How Is Title IX Related To Gender Equality

Title IX, Equality for All? Title IX is phenomenal. It obviously provides benefits for female sports, right? Well, only partially. Title IX did forever change the perspective of women's sports and gained them the respect they deserve. However, today Title IX is not as glorious as it sounds. The truth is that Title IX has caused unpredicted collateral damage throughout male and female sports programs. Moreover, Title IX was necessary and benefited women dramatically, however, the law must now be abolished because it has served its purpose in establishing equality in athletics. Currently, Title IX hurts and undermines women’s sports programs. Firstly, Title IX has led to a drop in the number of women coaches. Linda Flanagan, author of “How

Title IX is causing the prejudice against women coaches, creating a gender inequity. Title IX has led to collateral damage in aspects affecting women. Young girls look up to their coaches as role models, and it is difficult when women do not see any women as their leaders. In fact, according to Mary Jo Kane, Director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in sports at the University of Minnesota states, “Title IX has been a boon to male employment opportunities” (qtd. in Flanagan). This increase in male coaches has led to an increase of exposure to sexual abuse. Flanagan further asserts “For female players, the gravest consequence of having male coaches has been an increased risk of sexual abuse.” Although this is not true for all male coaches, any situation that brings a slight increase in exposure to sexual abuse is already too much. Aside from the drop in coaches and exposure to sexual abuse, Isabelle Hinckley, further advocates in her article, “Why There’s Been a Big Drop in Women Coaches Under Title IX,” how women hold less than 23 percent of all coaching positions in NCAA. Further within this pool of woman,

Allison Kasic states, “From 1981 to 2005 men’s teams per school dropped 17%. While female teams per school rose 34%,” and Kasic later adds in, “The total number of women’s teams has exceeded the number of men’s teams since 1995.” These are the statistics that are not heard of; the statistics that show the damage Title IX is now causing. Kasic further expresses the discrimination when she emphasized, “Men’s teams are often no longer allowed to keep any of the numerous men seeking walk-on positions.” Out of fear of violating Title IX, schools are turning players away. Title IX has simply turned the tables and now boys are being deprived of athletic opportunities. Kasic further points out school fear of Title IX when she said, “schools are simply afraid such spots will skew the overall gender balance, putting the institutions at an increased risk of Title IX compliance review or private lawsuit.” It's a fact that sports provide multiple physical and emotional benefits, and Title IX is now causing the downfall of boys to have those benefits. In 2007, the College Sports Council launched a study looking at 2.5 years of athletic participation data to determine program trends. The study confirmed that opportunities for men have faced consistent and significant decline under Title IX (qtd. Kasic). Title IX has done its job in gaining the women's sports programs respect, but now it is costing the mens programs. Not to