Gender Equity and its Impact on College Athletics

With the passage of Title IX, pressure has been put upon college and university administrators to restructure their athletic departments so that the gender make up of the athletic department mirrors the gender make up of the overall student body. In order to accomplish this task, athletic directors are having to answer tough questions, such as: How will gender equity effect our revenue-generating sports? What constitutes equity? How will gender equity effect our men\u27s non-revenue sports programs? How will we be able to add more women\u27s opportunities and stay within our overall budget? In 1991, The NCAA Gender Equity Task Force surveyed its member institutions in order to provide statistical data on gender equity. The results were worse than originally thought. The survey showed that colleges and universities still aren\u27t providing women\u27s athletics programs with equal treatment. Although, more opportunities have been made available to women athletes than ever before, progress and change has been slow to come. Many of today\u27s questions and concerns that women face are the same questions and concerns that existed over twenty years ago. The study of 646 schools found two specific points of clarification that needed to be addressed by the NCAA and its membership. The first was, women account for more than half of college students yet male athletes outnumber women two to one in participation opportunities. Secondly, the data shows the amount of money spent on scholarships for male athletes is more than double the amount of money spent on female athletes. In the spring of 1993, The Gender Equity Task Force published its Final Report on gender equity and submitted its report to the NCAA and its member institutions. The purpose of the Gender Equity Task Force was to provide institutions with a clear cut definition of gender equity and guidelines for promoting gender equity at the collegiate level. The report is the first written document, since the passage of Title IX, which provides NCAA institutions with knowledge of acceptable practices for achieving gender equity. With the help of our court systems and new gender equity guidelines for our institutions to follow, women\u27s sports will continue to grow. The hope is that we will no longer have one set of standards for male athletes and another set of standards for female athletes