. They are still not practicing the law that prohibits sex discrimination in athletic programs.  Females make up 54% of the student body, yet they only received 36% sports operating dollars, 42% college athletic scholarship dollars, and 32% athletic team recruitment spending. Male athletes receive $133 million more athletic scholarship dollars than female athletes each year.  Clearly Title IX laws are working to bridge the gender gap but much work is still to be done.  79% of the American public supports Title IX, the law that prohibits schools and colleges from discriminating on the basis of sex (Harter 2003).

 It is clear that women’s sports are growing at the expense of male sports.   From 1992 to 1997 approximately 5,800 female athletes has been added to sports teams.  During that same period over 20,000 male athletes were cut (Hoornstra 2002). While female athletes have gained a little, male athletes have lost a lot.  Everyone agrees that Title IX was never intended to limit the opportunities of one sex, yet the way the law is interpreted at the collegiate level male athletes must make way for female athletes. 

  Between 1981 and 1999, NCAA institutions have eliminated 40% of their wrestling teams.  Most cited Title IX for the reason the program was cut. While many programs have been cut Title IX laws have provided more opportunities for female athletes.

Many argue that Title IX has paved the way for female stars such as Women’s soccer star Mia Hamm, and Basketball star Lisa Leslie.  What people fail to mention is that at the 2000 Olympics in Australia, U.S. freestyle wrestlers failed to win a single gold medal for the first time since 1968 (Gardner 2001).  Although there have been gains in women’s sports, it is clear that male athletes are suffering because of it.

Click here to read the rest of this paper.

Pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10