Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Equality for women in sports
Equality in sports essay
Equality for women in sports
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Equality for women in sports
The Civil right Acts of 1964 was originally written to end discrimination based on race, color, national origin, and along the way came Title IX. Title IX as we all know gave equal opportunity for women to participate in sports starting in Elementary schools to colleges or the universities level and almost all schools and colleges receive federal funding. The original intention was never focused on sports. It wasn’t until 1969 when an emerging activist by the name of Bernice Sandler complained to the University of Maryland and many more other universities that women are being treated unfairly, and the inequalities in pay, rank, admissions, and much more. In 1970, “Sandler joined Representative Edith Green’s Subcommittee on Higher Education and sat in on the congressional hearings where women’s rights were discussed”. It wasn’t in congressional hearing that Green and Sandler proposed Title IX and again, there was very limited mention of sports. The focal point was aiming toward equalities at employment and federally financed institutions. Although, Title IX was officially passed into law on June 23, 1972, many people didn’t fully understand what Title IX and that there were also other people who was against Title IX. President Nixon “President Nixon directed the now-defunct Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) to carry out this important task.” In wasn’t until 1972 when the HEW published their finalized copy of Title IX and that’s when people had a good understanding of what it truthfully means. This was the step that people have finally have a clear understanding of Title IX and that it would applies to college athletics. Universities were given three years to implements Title IX. Many universities weren’t too happy a...
... middle of paper ...
...men are still being treated unfairly in the school system and are getting the dead end of the deal.
Works Cited
Priest, Laurie. "The Whole IX Yards: the impact of Title IX: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. " Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal. 12.2 (Fall 2003)
Yiamouyiannis, Athena. "The future of Title IX: ensuring success through proactive approaches." Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal 12.2 (Fall 2003)
Claussen, Cathryn L. "Female sport participation in America: the effectiveness of Title IX after 35 years." The International Sports Law Journal 3-4 (July-Oct 2007)
Reynolds, Gerald. "Further Clarification of Intercollegiate Athletics Policy Guidance Regarding Title IX Compliance." (2003)
"FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking." n. pag. Web. 28 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.
In any movement by a marginalized social group to gain equal rights and recognition, there are always several factions with differing opinions of the best way to achieve the common goal. There are those who choose to work within the rules of the system as is it is already structured by the dominant social group, and there are those who choose to create their own branch, rewriting the rules to represent their own philosophies. Historically, women's athletics have been led by the second camp; by women who demanded a philosophy of sport with a vision unique from that of men?s athletics. Women's athletics remained, much like women as a social group, in its own separate sphere, leading its own organizational structure. But as the women's sphere was de-mystified (Spears, 1978) in the mid twentieth century, autonomous organizational structures were absorbed under the umbrella of formerly exclusively male athletics. This is the case as illustrated by the merger of the AIAW and the NCAA.
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.
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.
Title IX and the Education Amendments of 1972 were created to defend equal opportunities for women of all ages. Since its inception 44 years ago, women have seen impressive strides as well as disappointing failures. Social prejudice continues to exist limiting female participation opportunities, benefits for female athletes, coaching opportunities, and increased exposure to sexual assault and abuse. Few institutions treat female athletes equally due to the lack of enforcement by collegiate athletic departments. The enforcement of Title IX has not been a priority among far too many educational institutions leaving women open to discrimination and mistreatment.
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.
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.
The faces flash by on the computer screen. The women on the screen are differents shapes, sizes, ages, and colors. However, there is one thing that all the women have in common: they have all been sexually assaulted on a college campus. More than one in five women were sexually assaulted on college campuses (Mott, Par. 1). It has been proven that programs in schools can help prevent these statistics from growing. However, more needs to be done to prevent sexual assault on educational facilities because the current programs are not fulfilling their purpose.
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.
Gender discrimination is prominent in every industry, but it is as though the sport industry is one of the worst. Women in the work force currently receive only 80 cents to every man’s dollar (Holmes, 2016). However, female athletes both in America and internationally receive a far lesser compensation for their attributes. The only difference of the sports being played is who plays them. There should be no reason why a male athlete receives better pay simply because he had a 50% chance of being born a man. At birth, no one controls the gender, but as they grow and mature, they control their personality and development. Payment should be on personal skills and not gender. As a female STHM student focusing on sport management and a former athlete,
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.
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.
To Deborah Brake, Title IX caused a problem in school sports. This federal law Prohibits discrimination based off a persons sex. She discussed how to equalize school sports considering the physical differences in males and females. There are two different viewpoints on this issue. Some people simply think there can be gender integrated sports while others think gender segregated sports are better.