underrepresented
sex
Football and mens basketball
finance other sports in college
o Most football and men's
basketball teams spend
much more money than
they bring in
Title IX requires equal spending on
mens and womens sports
o Title IX does not require
schools to spend the same
amount of money on male
and female athletes
How it Title IX applied to athletics?
How does an institution comply
with Title IX?
Does Title IX benefit only women?
Who is responsible for enforcing
Title IX?
Is any sport excluded from Title
IX?
Is there someone at my institution
who would know about Title IX?
Duke University v. Mercer
Mercer was a member of the Duke
football team as a kicker during the mid
1990s. She filed a sexual discrimination
lawsuit against Duke University. Her
complaint stated that she was cut from
the team based on her sex and she also
claimed Dukes head football coach at
the time made derogatory comments to
her such as, Why dont you get sit in
the stands with your boyfriend?

positive

Really
interesting
because I had
a lot of the
same
questions over
the course of
my research.

An example I
really was
interested and
will be putting
in my paper
somewhere.