Olbrich- Daniels 1

Kailey Olbrich-Daniels

Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

1 April 2017

Title IX: Is it fair?

Lake Oswego High School softball team is in need of facilities and equipment that they

dont currently have. The reason is that the school provides better facilities and equipment for the

baseball team while the softball team keeps being promised they will receive better facilities and

equipment. There has yet to be any action towards giving the softball team the things they have

been promised over the years. Therefore, the softball team is filing a Title IX lawsuit hoping that

this will bring about changes and make sure that the softball team will be treated as equals to the

baseball team (Oregon Girls Softball Team). Things like this still happens today even though

Title IX was passed in order to prevent these kinds of things.

In 1964, during the Civil Rights Movement there were many laws passed in order to help

with gender discrimination including one known as Title VII, which was part of the Civil Rights

Act. Title VII was a law that was passed which, prohibits discrimination in employment based

on race, gender, or religious beliefs (Title IX, Women, and Sports). However, since the law

didnt specifically mention a gender there were still many issues with gender discrimination.

There were a couple US representatives who worked with an activist and they complained how

the education system are violating Title VII. Many Senators became aware of the issues that Title

VII created and realized they needed to do something. Therefore, Indiana senator Birch Bayh

became the primary Senate sponsor of the bill that became known as Title IX, which expressly

forbid sex and gender discrimination in any university program that received federal funding.
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Senator Bayh introduced the bill to the Senate in February of 1972. (Title IX, Women, and

Sports). Title IX was passed on June 23,1972 and is a law that requires gender equality in any

education program that receives federal funding. (Title IX, Women, and Sports). Title IX has

helped stop gender discrimination.

After Title IX was passed it was met with various challenges. The first major challenge

to the law was proposed by Senator John Tower, who wanted to create an exemption for athletic

programs that produced revenue. (Title IX, Women, and Sports). However, Senator John Tower

was rejected because the law was created to make sure there wasnt any gender discrimination

anywhere. Another Senator proposed that each sport be given a set of regulations, which was

adopted. Under Title IX, federally funded organizations were not required to provide "equal"

funding to athletic programs for men and women, but rather to provide equality in opportunity

and in the quality of educational options offered to both sexes. (Title IX, Women, and Sports).

This led to women still having a hard time getting the same opportunities as men. In 1979, the

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare finalized the requirements for Title IX compliance

in collegiate institutions and introduced three primary methods by which a university could

comply with the standards of the law, a system that became known as the "three-prong test."

(Title IX, Women, and Sports). This test made it look like many place was complying with Title

IX because the places looked like they had athletic opportunities for both male and females even

though there werent equal opportunities. There was a lack of enforcement of Title IX allowing

gender discrimination to still occur and the three-prong test demonstrates how they didnt

really make sure places were actually complying with Title IX. Which led to a coalition of

women's rights activists and congressional leaders passing the Civil Rights Restoration Act of

1988, overriding a presidential veto from Ronald Reagan; the act specifically outlawed gender
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discrimination in any institution, if any part of the institution received federal funding. (Title IX,

Women, and Sports). This finally made sure that every place even if it was federally funded

would comply with Title IX and making sure that there wasnt any gender discrimination.

Another change to Title IX came with an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary

Education Act of 1994, which required universities and high schools to release all information

regarding their spending on athletic programs. Prior to this amendment, colleges and high

schools were not required to release this information; thus, it was difficult for women's rights

organizations to determine precisely how each institution was attempting to address Title IX

funding requirements. (Title IX, Women, and Sports). With this change it made sure that all

athletic programs were actually doing what they are supposed to under Title IX.

Before Title IX was passed many women didnt have a lot of athletic and educational

opportunities and they couldnt get any scholarships for sports. In 1972, according to the

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, there were 31,852 women participating in

collegiate athletics (as compared to 170,526 male athletes) (Title IX, Women, and Sports). After

the passage of Title IX many more women are participating in sports due more athletic programs

being available to women. In the 2012 London Olympics, U.S. women won more medals than

American men 58 to 45 for the first time. London also marked the first time the U.S. sent

more women to the games than men (U.S. Women Will Rule In Rio). Women are finally able to

succeed in sports especially on a professional level. President Barack Obama described the

historic legislation as an important step in gender equality in the United States and emphasized

the importance of the continued effort to promote equality in educational and athletic benefits.

President Obama also remarked that he shared the belief that the psychological and sociological

benefits of Title IX expanded beyond allowing equality in sports participation to helping

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inculcate in generations of young women in the United States the idea that they are free to pursue

achievement in any field. (Title IX, Women, and Sports). With Title IX and successful women

athletes it encourages many young girls to participate in sports. Also the law makes sure that

there is equal quality for sports and has made sure that the quality of women athletic facilities is

increased. Many women are now receiving scholarships for playing sports even though they

receive less scholarship opportunities than male athletes. Even though Title IX has improved

athletics for women there is still more that needs to be done to make sure that there is equality

among all athletes male and female.

Title IX didnt end all the issues of gender discrimination like many hoped it would. Even

today female high school athletes are offered approximately 1.3 million fewer opportunities

than their male counterparts. At the collegiate level, women have sixty thousand fewer

opportunities to become involved in athletics. (Title IX, Women, and Sports). If women are

involved in athletics, the athletic programs that they are involved in receive less funding then

male athletic programs do. Many people argue that women simply have lower levels of interest

in athletics participation, studies indicate that female sports programs receive proportionately

lower levels of funding even if adjusted to account for differing levels of interest. (Title IX,

Women, and Sports). This shows that even if less women participate women do indeed receive

less funding then men do. There are many women and advocates for gender equality who are

targeting how there are many places that are violating Title IX. The discrimination that the

Oregon softball team experienced is happening in a majority of other places and there needs to

be change so that there is equality for both genders in athletics.

There were many issued at the time with gender discrimination that led to the passage of

Title IX. It was passed in hopes of making sure many places treated both male and females
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equally. After it was passed there was some challenges that had to be dealt with but actually

strengthened the law. Eventually women started to get the equality they hoped they would get

from the law. They finally were able to do more in athletics and education wise. However, there

is still more that needs to be done before there is equality among women and men.
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Works Cited

Issitt, Micah. "Title IX, Women, and Sports." Points of View: Reference Shelf- Sports Culture,

May 2014, p. 1. EBSCOhost, librarylink.uncc.edu/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=pwh&AN=96411800&site=pov-live. Web.

Jacobo, Julia. Oregon Girls' Softball Team Files Title IX Lawsuit Against School District.ABC

News, ABC, 6 Apr. 2016, abcnews.go.com/US/oregon-girls-softball-team-files-title-ix-

lawsuit/story?id. Web. Accessed 18 Mar. 2017.

Myre, Greg. U.S. Women Will Rule In Rio (You Can Thank Title IX). NPR, NPR, 4 Aug.

2016, www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2016/08/04/487765827/u-s-women-will-rule-at-the-

olympics-you-can-thank-title-ix. Web. Accessed 18 Mar. 2017.

Title IX and Mens Sports: A False Conflict. National Women's Law Center, 11 Aug. 2015,

nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/title_ix_and_mens_sports_8.11.15.pdf. Web.

Accessed 18 Mar. 2017.

Title IX Enacted. History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-

history/title-ix-enacted. Accessed 6 Apr. 2017.