Essay: Impact Title IX has had on women’s sports in America

America is the land of opportunity, parity, and liberation.  It is a place where people are capable of doing the things that they chose to do and being who they chose to be.  The playing field for men and women in competitive physical activity was unequal in America until the federal law known as “Title IX” came into play.  Title IX was an amendment passed in 1972, that prohibits the discrimination against girls and women in federally funded education, including in athletic programs (Feminist Majority Foundation, 2014).  It simply 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” (U.S. Department of Education, 2015, p. 34).  Before Title IX came into play, women were allowed to play sports but it was more recreational and not competitive in nature.  The main physical activities for women were cheerleading and dancing.   This law allowed women to receive the same athletic opportunities as their male counterparts.   Although Title IX has had many positive effects on sports, women in minorities are still being oppressed.  This paper will present the impact Title IX has had on women’s sports in America and the strides that are still needed to achieve gender and racial equality within sports.
Literature Review
With all the good Title IX has done, the question still arises, “how did Title IX come about”?  Title IX is derived from the beliefs and concepts of the civil rights movement.  In the 1960’s, which was the height of the civil rights movement, many people especially women started to express concerns that girls and women were not receiving the same opportunities as their male counterparts in high school and college.  Women were limited to domestic roles, such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the house.  During those days, “many people believed there was no discrimination against women. The feeling was women didn’t need to go to college because they were all going to get married and have children and therefore they didn’t need a college education. So we had better give preference to the men because they’re going to be working, and the women will be just sitting at home with their degrees” (Morrison, 2017, p. 15). The enrollment rates for girls were lower in college despite having higher high school grades.  Many thought this was unfair and this idea was developed to stop gender discrimination in schools.
In the 1960s, gender was not included in civil right laws.  It was not until a woman name Bernice Sandler, who is known as the “Godmother of Title IX”, for helping draft Title IX.  Sandler pushed for federal laws to be established based off gender equity. Sandler says of why and how she got started fighting for woman’s rights, “First, we realized that women did not have the same protections against job discrimination and education discrimination as people of color and different national origin and race. So race was covered and sex was not covered. You could discriminate on the basis of sex” (Morrison, 2017. p. 22).  Sandler, who had experienced gender discrimination in her own career, worked with many representatives and President Lyndon Johnson to have Title IX come into effect in 1972.
In the twentieth century, there were many physical educators who defended the traditional roles of women as being caregivers and wives. These educators were determined to not let women’s collegiate sports reach the equivalent of men. Their belief was that “women athletes were to engage only in physical activity that allowed them to walk a fine line-exercise was to make them better women without imbalancing their delicate physiques” (Olson, 1990, p. 109). The theories from these educators stemmed from the idea that women cannot excel in sports because they lacked the physical capabilities.  “The focus for women’s college athletics was to be the pure pleasure of participation; women athletes were not to be “merely a means to a commercial end”” (Olson, 1990, p. 110).  However, over the years women physical educators views on women’s athletic began to change.  By the 1970s, a foundation referred to as the Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was built.  This foundation provided female athletes with elite training and coaching, to end the theory that women lack the physical abilities to compete in sports.  In addition, because of this foundation women collegiate athletics began to be looked upon as high-level sports.
Due to Title IX, many athletic opportunities for girls and women in academic institutions have been provided.  The one major impact Title IX has is that more and more girls are growing up playing sports.  According to Acosta and Carpenter (2010), “female participation at the collegiate level has increased six-fold, from 30,000 in 1977 to more than 180,000 in 2010”. The goal of collegiate sports is to reap the benefits after the playing days are over.  These benefits include becoming CEOs, politicians, or lawyers because sports will open doors for these leadership roles. With increased female participation in sports, there has been a change in the way society views the abilities and strengths of women.
Even though Title IX has translated to an increase in female participation in sports, there are still limited athletic leadership opportunities for women.  Acosta and Carpenter stated, “the percentage of women in coaching and administrative positions in women’s sport has actually declined, from over 90 percent to roughly 40 percent, since Title IX passed” (Cooky & Lavoi, 2012).  The question surfaces, “what factors contribute to why women in athletic leadership roles are limited”?  There are many barriers to why women cannot receive athletic leadership opportunities.  There is pressure on women to perform at a high level at all times, because more is expected of them.  Females must work twice as hard to prove that they are knowledgeable and more than capable than their male counterparts.  In addition, women’s chances of falling into gender inequality have increased due to sexual harassment and wage inequities.  Women have to work harder than do men to gain the acceptance, authority, trust, and respect necessary to lead (Moore, Gilmore, & Kinsella, 2005).
Title IX has had a tremendous impact on women sports, but many believe that it has negatively affected men’s sports.  These opinions reflect the many myths about Title IX, such as it causes schools to cut male sports, it decreases athletic opportunities for men, and requires schools to spend equally on men and women athletics.  Which in reality, none of these myths are factual.  “If men’s sports are being cut, it is because a disproportionate share of athletic dollars continues to be spent on one or two teams—football and men’s basketball—and is not being spent to support other men’s or women’s teams” (National Women’s Law Center, 2015).  Title IX does not support the cutting of sports but it gives schools the power to decide on how they want to shape their program. To say that this law is detrimental to men’s sport is simply not true, because athletic participation in collegiate sports has increased since the passing of Title IX in 1972.  Men’s overall intercollegiate athletic participation has risen since 1981, from 169,800 in 1981-82, to 271,055 in 2013-14 (National Women’s Law Center, 2015).  In conclusion, there is no aspect of this law that discriminates or harms male athletes.
Even though Title IX law ensures that men and women are treated equally, women in minorities are still being underrepresented.  This law has done a lot to obtain athletes opportunities for females, but it has done little to address racial inequalities within sports.  For instance, “only 3% of female college athletes are Hispanic and 1.8% are Asian. Outside of basketball and track, 2.7% are black–up only .7% in the last 25 years” (Gutierrez, 2002, p. 1).  These low percentages contribute to the fact that while schools think they are giving kids athletic opportunities by adding sports such as lacrosse, ice hockey, crew, water polo, and golf.  They are actually hurting minority groups’ athletic opportunities, because females in minorities do not traditionally play these sports.  According to Dee Brown, the assistant commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference says “Women of color are hurt because they don’t participate in those sports where all the expansion is taking place.  Women of color have a double protected status [because of race and gender], but they’re still left out. Most play basketball or run track. You’ll see a handful in volleyball, softball and soccer, but that’s about it. As a result, Title IX doesn’t do a whole lot for women of color” (Greenlee, 1997, p. 17).  These sports in which schools are being encouraged to add are traditional middle-class sports that exclude marginalized groups.  To overcome this, people of minorities must expand their athletic horizons to achieve opportunities within sports.
Methodology
I used qualitative research to perform two separate face-to-face interviews.  I interviewed one person from Towson women’s basketball team and the other from Towson men’s basketball team.  The girl from the women’s basketball team is named Daijha Jones and the boy from the men’s basketball team is named Eddie James.  Daijha was a four-year student-athlete from Calvert County, MD.  Eddie is a four-year student athlete from Orlando, FL.  The demographics of this study are that both of the interviewees are the age of 21, and they both graduated from Towson University in the spring of 2018.  This demographic was helpful for the study, because they are both finished playing basketball and do not want to pursue a professional career.  Since their playing days are over, this made them more than capable of formulating an opinion on how Title IX impacted their playing career.
To execute this procedure I asked the interviewees a series of 12 questions that were basic and personal.   In addition, I asked a couple of controversial questions to get them to open up about their true feelings. They both gave in-depth answers that helped me convey an idea of why men and women feel the way they do towards Title IX.
I wanted to interview a male and female athlete because I knew it would provide two unique perspectives.  Both of my interviewees agreed and disagreed on many things.  The one thing they both agreed on is that Title IX is necessary for gender equity within sports. This qualitative study was a success.  I asked good questions and my interviewees gave in-depth answers with personal experiences.   This helped me to understand why men and women feel the way they do about gender discrimination in sports.
Analysis
This was expressed when I asked them the debated question: “Do you believe there are significant differences between male athletes and female athletes”? They both gave contrasting answers to this question.  Daijha in response to this question said, “Yes there is a significant difference between male athletes and female athletes with everything, such as support, financially, and just emotionally.  They (men) have more of a fan base, they get more money more equipment, they just get anything more than females.  Females get half or below half from what the males get”.  Eddie responded to this question by saying, “Yes there are many differences between men athletes and women athletes.  I feel as though the pace of women’s sports is very slow moving which makes it hard to watch.  People naturally prefer to watch uptempo sports that keep you on the edge of your seats.  Another difference is the way you must communicate with female athletes.   You cannot talk to a female athlete the same way you would talk to a male athlete because at the end of the day they are still women”.  Eddie and Daijha both agreed that there are many differences between male and female athletes, but the basis of their contrasting viewpoints were different.  Eddie based his opinion from a physical and emotional standpoint discussing the pace of women’s sports and how you must communicate with female athletes.  While Daijha based her opinion on the money and resources that male athletes are provided with compared to women athletes.
Another debated question I asked them was if they thought male and female athletes should be paid equally.  Daijha replied, “Yes I do believe that male and female athletes should get paid equally because they both put in the same time, same effort, same energy.  They are both sacrificing family time, there own time, their bodies to accomplish championships and achieve a great goal.  So I feel like men and women athletes should get paid equally or somewhat equally regardless of fan and support numbers”.  Eddie’s responded to this question by saying, “No I do not think men and women athletes should be paid equally because most women’s sports seasons are a lot shorter than men’s sports seasons.  For example, the NBA (National Basketball Association) plays a total of 82 games a season, while the WNBA (Women National Basketball Association) only plays a total of 29 games.  Also women do not receive the same crowd and fan support like men do”.
Conclusion
Title IX gives women the liberty to reach their full potential on and off the playing field.  Even with Title IX opening many doors for women, the playing and leadership roles for minority women are still limited.  According to the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (2017), “Girls have 1.2 million fewer chances to play sports in high school than boys.  In addition, opportunities are not equal among different groups of girls.  Fewer than two-thirds of African American and Hispanic girls play sports, while more than three-quarters of Caucasian girls do”.  Based off this research, the athletic opportunities for minority women are very limited.  In addition, “girls of color are doubly disadvantaged by race and gender when it comes to high school athletic opportunities. Schools that are heavily minority (90% or more) have fewer resources and often do not allocate athletic opportunities equitably; girls in these schools receive just 39% of the opportunities that girls in heavily white schools receive” (National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education, 2017).  While it is very encouraging to see the positive impact that Title IX has had on the sports world since it was implemented in the 1970s.  There are still strides that must be taken to achieve gender and racial equality within sports.
Over the decades, Title IX’s purpose has been directed toward prohibiting discrimination based on sex, to give women equal opportunities to participate and compete in sports. However, there has been a growing concern that women of color are being left behind and are not able to reap the full benefits of Title IX. Women of color are double minorities in society being both women and of color; each holding their own fight. The implications of being a double minority just means that women of color are even further underrepresented in sports than males and women not of color. Title IX does not address, nor does it protect the second barrier that women of color have against them outside of being a woman. In the future, to ensure that Title IX is inclusive of all women, future research should be focused on how to address the struggles and barriers that women of color face that title ix does not help combat. In order to do this, research needs to be gathered to compare the progress of women of color to women not of color in sports. Approaches to this future research can be studies that document the experiences of women of color in sports compared to women not of color. First-hand accounts should be recorded through interviews. Surveys should also be sent out to give an assessment that can help guide the direction of future research.