Friday, February 1, 2013

Title IX: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Title IX has had a huge impact on the culture of athletics since 1972. Before 1972, less than 5% of high school females participated in sports, but thanks to Title IX more than 40% of females are participating in high school sports (http://tinyurl.com/bj3qvtk). Title IX is a good thing if a few changes are made to make sure that men are not being forgotten.
Some would argue that Title IX has hindered or eliminated male sports. There are more opportunities for women as compared to men in collegiate athletics (http://tinyurl.com/bj3qvtk)..  True, when compared to 1972, there are 900 new sports teams for men; however is a small comparison to the nearly 4,000 new sports teams that have been created for women (http://tinyurl.com/bj3qvtk). With more young men involved in sports at all levels, this inequality for men in sports has outraged many people. One thing that is for certain is that when a school wants to add a sport there are a lot of obstacles to get through in order to get the sport (http://tinyurl.com/be2npxx)  
The one thing that people cannot argue with is that sports has increased women’s role in American society. Sports for women are believed to one of the main reasons 43% of medical degrees earned today, are earned by women. No matter if you support Title IX or not one thing is for sure it has given women many opportunities in sports and other areas that they most likely would not have had otherwise.
 




1 comment:

  1. Title IX has allowed for a substantial amount of opportunities for female athletes. New non-traditional sports (squash, field hockey, etc.) have motivated the female athlete to try new sports. Locally, I do think Texas should look to open opportunities in other sports such as field hockey to get more females involved in athletics. In regards to whether or not IX is unfair to men's sports, I believe programs (men’s or women’s) are sustained by generating money. Budgeting is always a big deal with high school and college athletics. Successful programs will generate funding whereas a struggling program will lose budgeting. I think most of the budgeting for men’s sports is used with football and basketball, allowing for less budgeting for the other sports, such as swimming or wrestling. Ultimately, I hate to see endangered programs because of budgeting, but I do believe it is more of a result of budgeting rather than Title IX.

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