Title 9 paper

March 24, 2014
Title IX Through a Woman’s Eyes

In 1972 US legislation revolutionized Women’s sports forever with the institution of Title IX. It has never been a complicated law it simply is in place to keep things fair for both genders. Growing up playing sports I always was aware of Title IX however, I never put myself in a women’s shoes. I always looked at Title IX as something in place just for girls to make sure they had a fair chance at scholarships and ability to continue their athletic careers in college. I never really grasped the true importance of it because I never thought it really affected me. I will now look in depth at 4 different cases of Title IX through a woman’s eyes, something that I have never done. The first case is Towson University who had to cut both men’s baseball and track in order to stay in compliance with Title IX. However, I as a woman see this as a scapegoat for Towson to cut non-revenue creating sports in order to put more money into revenue-generating sports. Towson is dragging Title IX through the mud for there own benefit in my opinion. Many men would assume that Title IX is the reason that many of their sports teams are being cut but I would disagree, instead I believe it is money not Title IX being the reason these men teams being cut. We currently in the midst March Madness a very exciting and entertaining men’s basketball tournament that also happens to be very lucrative to the schools involved. It is events like this that are pushing schools to cut sport teams that do not generate money, not Title IX. Title IX was put into place to get women’s sports up to speed it was never the intention to take away from men’s sports, however because of money this has been the case. It is unfair to blame Title IX for what is happening to lower profile men’s sports, instead blame the schools that are looking to become more profitable from sports. The second case of Title IX I will look at is Merrimack College a Division II school in Mass. Who has agreed to create 6 new women’s teams in order to become complaint with Title IX. This is a case where Title IX has worked to enable women as a whole a greater opportunity to continue their athletic career at the collegiate level. Not only has it created new opportunity but also it creates hope for little girls everywhere to strive to be better and gives little girls role models to look up to. Title IX can help shape lives and create stronger women that can on day shape the world. Merrimack College is just one example of Title IX creating hope for the next generation of woman athletics, and I am sure not the last. The third case I will look at is “competitive cheer” versus women’s volleyball. Courts ruled that “competitive cheer” is not a sport therefore Quinnipiac University could not get rid of women’s volleyball and replace it with cheerleading. I personally think this is totally wrong. First of all I do not think that the court has any business sticking there nose in this situation. I believe it is the schools decision to choose what sports they choose to have as long as they are giving women equal opportunity. If you go to any high school around the country you will see many girls taking part in cheerleading. If gymnastics is a sport than how can cheerleading not be? Gymnastics is an Olympic sport so how can court find it just that cheerleading is not? I understand that volleyball is a sport and it is unfair for those women to have their team cut, but they could easily transfer the same the Hofstra football team had to. Title IX is a great thing that I have already mentioned above has done great things for all women athletes but to just tell every cheerleader in the country that what they are doing is not a sport is wrong. Not many people in the world can do a pyramid double-flip dismount and tell these young women who work just as a hard as any other athlete that they are not partaking in a sport is wrong and in my opinion doing exactly the opposite of what Title IX was put in place to; create equal opportunity. The fourth and final case I will look at is U.S. District Court V. Sweetwater Union School District. I have talked about and most likely you have only heard about Title IX cases at the collegiate level because they are much more publicized, however discrimination is just as likely to occur at the K-12 level. Often discrimination at this level goes unchecked because younger athletes and their parents are not aware of the laws. In my own high school I know many of the male athletes got preferential treatment and opportunities for that matter. Each year I was in high school the men’s teams got new equipment while the girls were stuck with outdated and sometimes unsafe equipment. Every Friday there was a pep rally for the boys, not once in my high school career was there ever a pep rally for girls. The only time a girl was ever even on the floor for the pep rally was for the crowning of the homecoming court. Now I am not saying that girls deserve a pep rally every week however I do no think there was fair opportunity for girls at my high school. The men’s sports always had precedent at the practice facilities that we shared, so if we the basketball team had practice on Saturday morning we would have to go to a older court at the elementary school. Then there was transportation; the football teams had McCarter buses for every away game while women’s sports would get a yellow school bus or have to provide our own ride depending on the distance of the event. I personally believe that this is happening at many high schools around the country and going unnoticed because people around the community are so used to it. In the case Judge Lorenz noted: “The balance of hardships weighs firmly in plaintiffs’ favor. The inequalities demonstrated at trial should have been rectified years ago by the district. …Plaintiffs are entitled to injunctive relief. Defendants are required to comply with Title IX in all aspects of its athletic programs and activities…” This needs to happen around the country because it is truly an epidemic that many female athletes are suffering from. And even worse is that because of the disparity between men’s and women’s sports many girls are discouraged from ever trying out new sports because they are looked at as a “joke” on the high school level. Many of the coaches at my former high school had no real experience in the sport and were brought in a volunteer basis. By doing things like this the schools are short changing their own girls and robbing them of what could be great experiences at the high school level. In my opinion it is a real injustice to high school females to have equal opportunity at every level and that includes K-12 and I know many may say that I am blowing it out of proportion but trust me in an age where male high school athletes are getting flown around the country on recruiting trips and having there college decision aired on ESPN the disparity between men’s and women’s sports at the high school level is much larger than people realize. As I said at the beginning of this paper I never looked at Title IX at a real personal level because it never really affected me personally to my knowledge. After writing this especially the last paragraph it was really eye opening to me to see what was really going on around me the whole time. I guess being a male you never really put yourself in those shoe but after writing this I appreciate the assignment and also the struggle that girls have to do deal with before and even forty one years after the installment of Title IX. I am thankful for what it has done for women’s sports and men’s for that matter because it is creating equal opportunity for males and females maybe one day Lord willing if I were to have a daughter she will be able to grow up in sports with women as her role models thanks to the road that Title IX has paved.