By Jeremy Steinberger
In 1776, the Founding Fathers established the United States as a democratic society. In a democratic society, citizens have the ability to contribute and participate in all decision-making processes pertaining to their everyday life and the ability to hold others involved in making decisions accountable if they violate human rights. Also, all citizens must have all necessary resources available to them in order to be as successful as they can. Despite these ideals, prior to 1972, women in the United States saw extreme discrimination and social prejudice in society. As a result, in the 20th century Women’s Movements swept the country, hoping to make gender equity between men and women a reality. One of movement’s most significant gains was the passing of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, stating “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.” Through this law, for the first time, schools receiving federal funding were required to have equal educational programs for men and women, which prior to Title IX was not the case. One of Title IX’s most significant results was the opportunity women were granted to compete in sports at all levels. These changes were instrumental to the women’s fight to solidify their status in society. Before Title IX, women were not guaranteed their democratic right of having access to all potential resources to succeed in society. From the passing of the law, women gained numerous resources to thrive. Not only did they get the chance to compete and succeed in competitive sports, but women were also provided with far greater opportunities to prosper in society as a whole. However, failure to comply with the language of Title IX by society has resulted in gender equity in society to remain in question.
The passing of Title IX gave women an opportunity for success in society that they previously did not have, as the requirement for gender equity in all sports programs receiving federal funding resulted in the development of women’s sports leagues at all levels. This was a necessary step in establishing the ability for women to build successful athletic careers. Before 1972, the sports world’s primary focus was on men. Women could play sports, but without leagues or programs, they were unable to develop the necessary skills needed to pursue a career. During a time when women lacked basic rights, it is not surprising that society did not typically think of females as athletes. Sports are typically viewed as aggressive, physical, and masculine activities, thus women’s participation seemed unlikely. As a result, society left no opportunities for women to showcase their athletic talents and prove they could perform at a level similar to men. For such an unjust prohibition, the reasons behind the exclusion of females in sports are seen as completely ridiculous. Many believed that women who played sports would lose touch with feminine activities such as child-rearing, and start developing masculine traits such as being unable to have children, wanting to be men, or even start to developing masculine features, such as a mustache. This perception reflected the common belief that women were inferior to men. It was not believed that women possessed the characteristics men had that allowed them to be successful in society. Thus, when it came to sports, which were believed to be a very manly activity, women were never considered. The belief was also that the qualities gained from sports were not needed in a women’s life. Building character was essential to the life of a man, but for women, character was of no use. This lack of emphasis on women’s education was due to the perception in society that women’s purpose in the family composition was to be the housewife. For men, however, building character was necessary to complement their primary responsibility of providing for the family.
Title IX was passed in 1972, giving women gender equity in all educational programs that received federal funding. In a time when females were undermined in schools, as they were disallowed to participate in the same educational programs as men, Title IX’s initial focus was not on the athletes of our nation. Its purpose was to help solve the problems of discrimination on the educational level. Thus, the law called for equity in every educational program that received federal funding. Sports just happened be considered as an educational program, thus discrimination here had to end as well. The door was opened for the creation of female athletic programs in high school and college, which eventually led to the development of professional leagues for basketball and soccer such as the WNBA and the Women’s World Cup. Girls were able to compete in sports leagues as early as six years old, providing a foundation for their continued development and ability to achieve a successful career in sports. As girl’s exposure to sports increased, family’s attitudes towards their daughters and sports changed. “Nearly 90 percent of the 1,000 parents interviewed in a 1988 study viewed sports participation as important for their daughters as for their sons.“ As a result of this increased participation, it became more and more of a societal norm for young girls to participate in sports to the point where today it is hard to imagine our society without the AYSO soccer girl and the soccer mom cheering from the sidelines. From previously being unheard of, the participation of young girls in sports is now encouraged and prominent. In fact, “In 1971 fewer than 300,000 high school girls participated in athletics. Today that number is close to three million, with almost half of all female high school students on a team.” From these opportunities in high school, athletes are able to gain the necessary skills and experience to continue to pursue their passions whether that be in college or beyond in professional female sports leagues. “In 1972 about 16,000 young women participated in college athletics, a number that has grown to over 180,000. The number of women’s teams per campus has increased from an average of 2.5 before 1972 to 8.5 in 2006.” Evidently, once women were able to become college athletes, they took full advantage of the opportunity.
An example of the immense importance and effect these funded sports programs can have on an female athletes life is Hope Solo, a two time Olympic Gold medalist goalie for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. In an interview with ESPN, Solo shared the impact Title IX made on her dream to become a professional soccer player,
"Without Title IX, sometimes I don’t like to think were I would be…I remember writing a paper when I was 12 years old saying when I grow up I want to be a Woman’s professional soccer player. When I was 12 years old there was no woman’s professional soccer, so I dreamt large. The first step was gaining a college scholarship. So it was kind of like I put all of my marbles into one bag and never thought about doing anything else, this was really it for me.”
Hope Solo’s love was soccer, but when she was 12, there was no professional league for her to aspire to be in. Taking away her opportunity to make a career as a soccer player went directly against the ideals set by our Founding Fathers for a democratic society. America is supposed to be a place where anyone can make it and achieve his or her American Dream. Having sports leagues for female athletes seems like a given today, but before Title IX opportunities were non-existent. Women’s unique talents in sports seemed to be ignored, as they were without resources to pursue and showcase their passions. Through this tough time, Solo remained confident that something would change. In 1972 it did, as Title IX gave Solo and young female athletes across the nation, hope and an opportunity to chase their dreams to become successful professional athletes.
The purpose of Title IX was not solely to grant women the chance to participate in sports, but also to grant women the chance to gain the necessary skills and resources to achieve a prosperous career in the workplace. Prior to Tile IX, the lack of resources available for successful careers resulted in women being unable to advance in their careers, not only in sports, but in the business world as well. Women were barred from many education programs, such as high-level math classes since it was thought that they would soon move on to a normal “female career.” This was a common perception of women in society prior to the Women’s Rights Movement and Title IX, since becoming a housewife was a common lifestyle in the 20th century for women during the time, but this was not always out of choice. The lack of resources and opportunities in the educational setting resulted in women lacking vital skills to work in any other field. Thus, society grew to except this standard of living for women and the lack of women in the workplace.
This absence of opportunity began to change with the passing of Title IX in 1972 as women gained the chance to participate in more higher education programs, such as law, medical and engineering programs. It is absurd and certainly not democratic that it took our nation till 1972 before women could attain a full and equitable education to men. College is the framework for success in this country and it allows its graduates to gain the tools to flourish in whatever field interests them the most. However, because society did not expect women to do anything of importance, the public felt that wasting time, effort, and most importantly money on women was counterproductive. Women were left without their democratic right to have all possible resources to attain a career. Title IX eventually moved this long overdue issue in the right direction. As Richard W. Riley, the U.S. secretary of Education notes, society became more equitable and democratic for women.
"America is a more equal, more educated and more prosperous nation because of the far-reaching effects of this legislation…. More important, women have shown skeptics again and again that females are fully capable of being involved as successful and active participants in every realm of American life.”
Once women were actually given the tools for successful working careers, they were able to change their societal perception of their career potential. In 2008, five times as many women received medical degrees as they did compared to 1973. Six times as many earned law degrees and almost twice as many were awarded doctoral degrees
For Title IX’s 40th anniversary in 2012, President Barack Obama shared some of his thoughts about the importance of Title IX,
“Let’s not forget, Title IX isn’t just about sports. From addressing inequality in math and science education to preventing sexual assault on campus to fairly funding athletic programs, Title IX ensures equality for our young people in every aspect of their education.”
In a separate interview he continues:
The women who grew up with Title IX now pioneer scientific breakthroughs, run thriving businesses, govern states, and, yes, coach varsity teams. Because they do, today’s young women grow up hearing fewer voices that tell them you can’t, and more voices that tell them you can. For girls to know that if they excelled at something, there’d be a spot for them in college, where they weren’t second-class, has helped to make our society more equal in general.
People used to say that girls didn’t like sports and that they didn’t have what it takes to succeed in the workplace. This was due to the lack of opportunities in the educational and athletic setting that women saw in society. However, Title IX gave young girls a reason to continue their pursuit of happiness and as a result, society became more gender equitable. Young girls began to understand that if they worked hard enough at a certain skill they would be able to attain a college education and soon be able to make a career doing something they enjoyed.
One of Title IX’s greatest impacts came in the world of sports. The skills females gain through sports are not only essential to their success as athletes, but they can also be applied in other aspects of society. Having the ability to be loyal, to play as a team, and to be competitive have impacted the prosperity of women in the working world, as it can be the difference between closing and not closing a deal. Thanks to Title IX, whether it is in sports, or in the workforce, these skills have contributed to the ability for women to achieve success in our society. It has almost all but ensured that advantages of a Democratic Society like the right pursue your happiness and the American Dream, reach out to both men and women. However, there is still work to be done since instances remain in which women are still seen and treated inferior.
As a result of Title IX, women were able to become more involved in sports and society than ever before. However the language of the law, and failure to comply with Title IX has resulted in various instances in which the treatment of women in sports remains inferior to men. At the university level, equity in women’s sports remains in question. Discrimination is still evident as female athletes only “get a third of the team spots, less than a third of the scholarship dollars and a mere fifth of the total athletic budget." Furthermore, twenty years after Title IX was passed, “Men made up 69.5 percent of intercollegiate athletes and their programs used 70 percent of the scholarship funds, 77 percent of the operating budgets and 83 percent of the recruiting budgets." Especially in the college system where men’s basketball and football reign supreme, this gender discrimination is not surprising. These major sports attract huge media and student attention, and thus, bring in tremendous sums of revenue for universities. In order to ensure continued success, colleges are using the majority of their athletic budget to improve their men’s football and basketball teams, leaving the women’s sports teams to fight for leftovers. This development is extremely relevant to schools facing financial troubles, where non-competitive women’s teams tend to be cut from the school’s athletic program. Because of popularity and earnings, this is not the case for men’s teams. Male sports teams can struggle whiles still bringing in solid revenue. However, with women’s sports this is rarely the case. Unless the team is doing great, it does not see much student support, and is thus unable to produce much revenue. Rather than focus on what is morally correct, colleges seem to be putting more attention to making the best business decisions for their schools.
With the development of female sports leagues from Title IX, women attained an opportunity to compete among other female athletes. However, Title IX failed to identify direct sex segregation of men and women’s, and boys and girl’s sports teams as sex discrimination in sports. In other words, although Title IX lets women into the locker room, they are still not allowed to play with men in the high-competitive sports leagues. Women are put on an uneven playing field in the sports world, since regardless of a female athlete’s talent level, a woman would never be permitted to participate in a men’s league.
Although women’s participation in sports is continuing to grow, the rule of sex segregation has remained. This has given society the opportunity to choose what to focus on between the two genders in sports. For the most part, the general public has seemed to be more intrigued to focus on men’s not women’s sports leagues. As a result of this popularity, more money and attention are put in men’s leagues and less into those of women. When comparing leagues like the National Basketball Association (NBA) for men to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), which society often does when choosing what to watch night to night, the WNBA is thought to be inferior, having less talent. This belief is for the most part warranted since the much more money goes into the NBA due how much money it makes from great popularity, and because NBA players are usually more talented then WNBA players. This is not seen as the problem though. The problem is if a woman was able to showcase through a tryout that her athletic talents were on par with those of men, schools and professional sports leagues, like the NBA, still frequently prohibit them from competing with men. Thus, because of the belief, that as a collective league, the NBA is more talented league top to bottom than the WNBA, society tends to also unfairly think that every NBA player is more talented than every WNBA player. As long as major sports leagues remain segregated, this perception will remain, and female athletes will never have the chance to prove society wrong. This goes directly against a democratic society, in which everyone should be treated equally and be given an equal opportunity to succeed. If women’s talents are equal or better than a man’s, why should she be not allowed to play on men’s teams? Clearly, our society remains hesitant to infuse men and women in co-ed sports. The reason for this hesitation is the same reason why women were banned from sports in the first place. Men in this society tend to have a common egotistic belief that women could not possibly be better than them at anything. If females have the opportunity to compete with men, there is very distinct possibility that certain female athletes could outperform some male athletes, something a lot of men would want to concede to. In order for our society to be an idealistic democratic society, just as we gave women the opportunity to play sports, we should give women more opportunities to compete with men in all athletic leagues.
Title IX’s enormous impact has given women opportunities to thrive that they previously did not have. These opportunities extend from the freedom to become a professional athlete to being successful in the workplace. However, the law does have its pessimists. Many male athletes were angry shortly after the passing of Title IX in 1972, as they felt that giving women access to participate in sports leagues was a threat their masculinity.[29] Men enjoyed having the perception as strong, tough guys that came with being athletes, as they saw it as a boost to their social status. When woman were given a chance to play sports as well, men felt that what was once tough guy activity was turning into something that girls could be successful in as well, which angered them. Despite this, as law has continued to age, the inclusion of women and sports has less and less been frowned upon, and rather more and more generally accepted. Young men growing up as athletes today have never experienced a world without women playing sports, and thus sports being a co-ed activity has become standard to them.
However, a displeasure towards the law that is still around today is the belief that Title IX has hurt college sports as many universities have been forced to cut some of their less popular teams, and cut down on scholarship spending in order to ensure gender equity. Because there seems to be more popular men’s sports than women’s sports, this frustration is understandable. Male athletes are losing opportunities to play sports they love because their colleges have to ensure that they have the same amount of sports teams for men as they do for women. For example, schools have had to greatly reduce the amount of scholarships they can give out for sports like wrestling, and in some instances have even had to cut these low-frequency sports from their programs all together.[30] Thus, many feel that although the passing of Title IX was tremendous for women and sports, the language of the law has seriously hampered colleges from developing large, diverse athletic programs. This seems like a viable complaint, but the reason for schools being forced to drop men’s sports is not a direct function of Title IX. In order to ensure continued popularity, schools have been forced to use a majority of their athletic budget on massive revenue earning sports like football and basketball.[31] This has left close to nothing for the rest of the sports that colleges have to offer. Because of this, these low-revenue sports tend to struggle finically, and are soon cut by schools that feel that the money used for these sports would be better suited to maintain and excel their Football and Basketball programs. For example, in 2006, “Rutgers University decided to cut men’s tennis, which had a annual budget of approximately $175,000. That same year, as The National Women’s Law Center points out, Rutgers spent approximately $175,000 on hotel rooms for its football team – for home games.” Clearly, it is not that Title IX has restricted the amount of money schools can use on their male sports teams, but rather, schools seem to be putting more attention into ensuring continued prosperity, which they can achieve through successful basketball and football programs, not wrestling and swimming.
The passing of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was a tremendously monumental and impactful achievement of the women’s movement for equality in our society. Its presence has allowed women to reach the levels of success and happiness in their lives that were envisioned when the United States was established as a democratic society. It is important to understand that prior to Title IX, women were confined to a couple of career choices, most being of small personal reward. Thus, the perception grew that women were incapable of making a career for themselves. The reason for this inability was the lack of opportunities women had to learn skills necessary for work. It seemed as if not only society, but women as well, felt that their place in community was to stay at home, leaving the duty of working and making money to the husband. In a country where everyone is supposed to be treated equally, and given equal opportunities, these developments were blatantly unconstitutional. Despite this, women’s rights were still ignored. In this position of inferiority, women were initially unable voice change. However, as women began to unify, the power of the women’s right’s movements increased and became very much pertinent in society. The lack of opportunities for women were magnified, leading to the development of several laws for women’s rights, including Title IX, which allowed women to attain a full education and vast opportunities in society, including many resources to achieve success as female athletes. Although women’s perception and status in society were heightened, they still remained inferior to men. Specifically in sports today, women continue to face unequal treatment. Similarly to society prior to Title IX, this occurrence of unequal treatment of women in sports is a microcosm of society. Before Title IX, women had few opportunities in sports and also lacked basic rights to achieve success in society. Although Title IX helped solve this problem, various instances remain where women are still treated as less then men. Today in sports, although women can now participate in many sports programs and leagues, at the professional and college level they are still rarely allowed to compete with men. Also, in society, women are still treated as inferior, as they tend to be paid less for doing similar work to men. We made tremendous progress in the fight for women’s rights in 1972 with Title IX, but in order for this country to be a completely democratic nation, another leap will have to be made. By changing the language of Title IX, and by equalizing the treatment of women in the workplace to that of men, we will be able to move one step closer to ensuring that the inferiority and discrimination of women in the United States ends forever.
Bibliography
Brake, Deborah. Getting in the Game : Title IX and the Women’s Sports Revolution. New York, NY: : New York University Press (NYU Press), 2010. Digital file.
Democracy Watch. Last modified 2011. Accessed February 18, 2013. http://dwatch.ca/democracy.html.
Fagan, Kate, and Luke Cyphers. "Five myths about Title IX.” ESPN. Last modified April 12, 2012. Accessed February 5, 2013. http://espn.go.com/espnw/title-ix/7729603/five-myths-title-ix.
“Hope Solo Talks About Title IX.” YouTube. Video file. Posted by ESPN, April 9, 2012. Accessed February 5, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtB5wDdH7-0.
McDonagh, Eileen, and Laura Pappano. Playing with the Boys : Why Separate Is Not Equal in Sports. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, USA, 2007. Digital file.
Morse, Susan L. “Women and Sports.” CQ Researcher. 06 Mar 1992: 195-211. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Jan 2013.
Nauen, Elinor. “A Sporting Chance.” America (Vol. 199, No. 12). 20 Oct 2008: 15-17. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 27 Jan 2013.
Obama, Barack. Barack Obama to The Daily Beast newsgroup, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TITLE IX!,” June 25, 2012. Accessed February 4, 2013. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/06/24/president-obama-reflects-on-the-impact-of-title-ix.html.
“President Obama Addresses Title IX.” YouTube. Video file. Posted by ESPN, May 23, 2012. Accessed February 5, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_9Yk-C6R_g.
Rebilas, Mark J. U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo celebrates following the gold medal game against Japan during the London Olympics on Thursday. Photograph. USA Today. August 10, 2012. Accessed March 10, 2013. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/london/soccer/story/2012-08-10/hope-solo-us-soccer-team-seek-new-league/56939188/1.
Walsh, Camille. “Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX).” Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ed. David S. Tanenhaus. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 72-74. Gale U.S. History In Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2013.
chunkymunky1-blog reblogged this from steinysports-blog-blog
brandeelane liked this
themiddlekiddo liked this
salenamedina-blog liked this
minisolo13 liked this
steinysports-blog-blog posted this