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Gender equality in sports
Context and history of gender equality
Gender equality in sports
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Already known within society’s history, men and women have never been treated equally. Even back to the time of hunter-gatherers, men were to do the more dangerous and physical work and hunt, while the women would work in safety and gather fruits and vegetables. With this concept, one can see the cyclical theme that this portrays in modern day society. Edith Green, representative of Oregon, then discussed the inequality that society holds on women when it came to dilemmas such as education and eventually, the predicament of athletics. Five different bills were then sent to the House, Senate, and White House in order to make sure that the structure of the law was reasonably created. On July 1, 1972, Title IX was in effect and showed great progression towards its goal of equality. Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 federally 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” (Vest, par. 6).
Because of Title IX, women were drastically changing the athletic program and how it was structured. But due to many strategic decisions, many have put forth effort in order to seek out loopholes in Title IX. Because Title IX is still a recent, federal law, many problems within the law itself, have yet to be solved. Due to this, many of these situations have faced these loopholes, and have gotten away with inequality. By doing this, it impacts the participation of women in sports. In addition to Title IX, the 1979 Intercollegiate Athletics Policy Interpretation of Title IX was implemented in order to clarify the rule...
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.... "Title IX and Its Effect on Men's Collegiate Athletics." .docstoc. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. .
Parker-Pope, Tara. "As Girls Become Women, Sports Pay Dividends." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 15 Feb. 2010. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. .
Waters, Clay. "Ignoring Title IX's Impact on Men's College Sports." Times Watch. New York Times, 05 May 2009. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. .
Women's Sports Foundation. "Gender Equity, Creative Solutions--A Case Study in Compliance." Women's Sports Foundation. 28 July 2000. Web. 26 Mar. 2011. .
McAndrews, Patrick J. "Keeping Score: How Universities Can Comply With Title IX Without Eliminating Men's Collegiate Athletic Programs." Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal 1 (2012): 111-140. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
Title IX has drastically changed the lives and the quality of the lives of women. The law deals with schooling and sports, but the reach of it extends much further. Women are not told that they are equal, and then receive unequal benefits anymore, and they have the same opportunity of education as men. Although Title IX is not the only reason for the status of women today, it helped greatly in the process.
Title IX is a law that was made by the NCAA in 1972, that states that there can be no discrimination or exclusion of a gender through athletics or education. (Mankiller). Which means that men's sports cannot be favored over women's sports. Many people are very cognizant of this law. For example, if a school has $100,000, the school must spend the money equally between the athletics of each gender, even if there are more men's sports teams. They must get the same treatment. That may sound great, but Title IX has impacted men's athletics significantly. Although Title IX has been a valuable way to establish gender equality, the NCAA loses money, puts men out of scholarships, abolishes smaller men’s sports teams, and it should be
Today many Athletic Directors do a good job of administering the Title IX programs and arguably almost no athlete today even knows that there was ever a time when women’s sports were not a fabric of the school and that the female athletes were supported by the student bodies as evidenced by sold out arenas for such women’s basketball programs as UConn, Tennessee, and Stanford.
Title IX was the stepping-stone for mergers and sports, but immediately after the merging took place, women were fully discriminated against. When men and women's sports combined, it opened new administrative positions for women, but what these women found were that they were constantly being pushed down to the bottom of the pile, to the least authoritative positions. Men were the head coaches, and the head of the physical education departments Men organized the teams schedule for the season and organized practice hours. Also, "male sexist attitudes ensured that male rather than female athletic directors and heads of physical education departments were almost automatically appointed to direct merged departments" (Hult p.96) This male over female preference continued right up to today. As of 1992 there are more men in administrative sports positions than women.
Duke University, a female place kicker alleged sexual discrimination when she was not selected for Duke Universities football team, one of the contact sports in the Title IX regulations. Although no woman had ever participated on the team Duke University did not specifically say that football at the university was not a coed team (Stevens, 2004). North Carolina district court granted the university’s motion for summary judgment, concluding that the “regulation did not contain an exception for any particular position that may not require physical contact” (Stevens, 2004). On Appeal, the fourth circuit court reviewed the “separate teams” subsection of Title IX and noted that Duke University had allowed this woman to tryout for coed sports team deeming her qualified to be a member of the team (Stevens, 2004). The verdict in this case is the first documented case awarding punitive damages in a Title IX athletics related case. Title IX’s purpose is to prevent discrimination against women in educational forums, but by institutions diminishing Title IX’s mandate, the commission is allowing and justifying the rationalization of on going discrimination against
Since the 1972 conception of Title IX of the Education Amendments, the number of women participating in intercollegiate athletics has increased five-fold, from fewer than 30,000, to more 150,000 in 2001. However, more than 400 men’s athletics teams have been dismantled since Title IX, the law forbidding sex discrimination at institutions receiving federal funds, became law. Some would say this is due, in part, to Title IX enforcement standards like proportionality. Proportionality requires that an institution’s athletic population must be of an equal ratio to its general student body. Among some of the 400-plus teams dismantled by Title IX are several former Colorado State University teams including wrestling, baseball, gymnastics, men’s swimming and diving, and men’s tennis. CSU student athletes no longer sport the opportunity of participating in these activities at the NCAA Division I level, and the days of the student body rooting for their ram teams are gone, possibly forever. Now the search is on to find a solution to the problems associated with Title IX if, indeed, a solution is ultimately necessary.
The enactment of this Title has significantly changed the playing field for athletic departments through out the nation by altering their funding systems to comply with its rules. As a result, women have benefited greatly. There have been additions of female sports as well as an increase of the number of scholarships awarded to female athletes, and also a lot more funding to provide more “equitable” facilities for them. According to the NCAA Gender Equity Studies , “from 1992 to 1997 NCAA institutions have increased the number of female athletes by 5,800. But tragically during that time these colleges also eliminated 20,900 male athletes.” (Kocher p.1) This dramatic landslide has occurred because athletic departments are under pressure to rapidly increase the proportion of female athletes by whatever means necessary. As the path toward complete “equality” gradually brightens for women in college athletics, a dark path is now becoming evident. Male athletes, in a sense, are now being discriminated against because of Title IX.
“The past three decades have witnessed a steady growth in women's sports programs in America along with a remarkable increase in the number of women athletes (Daniel Frankl 2)” From an early age women were thought to be “Lady Like”; they are told not to get all sweaty and dirty. Over 200 years since Maud Watson stepped on the tennis courts of Wimbledon (Sports Media Digest 3); women now compete in all types and levels of sports from softball to National racing. Soccer fans saw Mia Hamm become the face of women’s soccer around the world, Venus and Serena Williams are two of the most popular figures in tennis, and Indy car racing had their first woman racer, Danika Patrick. With all the fame generated by these women in their respective sports, they still don’t receive the same compensation as the men in their respective sports fields.
1. It 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 educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Title IX applies to all educational institutions, both public and private, that receive federal funds. Almost all private colleges and universities must abide by Title IX. Athletics are not the specific target for Title IX; Athletics programs are considered educational programs and activities. There are three basic parts of Title IX as it applies to athletics: 1.) Participation: does not require institutions to offer identical sports but an equal opportunity to play; 2.) Scholarships 3.) Other benefits: Title IX requires the equal treatment of female and male student-athletes such as: equip, games, tutoring.
On June 23, 1972 Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was signed into law by the President (20 U.S.C. Sections 1681-1688). The purpose was to protect people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial aid. Title IX states that “(n)o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or subject to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance”. For years, many college sports fans only knew that Title IX existed because it promoted women’s sports, sometimes at the expense of men’s sports programs. While I am sure this would be a fascinating paper in itself, I would like to focus on the Office of Civil Rights expansion of Title IX in Colleges and Universities during the Obama Administration as a mechanism to curtail
Unintentionally, a lot of us have been boxed into institutions that promote gender inequality. Even though this was more prominent decades ago, we still see how prevalent it is in today’s world. According to the authors of the book, Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions, Lisa Wade and Myra Marx Ferree define gendered institutions as “the one in which gender is used as an organizing principle” (Wade and Ferree, 167). A great example of such a gendered institution is the sports industry. Specifically in this industry, we see how men and women are separated and often differently valued into social spaces or activities and in return often unequal consequences. This paper will discuss the stigma of sports, how gender is used to separate athletes, and also what we can learn from sports at Iowa State.
It has taken many years for women to gain a semblance of equality in sports. Throughout history, women have been both excluded from playing sports and discriminated against in sports. Men’s sports have always dominated the college athletic field, but women were finally given a fighting chance after Title IX was passed. Title IX, among other things, requires scholarships to be equally proportioned between men and women’s sports. Although this was a huge gain for women, gender inequality still exists in sports today. An example of this persisting inequality can be seen when looking at men’s baseball and women’s softball. In college, baseball and softball are both major NCAA sports. It is widely accepted throughout today’s society that baseball is a man’s sport, and softball is a woman’s sport. Very few people question why the two sexes are separated into two different sports, or wonder why women play softball instead of baseball. Fewer people know that women have been essentially excluded from playing baseball for a long time. This paper will focus on why softball has not changed the way women’s basketball has, why women continue to play softball, the possibilities and dynamics of women playing baseball with and without men, and the most discriminating aspect of women being banned from playing professional baseball.
Title IX is considered to be feminist law that is animated to enable women to live a full and meaningful life, without the stifling constraints of gender roles and discrimination. Furthermore, feminist legal scholarship has neglected or marginalized sport this has had some change in the past decade, but only to certain extent devoted to women’s equality in other aspects of women’s lives, sport has been Sorley
Title IX legislation, passed in 1972, expanded the rights of an individual in ed ucational opportunities. It equalized academic prospects for individuals by ensuring that males and females must have equal access to educational possibilities. Title IX is traditionally attributed to the growth of athletic programs for women by demanding that programs for women are given the same amount of money and attention as men's teams. However, Title IX has dealt with a plethora of equality issues in education that have been overshadowed, for the most part, by the legislation's impressive impact on women in sports.