Audience: My audience for this essay will be college age athletes impacted by Title IX.
All is Fair in Love & Sports
In January of 2011, Delaware University announced that it was discontinuing its men’s wrestling, swimming, tennis, and gymnastics programs (Gottesdiener, 2011). Organizations like this are being diminished and discarded at an ever-increasing rate all across America. College and high school students competing in these athletic events are truly passionate about their chosen sport. In many cases, promising athletes are offered scholarships, initiating a symbiotic relationship between the student and the school they play for. In 1972, a new legislation was put forward with the intent of leveling the school-sponsored playing field. “No person in the United States 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 funding” (What Is Title IX, 2014). This law is widely accepted as being an invaluable catalyst for the momentous success in female athletics today. Although Title IX has without a doubt been incredibly beneficial to female sports programs, it has not too recently been the source of some heavy speculation. With justifiable evidence, and passionate fervor, male athletes across America are declaring that Title IX is synonymous with injustice. Title IX was necessary in 1972, but it is now outdated and hindering male athletics. Two conflicting arguments, both with substantial claim, leave room for all but one solution. Title IX, although once successful, must be tailored for today’s society.
Known as a “three-prong test” (Green, 2014) Title IX requires that a university must ...
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...ialization, Media Use and Sports Participation on Perceptions of Gender-Appropriate Sports. Journal Of Sport Behavior, 32(2), 207-226.
Richman, R. (2011). Title IX: The Trojan Horse in the Struggle for Female Athletic Coaches to Attain Equal Opportunities in Intercollegiate Sports. Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, 10(2), 376-413.
Switzer, Jo Young. "Title IX Is a Success and Should Not Be Blamed for Hurting Men's Sports." Discrimination. Ed. Jacqueline Langwith. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Reflections on Title IX: A Voice from Division III." On Campus with Women 32.40606 (2003). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
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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 many schools, women who became pregnant were often relegated to "alternative" educational programs, the participation in which was mandatory. After Title IX, schools could no longer force the student to go to an alternative school, which often was substandard. These students could not be sin...
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.
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.
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.
Web. The Web. The Web. 23 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'.
Web. The Web. The Web. 26 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. http://www.huffpost.com/us/entry/4210225/>.
The visible effects of Title IX were mainly seen in the athletic arena, but the subtle effects of Title IX came to all women in the United States in the fo...
The Web. The Web. 21 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Siegel, Jason.
In 1970 only 1 in 27 girls participated in high school sports, today that ratio is 1 in 3. Sports are a very important part of the American society. Within sports, heroes are made, goals are set and dreams are lived. The media makes all these things possible by creating publicity for the rising stars of today. Within society today, the media has downplayed the role of the woman within sports.
Web. The Web. The Web. 06 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. SOLOTAROFF, PAUL.
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.
Web. The Web. The Web. 22 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Kjono, Jason.
The Web. The Web. 10 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Sach, Jacky. A.