Have you ever wondered why the men’s and women’s locker rooms in McCarthy Gymnasium are switched at noon everyday? It’s because of the Title IX law created in 1972 that was meant to promote equality for men and women in school environments. Almost every part of the Title IX law works to achieve this goal for both men and women. However, one portion of the law is flawed: This portion of the law is that which deals with college athletics.
Title IX officially states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Within this law is a three-part test which is a guide to determine whether or not a school is in compliance with Title IX regulation. The three requirements appear as follows: (1) the percent of male and female athletes is substantially proportionate to the percent of male and female students enrolled at the school; (2) the school has a history and continuing practice of expanding participation opportunities for the underrepresented sex; (3) the school is fully and effectively accommodating the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex.
Going back to McCarthy Gym, since only one of the locker rooms in this gym has a sauna, St. Thomas is required by Title IX to use this locker room as both a mens’ and womens’ locker room to promote gender equality. The equal use of facilities by both genders is one of the many positive effects of this law. Yet, Title IX is still a detriment to college athletics in the way it is structured.
Title IX requires that the percentage of male and female athletes must be proportionate to the percentage of male and female students enrolled at the college. The problem lies in that the percentage of male to female students enrolled is usually not the same percentage as male to female students who are willing to commit to a college sport. This issue has nothing to do with sexism or the idea that a woman can do anything that man can do. It is simply a fact of life that a higher percentage of males than females are willing to commit to a collegiate sport.
Consider Iowa State University: ISU is one of the largest universities in the Midwest. There are over 21,000 students who attend the University. However, there is no mens’ soccer team in Ames, IA. Despite the fact that there is enough interest and resources to build a mens’ soccer program at ISU, there is not enough interest to develop another womens’ athletic program to keep the men to women athlete ratio in balance.
Iowa State University is not the only school that has suffered as a result of Title IX. Schools all over the country are being forced to shut down their wrestling programs because wrestling is one of the sports that are nearly completely dominated by male participation. In fact, 439 wrestling programs across the country have been dropped since 1972.
Finally, let us take a look at the University of Minnesota. In 1993, the U of M built what is now known as Mariucci Arena for both mens’ and womens’ hockey. The arena was built with an Olympic-size rink at 100 by 200 ft. The womens’ hockey program decided they did not want to use the Olympic ice rink anymore. As a result, the U of M was forced to build a regular 85 by 200 ft. hockey rink for womens’ hockey. The additional arena cost an estimated $20 million. This was an incredibly inefficient use of funds by the U of M.
I believe that women are, in most cases, just as capable as men. I believe that our society benefits greatly when women are treated equally. However, I also believe that a portion of the Title IX law is flawed. Title IX encourages women to participate in sports by allowing colleges to discourage men’s athletics for the sake of preserving the male-to-female athlete ratio. Title IX concentrates too much on forcing equality of mens’ and womens’ athletics when the ratio of pure interest for collegiate sports is not equal.
Comments
Post new comment