The 1972 education amendment known as Title IX
The 1972 education amendment known as Title IX was enacted by Congress. The Civil Rights Office has the authority to carry out the duty of upholding the law. Among many other responsibilities, the office is in charge of upholding the law.
Women's participation in school sports programs was relatively limited prior to the law's implementation. Gender discrimination against girls was common. Soccer, rugby, and football are examples of sports where discrimination has historically been more prevalent. Women's access to sports scholarships was similarly constrained, which decreased their involvement in school sport initiatives. Women opportunities were mainly in recreation activities. The recreational activities were non-competitive and informal.
The aim of Title IX Legislation
The main aim of Title IX legislation is to protect individuals from any form of discrimination based on gender. The legislation focuses on education programs that are beneficiaries of funds from the federal government. The legislation demands that no individual in the United States shall be barred from participating or denied benefits under any education program that gets funding from the federal government.
The Title IX legislation affects all institutions that get funding from the Department of Education (U.S. Department of Education). This includes both local and state learning institutions. The legislation also applies to charter schools, public libraries, museums and non-profit schools.
All institutions that receive funds from Education Department must operate in a manner that is nondiscriminatory. They must not discriminate people based on sex in areas like admission, counseling, admission, funding, sports, treatment of expectant women, and employment. These institutions can also not victimize any individual that opposes a discriminatory education policy that falls under Title IX legislation (Justice Department).
Title IX Three Legal Tests
The Civil Rights Office investigates and resolves all complaints that touch on gender discrimination. The office also provides technical assistance. Schools normally use a three-stage legal test to determine compliance with the requirements of Title IX legislation. These three stages include:
Substantial Proportionality
This is one of the most common methods that schools use to determine if they have complied with conditions stipulated in the Title IX legislation. It is also the easiest method because it is based on numbers. For instance, if 20 percent of female students enrolled in a particular learning institution, then it will be expected that 20 percent of participants in sports programs will be female. Because it is often hard to achieve such a percentage, institutions are expected to have the maximum possible number of women in sports programs. This is called substantial proportion. Substantial proportionality simply compares the ratio of women to men in school sports program. If the ratio is equal or almost equal, then the school would have complied with the conditions of the Title IX legislation (Civil Rights Office).
History and Continuing Compliance
Schools should show a previous record and demonstrate the intention of increasing opportunities for the discriminated gender. There should be evidence of increased number of females in sports programs over the years. For instance, a school that had 20 women enrolled in sports programs in 2000 and 120 enrolled in 2017 has shown demonstrated a history continuing practice (U.S. Department of Education).
Accommodating Interests
Education centers that provide sports programs are required under Title IX legislation to take care of all students' interest and abilities. Schools are supposed to offer chances for people of each gender to take part in all athletic programs.
Impact of Title IX on Women and Men's Sports
Participation Scholarship and Funds Cuts
Title IX legislation has helped increase the number of female participants in college sports programs. The legislation has helped to increase sports opportunities members of all both genders. It has changed the perception of women and girls and increased their activity in athletic programs. Girls have also continued to take part in sports programs that were traditionally perceived as male-oriented (Justice Department).These sports programs include rugby, wrestling, hockey and soccer. Women are now being regarded as stars in various sports thanks to Title IX legislation. The United States national girls soccer team clinched the Olympic medal to further demonstrate how much things have changed when it comes to participation of women in sports programs. The nation has witnessed a dramatic rise of women's basketball. The American basketball team won the first-ever gold medal in the Olympics games of 1996.
Title IX legislation has also expanded scholarship opportunities for girls and women. Before the legislation came into effect, the number of athletic scholarships for girls and women were limited, regardless of how much talent they had. It took some time and effort before the number of sports scholarships for women increased. The number of women enrolled in colleges on athletics scholarships dramatically increased just two years after the enactment of Title IX legislation.
Cuts in Men's Sports
There is no provision under Title IX legislation that requires institutions to do away with male sports to achieve compliance. The legislation does not advocate for reduction in the number of men and boys involved sports. The legislation has therefore not caused financial cuts in men's sports programs. On the contrary the participation of men in sports has increased over the years. The federal funds allocated for men's sports has also grown.
How Football has Affected Compliance
Football has really reduced compliance with Title IX. Reduced compliance with Title IX legislation caused by football could perhaps be explained by the physical nature of the sport. It is difficult to comply with the requirements of Title IX legislation when the physical demands of sport such football exceed the capacity of women's' bodies. The participation of women in football has always been low over the years.
My Opinion about Title IX Legislation
I think that Title IX legislation has brought positive changes to the society. The essential values acquired in sports like teamwork, patience, practice, leadership, determination, self-sacrifice, and discipline have been brought into society as women's participation in sports increase. These values have changed the way organizations are managed. Women participation in society through employment and other activities has also increased.
The fact that Title IX legislation has increased the role women play in sport cannot be argued. This was achieved through increasing scholarship opportunities for women and requiring schools to put in measures that see the number of women participating in sports programs increase. Since it was enacted, the participation of women in various school athletic programs has increased.
Works Cited
The United States Department of Justice. “Overview of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. A§ 1681 ET. SEQ.” (2017). Retrieved Dec. 24, 2017, from https://www.justice.gov/crt/overview-title-ix-education-amendments-1972-20-usc-1681-et-seq
U.S. Department of Education: Office of Civil Rights. “Title IX and Sex Discrimination.” (2017). Retrieved Dec. 24, 2017, from https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html
