For years universities have been fighting a legal war waged because of the issue of Title IX especially in the realm of athletics. This ordinance was installed into our legal system in 1972 and holds a plethora of laws and ordinances based on how educational institutions should conduct their institutions. In Title IX, there is one issue in particular that has people of both genders up in arms, as stated in Title IX, “No person shall on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, be treated differently from another person, or otherwise be discriminated against in any interscholastic, intercollegiate, club or intramural athletics offered by a recipient, and no recipient shall provide such athletics separately on such basis.” (US Department of Justice) In college sports the NCAA works under the guidelines that for every male athletic scholarship there must be a female athletic scholarship. Many people agree with Title IX however, some people are still fighting back on the issue.
Title IX has been around for over forty-five years. Title IX does not allow any unfair treatment based on someone’s sex by any school that inherits money from the United States “government” in any venture the institution may provide. Title IX covers every facet of education, but in sports the law has caused much controversy and turmoil. One reason for the problem in athletics is that boys and girls do not compete with one another in most sports making the scholarship controversy extremely difficult. Due to this law woman’s participation in athletics has gone up dramatically. (Anderson) In the article “Gender equity in intercollegiate athletics: determinants of Title IX compliance the following is stated “Despite this progress, gender equity is far from complete. Estimates from our data show that at the average institution in 2001/02, women comprised 55% of all students but only 42% of the varsity athletes.” (Anderson) Even with all this progress we still do have a long way to go in the fight for gender equality. We are nearing closer to equality and maybe it will never reach a perfect fifty percent due to interest level but there is still much work to be done.
In the article “What Are the Biggest Challenges Facing Gender Equity” An ex tennis coach from Stanford University brings up an interesting point, “The biggest challenge is maintaining and even improving men's opportunities, while at the same time providing equal opportunities for women. It is just as morally wrong to drop a men's sport or to limit squad size as it is to fail to give a women's sport the same opportunity. Yet, finances make this a compliance necessity.” (Gould quoted in article “What Are the Biggest Challenges Facing Gender Equity”). Gould does bring up a decent point but if every university is forced provide the same number of scholarships for both genders every university would have the same problem thus created an equal and level playing field. Many athletic directors do not fully grasp all the obligations that Title IX encompasses. These administrators need to obtain a better understanding of the law whether they need to talk to the Office of Civil Rights, read over the document very carefully or bring in someone who is well versed in law to help them read the document. The failure of administrators has caused many lawsuits and resulted in much controversy. (Bonnette) Overall, it is important that we keep administrators in check because we have had Title IX in place since 1972 and yet administrators do not fully understand what is required of them by law or they are completely neglecting the law and either way you look at it change needs to be made otherwise more lawsuits and firings are looming.
The aim of Title IX is for women and men to be treated fairly, though there is not any action to police the law and some establishments have started to diminish instead of growing more programs to adhere to the policies of Title IX. A large amount of the legal action concerning Title IX has to due with woman student-athletes looking for some action to be taken place because they are not given the same opportunity as men. When an institution finds itself as the defendant of a Title IX lawsuit the department of athletics has to prove whether it falls in line with one of obligations given by the Department of Education “(1) athletic participation opportunities provided for male and female students are "substantially proportionate" to their respective enrollment, (2) a history and continuing practice of expanding athletic opportunities for the underrepresented sex, or (3) "full and effective" accommodation of the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.” (Board of Education qtd by Chamberlain). So according to the Board of Education only one of these standards needs to be met but in many cases under investigation that does not seem to be the case. For someone seeking litigation on a school for a Title IX violation it must be proven that the number of males and females enrolled in the schools is proportionate with the number of athletes that the school or university provides scholarships for. Some ways schools could find themselves out of a Title IX predicament could be an unexpected and drastic rise of male or female students enrolling in the school and therefore not making it possible for a school to adhere to the guidelines right away, schools can also either add another program or to discard a program from one sex even though that is looked at as the last possible resort. (Chamberlain) Overall it seems though it may have its flaws, Title IX is a necessary part of legislation that helps us keep progressing in this ever-changing world and schools across the country should team up with lawyers and law makers to make sure that everyone is adhering to the guidelines.
After years of litigation, lost jobs and unfair opportunities it is imperative that we now take a good look at where we stand as a society and make sure that we stay on the right path when it comes to equality. As stated earlier, one solution could be more compliance between federally funded schools and universities, the Office of Civil Rights and lawyers across the country. Women have been fighting for equality since the 1800s and even before and now every year we near closer to a world where equality exists for all races and genders but there is still a lot of work to be done. Title IX is just one example lawmakers have created to help ensure that we inch closer to a more equal world. Understanding and executing laws such as Title IX will help ensure that we as a community will not have to worry about being discriminated against for any reason whether it be gender, race or any other reason. Even as a male student athlete myself I still see the discrepancy between the opportunities I have been given compared to female athletes and just because they may not physically be on the same level as most male athletes female athletes work just as hard to perfect their craft and make sure that they are competing at their highest level so who would we be as a society if we neglected athletic participation for athletes who work just as hard so they can realize their own athletic dreams just so schools can funnel their money into one or two programs?