Title IX
Con Title IX
By Matt Morris
When Title IX was introduced in 1972, it was brought forth to prevent discrimination in college athletics funding based on sex. But, the creation of the law caused a quota system that benefited women at the expense of male athletes. The law was created to eliminate discrimination in college athletics, but a system of reverse discrimination against male athletes was the end result. Title IX was created with good intentions, to help develop women's sports in the United States, but it has became a spreading virus, eating away at male scholarship opportunities left and right.
It is a fact that in the last decade, 20,000 male sports opportunities have been revoked due to the regulations associated with Title IX (http://www.aauwrestling.org/titleix/titleIX1.html). This law was created with the intentions of eliminating discrimination in athletic funding based on sex, but that figure seems to say that some sex-based quota system is being used in conjunction with Title IX regulations. Can you imagine how many millions of hours of hard work that those men put in went to waste with the elimination of their respective sports? These men have their scholarships taken away, while women are sometimes handed college athletic scholarships when their university creates a new sport.
At Eastern Illinois, "a woman's crew team was added even though there are no high-school programs in the state" (Insight on the News, Jan 11, 1999 v15 i2 p38(1). This team was 60 roster spots even though no high school program in the entire state of Illinois had deemed it important enough to include the sport on their high school schedule. It is not bad to give women opportunities to show off their athletic talents, but it seems pointless to create a sport that no one in the entire state possesses a genuine interest in.
"Title IX often results in pouring money into a girls program that doesn't need much money, or quite frankly doesn't deserve it," said Stanford freshman soccer player Todd Dunivant. "Many girls programs around that country that are not very well established have bags of money, even though the talent level in many of the women's sports is very sparse."
"Only 34 percent of all athletes in high school are women" (http://www.mdle.com/writtenword/rholhut/holhut43.htm). Due to that statistic, it is quite obvious that men possess a greater genuine interest in athletic participation. Why then are colleges forced to take money away from men, and give this money to women when they do not possess that same interest? The government does not require collegiate dancing programs, which are 90 percent female, to give an equal amount of funds to male and female dancers. It just so happens that in one field in which men seem to have more interest, the men must suffer in order for women to progress. Even a field in which men dominate, such as college engineering programs (70% male), universities are not forced to have equal amounts of men and women.
Title IX seems awfully contradictory when it can be applied in athletics to hurt men, and it is not applied in the fine arts, which would undoubtedly eliminate some female participation.
Another truth is that men's sports generate the majority of the athletic income. At Syracuse University in New York, men's football and basketball generate 98% of the athletic revenue. Even though the hard work of these teams earned this money, half of it must be given to women's sports, which judging by the figures, don't seem to have much fan support. The fans would most likely see this money spent on teams that they seem to care about.
Many women feel like Title IX is unfairly hurting men as well. Kimberly Schuld is a director of Play Fair, an organization dedicated to gender equity issues. "There is now discrimination against boys because of it (Title IX). It is not realistic to expect every woman to be interested in participating in varsity sports (Insight on the News, Jan 11, 1999 v15 i2 p38(1)."
In the same article, another interesting point arose. Play Fair recently conducted a survey of all-girls colleges such as Mount Holyoke and Smith. The survey found that only "10 to 15 percent" of these women participate in college sports at their university. If an all girl's school with abundant athletic opportunities cannot generate female interest, it seems quite obvious that they do not crave athletic competition at the same rate as their male counterparts.
Title IX could actually be interpreted as an insult to women. "Title IX is leaning towards the idea that women's sports would be unable to attract a sufficient enough audience and gain sufficient enough revenue for them to be able to support themselves without the aid of Title IX," said Stanford freshman football player, Kerry Carter. Carter, a women's sports supporter, feels like the language and principles of Title IX do not subscribe to the basic rules of capitalism.
Title IX has helped bring more funding to women, but it has hurt men immensely and has failed to generate any substantial amount of interest in women's sports. Although women are playing sports more than they did a generation ago, their level of interest simply does not compare to the passion that men possess for athletics. For 20,000 men to be torn away from their hobby in order for an incomparable female interest to be satisfied seems ludicrous. Men love their sports, as do some women. Let the athletic funding reflect genuine interest, rather than political correctness, and much of the negative hoopla surrounding gender equity in sports will disappear. If these changes are not made, thousands more men will have their athletic dreams disappear as well.
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AAUwrestling.org :Article concerning the problems with Title IX Proposals for softening Title IX Bulletin board where students post solutions to the Title IX problem |
NCAA Title IX Home Page :Site devoted to NCAA seminars on Title IX |
