Hi Amber:
You still didn't answer my question. And rather than respond to your
gratuitous and over the top attacks on my organization, I offer the
following in response:
Title IX clearly has opened some doors for women, but not at the expense of
men. Suggesting that there's a zero sum game is just plain inaccurate.
Today, the number of women participating in college sports is 135,000,
which
is 4 times greater than prior to the law's enactment.
As for men -- according to data from the NCAA and the NAIA, men's overall
participation in athletics has remained relatively constant since 1981:
starting at 230,047 in 1981-82 and holding at 226,590 in 1993-94.
Title IX is not a quota. The law prohibits quotas. The policy
interpretation of Title IX, which Congress approved, provides for a
three-part test to determine compliance.
Under that test, schools can show that theycomply with Title IX with regard
to sports participation if they can demonstrate any one of the following:
· substantially proportionate athletic opportunities for male and
female athletes; or
· a history and continuing practice of expanding opportunities for
the under-represented sex; or
· full and effective accommodation of the interests and abilities
of
the under-represented sex.
According to OCR, from 1994-98, most schools [65%] chose to come into
compliance with prong three of the test. Just 29% used the proportionality
prong. And approximately 5% used the second prong.
The National Women's Law Center remains committed to pursuing gender equity
in this aspect of education because a lot inequalities persist. Quite
simply, even with the progress we, as a nation, have made, the playing
field
is far from level. For example:
According the NCAA Gender Equity study from 1998, women have 40% of the
opportunities to play intercollegiate sports. 41% of athletic scholarships,
33% of athletic operating budgets and 30% of the dollars spent to recruit
new athletes.
At the high school level, female athletes have only 41% of school-sponsored
opportunities to play sports, according to the National Federation of State
Hish School Associations' 1999 participation survey.
Colleges and universities spend far more on men's athletics as they do on
women. For example, between 1989 and 1997, for every new dollar spent on
Division I-A women athletes, two new dollars were spent on men. [Daniel
Fulks, Revenues and Expenses of Division I and II Intercollegiaate
Athletics
Programs: Financial Trends and Relationships -- 1997. ]
The NCAA reports that from 1992 until 1997, men's athletic budges in
Division I-A have increased by a whopping 139%, compared to 89% for women.
We will continue to work in this area to ensure that women and girls get
the
equal opportunities to which they are entitled under law.
Verna Williams
<vwilliams@nwlc.org>
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