Gender Equality in Competitive Sports: a History of The Title Ix Law

Before this project I knew nothing about Title IX other than what we briefly discussed in class. After group and individual research, I was surprised to see how big of an impact this law has made. Personally, I was assigned the sports section of Title IX, something I found extremely interesting. Title IX has come a long way, and with that being said, there is still more to be accomplished. Since the law has passed, Title IX has made competitive sports for females (who love to play sports just as much as male athletes) easier to access than ever before. Financial assistance is now granted at a collegiate level (scholarships), access to facilities, trainers, and equipment is readily available, and participation is available almost nationwide. Believe it or not, only over the last 20-30 year has this become nationally recognized. Many argue that Title IX takes away from male sports due to the forced 50/50 split of scholarship/access to equipment, but this is not true. Male athletes are granted more scholarship money these days now than ever, and quite frankly, and unfortunately, are still granted more attention by the university.

However, since 1972, women’s participation at the college level has increased by 560% and 990% at the high school level. Personally, it is apparent to me that with these numbers being true, in previous years it shows the lack of opportunity for women. An everyday argument against title IX is that female athletes do not deserve all that they are granted because they do not enjoy their sports as much as male athletes. If these numbers do not give you the obvious answer to that argument, you may need to do some deeper research. Another myth I learned about this law is that “people do not support Title IX”. Our nation is supposed to stand for equality, although for many groups of people equality is not truly equality, our nation is improving at the hands of those willing to make a change. With laws like Title IX being passed, equality seems to be something we as society can obtain.

Working with the group that I had was a great experience, I learned of all the aspects of Title IX ranging from education, to sexual assault, to the section I researched, sports. As a group, our strengths were that we communicated well. We started a group text message where everyone was extremely involved and no one was difficult. We scheduled to meet at the library several different times to get organized and get on the same page, in every meeting we had almost our entire group show up. Everyone understood the concept behind Title IX which makes me feel comfortable presenting with the group that I had. One of our weaknesses was that we began this project not knowing each other personally. Through the course of completing this project, we as a group have got to know each other, and learned what to expect from one and other. For the first couple weeks or so, this was not true. We struggled to find a rhythm and to stay organized, which made myself, and everyone else nervous. The group text really brought us together and put us on the right track to completing this project in a correct and well-done fashion.

Overall Title IX and this class as a whole has been an eye-opener. It is crazy to learn of all the things society has done, and continues to do to take advantage of consumers through imagery, sexualization, objectification, ect… I enjoyed not only learning about women in the past and present, but also the different struggles faced by other races, cultures, and groups of other people. These are serious matters, and classes like these help shape the future for change. They say my generation is considered to be a “wave of change” and I hope I can do all that I can to help be that change. Title IX is a great law that still may need some tweaking, but it is on the right path to success, and has made a large positive impact on females, males, and society as a whole.