Published: February 7, 2000
1. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO SUPPORT TITLE IX AND OPPOSE ANY EFFORT TO AMEND THE LAW?
A. Because sports participation is an important health and wellness issue for girls and women. 80% of all people with osteoporosis (brittle bones) are female and one out of every two women over the age of 60 has osteoporosis. Adequate calcium intake and weight-bearing exercise, especially in a female's high school and college years, is crucial in the prevention of osteoporosis, a $15 billion/year health problem. (Teegarden, Proulx, et al., 1996, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 1996; vol. 28, pp. 105-113)
Girls who participate in as little as four hours of exercise per week may reduce their lifelong risk of breast cancer (a disease that will affect one out of every eight women) by up to 60%. (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 1994)
Girls and women who participate in sports have higher levels of confidence, stronger self-images and lower levels of depression. Sports is an investment in the psychological health of women. (Miller Lite Report, 1985; Melpomene Institute, 1995); Colton & Gore, Risk, Resiliency, and Resistance: Current Research on Adolescent Girls, Ms. Foundation, 1991)
High school girls who participate in sports are less likely to experience an unwanted pregnancy and more likely to graduate from high school and get better grades. (The Women's Sports Foundation Report: Sport and Teen Pregnancy, May 1998; Women's Sports Foundation, 1989)
B. Because the public fully supports Title IX and opposes efforts to protect men's sports.Wall Street Journal poll results:
"Title Nine is a federal law that prohibits high schools and colleges that receive federal funds from discriminating on the basis of gender. Title Nine is most commonly invoked to ensure equal opportunities for girls and women in high school and college athletics. Do you approve or disapprove of Title Nine as it is described here?"
Yes, approve of Title IX: 79%
No, do not approve of Title IX: 14%
Do not know enough about it: 4%
Not sure: 3%
"To comply with Title Nine, many schools and universities have had to cut back on resources for men's athletic programs and invest more in women's athletic programs to make the programs more equal. Do you approve or disapprove of cutting back on men's athletics to ensure equivalent athletic opportunities for women?"
Yes, approve of cuts: 76%
No, do not approve of cuts: 19%
Not sure: 5%
C. Contrary to the rationale of those who contend that Title IX's proportionality provision is responsible for the elimination of men's sports, men's sports participation and funding has continued to grow. Decisions to drop men's non-revenue sports are institutional decisions related to choosing to place more resources into other men's sports.In 1997, for every new dollar allocated to support women's sports in Division I, three new dollars went to men's sports. (NCAA, 1997)
NCAA participation opportunities for male and female athletes have grown to record levels. Over the last 10 years, NCAA female sports participation has increased to 150,916 and NCAA male sports participation has increased to 208,866. (NCAA, 2000)
The data shows that lost opportunities for some men whose sports have been dropped have resulted in new opportunities for men in other sports. For instance, between 1982-83 and 1998-99, 1022 men's gymnastics, 2,648 men's wrestling, 683 women's gymnastics and 229 women's field hockey participation opportunities were lost. During that same period, men's football, soccer and lacrosse opportunities increased by 7,199, 1,932 and 2,000, respectively as did numerous women's sports. (GAO Report,
Four Year Colleges' Experiences Adding and Discontinuing Teams , 2001) There are natural shifts of funding and interest in men's and women's sports that occur and sports participation is affected by changes in NCAA institutional membership. It is inaccurate to blame these shifts on Title IX.
Similarly, a 1997 study of individual institutions revealed that programs commonly added and dropped men's and women's sports between 1978 and 1996 with men's and women's sports programs showing a net gain. (Women's Sports Foundation, 1997)
NCAA average squad size data for male athletes in 1981-82 and 1998-99 has remained constant (within one participant) and more sports show an increase in average squad size than show decreases. (NCAA, 2000)
The purpose of laws prohibiting discrimination is to bring the disadvantaged population up to the level of the advantaged population, not to treat male athletes in minor sports like female athletes who weren't given a chance to play. Rather than cut men's teams and unfairly blaming Title IX, all sports should be asked to operate on smaller budget so all athletes continue participating.
Dollars in men's sports do not have to be reallocated to further support football in order to "maintain revenue production." It's a myth that football makes the money that funds other sports. Football brings in more money than other sports but spends more than it makes. Approximately 108 football programs of the 1,200 universities in this country make more than they spend.
There will never be enough participation opportunities at the high school or college level to meet the interests of male or female athletes. These opportunities are limited by what institutions can afford. For example, there are approximately 208,000 men and 150,000 women participating on college varsity teams in the NCAA. These opportunities will never fully accommodate the needs of over 6 million boys and girls participating in high school athletics. The fairest way to parcel out limited resources and participation opportunities is to have athletic opportunities match up to general student enrollment.
Conferences, leagues and the NCAA have not been willing to legislate expenditure limitations, lower scholarship limits, or even require fewer games if that's what it takes to make sure that male non-revenue producing sport participants as well as females get the chance to play.
Competitive sports programs are sex separate. Thus, schools and colleges themselves set "quotas" on the number of male and female participants when they determine how many teams they will offer and fund. It is only reasonable to say that if a school offers athletic opportunities for male athletes that represent 5% of the male student body, then 5% of the female student body should also have the opportunity to play sports. However, it is important to note that Title IX does not require any proportionality test.
D. Thirty years after its passage, fully 80% of all schools and colleges are still out of compliance with the law.While over fifty percent of our college and high school populations are female, female athletes still receive approximately 36 percent of all sports operating expenditures, 42 percent of all college athletic scholarship money, 42 percent of all athletes, and 32 percent of all college athlete recruitment spending.
While more female athletes are getting a college education because of the award of $133,000,000 in athletic scholarships each year, male athletes receive more than twice that amount. (NCAA, Women's Sports Foundation calculation, 2002)
Since Title IX was adopted, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has not found one educational institution out of compliance with the athletics regulations and not initiated proceedings to remove federal funds at one school or college. Instead, the OCR negotiates settlements which are often less than the law requires and further extends the time institutions are given to comply with federal law.
Cedric Dempsey, the NCAA's Executive Director, assessed the status of gender equity in college sports in October 1999 as follows: "Improvements are being made, but being made much too slowly ... we must continue to add programs for women and dedicate more resources to women's programs on our campuses at a faster rate."
2.WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO FULLY SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION FOR PROGRESS ACT (PEP ACT), AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS ON DECEMBER 21, 2000.
Background: The Physical Education for Progress Act is now an authorized program of Title X of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Under the PEP program, the Secretary of Education is authorized to award grants to help initiate, expand, and improve physical education programs for kindergarten through grade 12 students. Funds can be used to purchase equipment, develop curriculum, hire and/or train PE staff, and support other initiatives designed to enable students to participate in physical education activities. As soon as the U.S. Department of Education develops appropriate guidelines, local educational agencies will be able to submit an application for physical education funding, as well as details on how the educational agency plans to make progress toward meeting the PEP program's physical education goals. Five million dollars was authorized for fiscal year 2001. You are asked to support appropriations in the amount of an additional $370 million over the next five years (FY2002-$70 million, FY2003/2004/2005-$100 million each year).
Because required physical education classes are important to the health and well-being of our children, especially our daughters who have far less opportunities to participate in school and non-school sports programs.
- Currently, only one state (Illinois) mandates daily physical education for children in grades K through 12.
- One out of every four American children is obese (weight exceeds 20% over recommended weight for age). Obesity increases health problems and costs as the child gets older. Levels of obesity among children and adolescents have doubled in the past 30 years.
- Daily physical education in primary school appears to have a significant long-term positive effect on exercise habits in women. They are more active as they age. (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Jan 1999, 31, #1, pp. 105-110).
- According to a study by the Center for the Study of Sports in Society (CSSS), girls in the Boston urban area have one-sixth the sports opportunities that girls in the suburbs have. (CSSS, 1998)
- In all grade levels, girls get significantly less activity than boys do, yet 75% of them feel they get enough exercise. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, 1999)
- The Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health concluded that moderate physical activity can reduce substantially the risk of developing or dying from heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, and high blood pressure. Significant health benefits can be obtained by including a moderate amount of daily physical activity (e.g., 30 minutes of brisk walking or raking leaves, 15 minutes of running, 45 minutes of playing volleyball). Additional health benefits can be gained through greater amounts of physical activity. (The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, 2000)
- High school girls who play sports are more likely to do well in science. (Hanson, S.L. and Kraus, R.S., 1998; Sociology of Education, 71, 93-110)
- Fewer high school girls meet the standards for vigorous physical activity and strengthening exercises than boys. The gender difference for vigorous physical activity is 18.8% (72.3% vs. 53.5%). (U.S. Government, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 1997)
- Exercise and sport participation can be used as a therapeutic and preventive intervention for enhancing the physical and mental health of adolescent females. It also can enhance mental health by offering them positive feelings about body image, improved self-esteem, tangible experiences of competency and success and increased self-confidence. (Physical Activity & Sport in the Lives of Girls, PCPFS, 1997)
- Physical activity appears to decrease the initiation of high-risk health behavior in adolescent girls. According to a 1995 survey of boys and girls ages 12-16, female adolescents high in leisure time physical activity are significantly less likely to initiate cigarette smoking than those in moderate and low leisure time activity groups. (Aaron, et al., Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 1996; 27, 1639-1645)
- If a girl does not participate in sports by the time she is 10, there is only a 10% chance she will participate when she is 25. (Linda Bunker, University of Virginia, 1989)
- Children, especially females, who receive positive reinforcement for sport participation are more likely to become involved in sports than those who receive neutral or negative messages. (Greendorfer S., 1987, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 11, 327-340)
The PEP Act is responsive to the June 23, 2000 Executive Memorandum directing Secretary of Health and Human Resources and the Secretary of Education to develop strategies to increase levels of physical activity and fitness.
This educational fact sheet was published on the occasion of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, February 7, 2001 by the five national girl-serving organizations that sponsor the Day: Girls Scouts of the USA, Girls Incorporated, National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, Women's Sports Foundation and YWCA of the USA. The information was updated in July 2002.