Title IX is a landmark piece of legislation that is now 42 years old and still going strong in representing mainly women’s athletics and establishing a foundation to stand and improve upon. Before this piece of legislation, men’s sports dominated women’s sports in all aspects, both in money, participation, physicality etc. With this law being established women now have a stronger presence in the sporting world because of this law. Women’s sports still have a long way to come in gaining media attention especially in big tournaments like NCAA March madness. Title IX is now turning into controversial debates with the increase of women’s sports and programs for athletics but to make room for these sports, some men’s sports have to be cut. The …show more content…
This is something title IX has no jurisdiction in covering and can only be fixed by society’s outlook on women’s sports. According to the article Title IX A Losing Game For Men states that in 2004 women’s tournament television ratings earned a 15% higher rating than in 2005 but, only drew in a quarter of the audience that men sports bring in. Women’s sports are on the rise in the media and TV ratings but, society has still moved women’s sports to the back burner. When is the last time you walked into a bar and started cheering for a women’s softball game or a NCAA women’s tournament game? I wish this actually happened but, in reality if you walk into a bar you will be watching men’s sports primarily in any of the big four (NHL, MLB, NBA or NFL). The article refers to the fact that society prefers men’s sports over women’s sports due to the fact that they are more fast-paced, dramatic and these elements relate to high TV ratings. It also states that men make up the majority of the viewing audience and prefer watching men’s sporting events (Title IX A Losing Game For …show more content…
Another study done found that over 2 decades, the NCAA division I male team athletes fell from 10.2 in 1981-1982 to about 8.2 in 2004-2005. Specific sports in general for schools around the country like gymnastics fell from 59 to 17 between 1981 and 2004, men’s wrestling also fell from 146 to 86 in the same time span. Title IX was established to allow for equal opportunity for men and women but in order to do that some men’s sports had to take a hit so school could operate within the law’s requirement. This meant that majority of school had to go against its main function in order to make this law work, this seems like the law had to work backwards in order to establish a foothold into the future. It is time to look at title IX through a new lens and make changes to this law to make sure future programs can stay while allowing for new program to get a fair and fighting chance to be created for both