FREE ESSAY ON A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TITLE IX AND HOW IT EFFECTS BOTH MEN AND WOMEN

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TITLE IX AND HOW IT EFFECTS BOTH MEN AND WOMEN

A Brief Overview of Title IX and how it effects both Men and Women
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is the "Federal law which prohibits sex
discrimination against the students and employees of any educational agency that receives
Federal financial assistance"(Mathews I-1). From June 23, 1972 all the way up until
today, there has been a constant struggle as to what gender-equality actually is. Title
IX has had a profound effect on both male and female students on college campuses all
across the country, because as it gives one group of students opportunities, it, in a
sense, is responsible for stealing away those same opportunities from another group of
students. There may be an attempt to achieve equality in college athletics based solely
on gender, but this attempt may actually be creating inequality especially in regard to
the number of athletic opportunities, which are available for student-athletes.
The effects of Title IX on male student athletes are very noticeable in that in order to
create an equal number of scholarship opportunities for women, men may have to give up
their scholarships. An example of this is the lawsuit of Tom Caruso v. University of
Arkansas-Fayetteville on May 27, 1993 (Curtis 6). Mr. Caruso was a member of the
Universities' diving team, and their decision to discontinue the diving program in an
effort to comply with the Title IX guidelines, was definitely unfair to him. Another
example of inequality where male athletes are concerned is the decision that the
Southeastern Conference made in 1995 that has required each of its member institutions to
provide a minimum of two more women's sports than men's sports (Curtis 2). By requiring
there to be two more women's sports than men's sports, men are losing out on two
additional opportunities to participate in intercollegiate athletics. Many colleges and
universities are doing away with non-revenue generating men's sports such as tennis,
soccer, and track in an effort to find the additional funds to support the extra women's
sports.
The female student athlete population can definitely feel the effects and benefits of
Title IX as well. There are women's sports programs seemingly popping up every day.
Schools that basically ignored female athletics in the past are now offering women's
gymnastics, golf, volleyball, water polo, etc. Every single female sport that is being
added is not only providing opportunities for the women as athletes right now, but also
the opportunities to be involved in their specific sport when their playing career is
over. Whether they look for positions as coaches, athletic trainers, or administrators,
opportunities are definitely on the horizon whereas before, they had a very limited
future in regards to the number of positions available, and due to the "lack of parity
between male and female salaries in those positions" (Kovacs 16). Women may have more of
a variety of sports to choose to participate in now, but the total number of scholarship
opportunities is still way below the opportunities given to the men. Also, there are
quite a few institutions that are "dragging their feet" when it comes to compliance with
Title IX. The promise of more opportunities is out there, but it seems to take a while
for those promises to materialize.
A huge myth that has circulated from the beginning of the Title IX struggles is that
football programs will become extinct if girls and women are given the opportunity to
play sports. Unfortunately, the gender equity debate has boiled down to the myth that
girls are not as interested in playing sports as boys. And even if they are, the
male-dominated sports society doesn't want to add more sports teams for girls, because
they are in fear that this will cause them to lose their favorite college football team.
The myth that women's volleyball or track will cause football an untimely death is
absurd. If for no other apparent reason, football is the "cash cow" at most universities
and without the money that football programs bring into the athletics department budgets,
not many other sports could survive. All that women want is the opportunity to play
sports, not the opportunity to take sports away from men.
By giving women the opportunity to participate in college athletics, men are having
opportunities taken away from them. If you want girls softball and gymnastics, then we
are going to have to take away your boys lacrosse team. The girls shouldn't really be
blamed here, because all they want is an opportunity to participate, just like the men
have done for decades. Women deserve the opportunity, as do men, to not only participate
in college sports as athletes, but also to participate in college down the road as an
administrator or coach. Once again, the question arises: In the attempt to create
equality based solely on gender, how can you keep from creating inequality? It's a shame
that one gender may have to suffer so that the other can attempt to have "equality".
Works Cited
Curtis, Mary C., Dr. Gender Equity in Sports. 26 June 2000. The University of Iowa
Women's Intercollegiate Athletics Department Research on Title IX Lawsuits and Voluntary
Acts. *http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/ge/Title_IX.html.*
Kovacs, Frank W. Title IX: Parity of Coaches' Salaries for Male and Female Athletic
Teams. Washington, D.C. National Education Association. 1979.
Mathews, Martha. Implementing Title IX and Attaining Sex Equity: A Workshop 
Package for Postsecondary Educators. Washington, D.C. Resource Center on Sex 
Roles in Education National Foundation for the Improvement of Education. 
September 1978.