James Howell

Professor Suzanne Ingram

UWRT 1102-047
14 March 2015
Has Title IX Been Effective In Creating Equality in Sports?
What is Title IX? And what does it mean to each of us? Title IX
refers to a portion of the Equal Opportunity Education Act and an
amendment adopted by the United States Congress in 1972 and later
signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on June 23, 1972. The
intended purpose of the Title IX amendment was, according to the
authors of the legislation, to ensure that 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
program or activity receiving federal money (Section 1681). The
actual regulations that were developed to carry out this purpose were
finally approved and signed by President Gerald R. Ford on May 27,
1975. The passage of this law by Congress, and more specifically the
regulations put in place, has been a huge step forward in preventing
discrimination against women, especially when it comes to
participation in athletics. Title IX deals with more than just sports but
over the next few pages I am focusing on the athletic side of Title IX.
Before Title IX the physical activities available to young women
were very limited. Cheerleading for mens teams was the primary

activity and very little money was spent offsetting the cost. Since Title
IX things have improved. The opportunities for young women have
grown and many institutions now have a wide range of athletic
activities as well as scholarships available. There are still inequities
that are faced by young women. It is an important to note that the law
and regulations are still needed, even in 2015, to ensure future overall
equality.
A major goal of Title IX is to create equal funding for all mens
and womens athletics when the sponsoring agency, such as a college
or university, receives any type of federal money. The regulations
apply to any federal money including research grants, student financial
aid, and any other program for which the institution receives federal
dollars. This applies to all federal funds not just those tied to athletics.
Each entity receiving funds is responsible for putting a self-monitoring
program in place and periodically reporting the required information to
the United States Department of Education. The USDOE is the
responsible government agency to reviewing these reports and making
sure the Title IX regulations are being followed.
The regulations that have been put into place are intended to
have the effect, if followed correctly and completely, to equalize the
amount of non-federal funds spent on mens and womens athletic
activities. These non-federal funds include things such as booster club
donations, athletic event ticket sale revenue, corporate sponsorships

as well as revenue generated from merchandise sales. The regulations

are intended to make sure that these funds are spread out equally
between mens and womens athletics in areas such as the quality of
the equipment and facilities, the scheduling of games and practices,
money for travel costs, medical and athletic training services, room
and board, as well as the availability of academic opportunities. In
1994, the West Virginia State Supreme Court ordered under state
nondiscrimination laws that the states Secondary School Activities
Commission move girls basketball from the fall season to the winter
season, Lambert v. West Virginia Secondary School Activities
Commission (Womens Sports Foundation).
Some mens athletic teams have been cut since Title IX was
passed to help comply with regulations. Schools have eliminated more
than 2,200 mens athletic teams since 1981 (USA Sports). This has
been done in an effort to comply with the regulations. Opportunities
once available to male athletes have been reduced and overall
participation has been reduced. For example the athletic scholarships
and coaching positions available in mens athletics have declined. The
number of college football teams has actually increased since 1981 but
fewer schools are spending institutional money for these programs.
Many are funded through private funding sources allowing a school to
divert its money to womens athletic programs. Another statistical
example of the effect of Title IX on mens athletics is that in 1969 over

two hundred and thirty NCAA member schools sponsored a mens

gymnastics program; that number is now down to only eighteen.
Mens Olympic sports at colleges such as gymnastics, swimming, and
track and field have been reduced in efforts to comply with the
regulations.
Someone might assume that these reductions in mens sports
have allowed the goals of Title IX to be fully met. The perception that
people have is that today young women have equal opportunity in all
areas of athletics. Title IX is still important because high schools still
provide fewer athletic opportunities for girls, there is still significantly
less money spent on womens athletic teams at the college level, and
the number of female coaches is still much lower than expected.
While the USDOE is responsible for evaluating the self-monitoring
reporting systems and investigating if it believes there are violations of
the law an individual can also file a complaint. Complaints can be
made to the Office for Civil Rights within the US Justice Department.
The regulations require that any complaint be filed in writing within
one hundred and eighty days of the date the actual alleged
discrimination takes place. The complaint has to be backed up with
facts and evidence that tell who the victim of discrimination was, in
what way, by whom, by what institution, as well as the specific
circumstances. The Office for Civil Rights is then responsible for
reviewing the allegation to find out if a violation exists at that

institution, and, if so, what legal action needs to be taken against it.
This could include the withholding of federal funding from the school
altogether until the situation is corrected or possibly the filing of a
lawsuit by the federal government. Individuals may also choose to file
lawsuit directly against a school.
On September 16, 1997 Mercer filed a complaint against Duke
University and its football coach at the time Fred Goldsmith. She was
filing the complaint saying she was cut from the football team based
on her sex. Mercer was a walk-on kicker for the team during the 1995
season but did not play in any games. She regularly attended
practices during the season and also participated in the off-season
conditioning drills. Towards the end of that season Mercer claims she
was subject of discriminatory treatment from Duke University. She
claims that Goldsmith did not allow her to attend summer camp, dress
for games, or even sit on the sideline. On top of that Mercer claims
Goldsmith made comments to her such as, Why are you interested in
football? and Asking why she just did not sit in the stands with her
boyfriend? At the beginning of the 1996 season Goldsmith informed
Mercer he was cutting her from the team and told her to try out again
next year. But at the beginning of next season is when she decided to
file her complaint. On November 9, 1998 the district court decided to
dismiss the case for failure to state a claim under Title IX. (Find Law)

The US Department of Education, in reviewing self-monitoring

reports, and the Office of Civil Rights, in responding to complaints, use
three basic ways in determining if an institution is following the Title IX
regulations. The first is the evaluation of direct federal financial
assistance received by the entity. The amount received must be given
out based upon the number of male and female athletes participating
at the institution. The money received must be proportionately spent
based upon the gender of the athletes. The second way is to make
sure that the institution is accommodating the athletic interests and
abilities of both male and female athletes. In other words a school
must offer athletic programs in which both male and female athletes
have interest to participate. A school cannot satisfy Title IX by just
offering an opportunity to participate in a sport intended for females if
there has been no stated interest. The final way to verify compliance
is to look at the availability of accessories for men and women.
Accessories refer to the quality and quantity of equipment and supplies
available to athletic teams as well as locker rooms and both practice
and game competition facilities.
According to USA Sports and The Feminist Majority Foundation,
Title IX has helped grow the number of female athletes in the United
States, but the number of male athletes has decreased. Before Title IX
was passed women only made up 2% of college athletes. That 2% has
grown tremendously since Title IX was passed; now women make up

43% of college athletes. Women make up 53% of college students, but

only 43% of college athletes. Title IX has not evened everything out
for women, though. In colleges, women still only receive 40% of
money in the athletics program even though they make up over half of
the entire college population. However, the number of college athletic
scholarships given to women has increased 46%. Not only has the
number of women athletes grown in college, it has also grown in high
school. Before Title IX, women were 7% of all high school athletes,
which now compares to 41.5%. After Title IX was passed, there were
more womens coaching jobs but fewer were actually available. The
pay went up and more men became interested in the coaching
opportunities. A significant impact of Title IX can also be seen in the
increased number of women receiving law, medical, and doctoral
degrees because Title IX is opening up so many opportunities for
women.
Title IX has taken opportunities from males but it has also
opened many doors for them. Mens athletic teams per institution
have decreased from 9.1 to 7.8 teams while womens teams have
increased per institution from 6.4 to 8.7. Overall since the passing of
Title IX the actual number of male athletes has shrunken; however,
men still greatly outnumber women in varsity sports. Male college
athletes still receive more money than female college athletes. Title IX
has saved women in the world of sports. If it were not for the passing

of Title IX, women would have just washed away in the world of sports.
It has not just helped women in sports but it has also helped men. It
has given men the opportunity to play on womens teams that are not
offered to men such as cheerleading squads. Overall, Title IX has
greatly improved the equality between men and women.