National Collegiate Athletic Association |
CommentJune 2, 1997
Guest editorial -- Women's equity: Half empty or half full?
BY JUDITH M. SWEET The following remarks are excerpted from a speech by former NCAA President Judith M.Sweet at the NCAA Title IX seminar May -- in Kansas City, Missouri:
It was 50 years ago that Jackie Robinson was able to break the color barrier in professional baseball because Branch Rickey was willing to give him the opportunity to play in the major leagues. When Tiger Woods won the Masters Tournament, he reflected on those who preceded him Much has changed for people of color, but much more needs to change, as with Title IX. There has been great progress, but equality is not yet a reality. An April 11 Chronicle of Higher Education article focused on gender equity. The theme suggested that the gender-equity glass is half full and half empty. Let's look at the full half of the glass. A recent USA Today article reported: "A study commissioned by the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports shows that girls who play sports have better physical and emotional health and stronger futures than those who don't take part in sports. The study launches Girl Power, an undertaking to see that 9- to 14-year-old girls have more sports opportunities. It cites efforts already taken by the YWCA, Girl Scouts, the U.S. national soccer team and Nike." It is most rewarding to see the number and quality of today's female athletes and the support they are being given. Recent reports from the Educational Testing Service indicate that 30 years ago, there was a dramatic difference by gender in the test scores in mathematics and the sciences, with boys scoring consistently higher than girls in those subjects. Today, the report states, boys and girls are scoring equally as well in math and science. When asked why this change occurred, the administrator of the testing service replied, "Because we have concentrated for the past 30 years on helping girls be successful in these areas." We have five more years before Title IX reaches that 30-year benchmark, but I can't help but believe that if we concentrate on helping girls enjoy and be successful in sports, they will be participating in numbers equal to boys and they will experience successes that we couldn't have imagined 30 years ago.... There has been much research and many studies done that provide useful information on athletics participation by females. Recently published ones have appeared in USA Today, the Chronicle of Higher Education and the follow-up to the 1992 gender-equity study released in late April by the NCAA. According to the Women's Sports Foundation (this may be the half-empty part of the glass): * Only 38 percent of all high-school athletes are girls and only 36 percent of all college athletes are women despite the fact that male/female enrollments in high school and college are about 50/50. * Less than 33 percent of collegiate athletics scholarship dollars are awarded to women athletes. Male college athletes receive more than $179 million more in scholarship dollars every year. * Less than 24 percent of college sports operating budgets are allocated to women's sports. * Less than 23 percent of money spent on recruiting goes toward recruiting female athletes. * Ninety-four percent of local television news sports coverage goes to men's sports. Women's sports gets five percent and gender-neutral topics one percent. * Less than one percent of college men's sports coaches are women. Less than 50 percent of coaches of women's college sports are women. * Less than 21 percent of college athletics directors are women. NCAA gender-equity survey results show: * In Division I, the average number of participants increased by 18 and the proportion of female athletes increased from 31 percent to 37 percent. * The average operating budget increased by $159,522, but the proportion of overall expenses remained the same at 23 percent as men's operating expenses increased by $552,894. The increase is more than $200,000 greater than the women's total of $338,600. * Recruiting expenses increased 71 percent from $28,840 to $49,176. But women receive only 27 percent of total recruiting dollars. In basketball, men spend $42,613 on recruiting while women spent $21,911. * Scholarship funding increased by $261,889 to an average of $630,000 a school, and women now receive 38 percent of scholarship dollars compared to 31 percent in 1991. * Salaries for women's head coaches rose 45 percent; for women's assistant coaches, the increase was 75 percent. Head-coach salary funding shows 60 percent awarded to men's coaches and 40 percent to women's coaches, but assistant coaches of women's sports received only 24 percent of total salary dollars for assistants. * The average Division I school allocated an additional $567,345 for women's scholarships, salaries, recruiting and other expenses in 1996. At the same time, spending in men's programs increased by $879,675. * For every additional dollar allocated to women's athletics, roughly an additional $1.55 was spent on men's sports. * Division I-A shows similar patterns, with a couple percentage points higher for men's sports in all categories. Operating expenses increased for women by $400,230 and for men by $1,379,580 with the proportion of dollars allocated to women increasing from 20 percent to 21 percent. * I-AA shows an increase in some categories for women and a decrease in others compared to Division I overall averages. * I-AAA showed the greatest increase in all categories for women on a proportional basis. * Division II showed three to six percent proportional increases in athletes, operating expenses and recruiting expenses, but women participants are 35 percent of total participants. Support in most categories is proportionately similar, except for head coaches' salaries, which are 42 percent of the total while assistant coaches' salaries are 24 percent of the total for all assistants. * In Division III, the average number of female participants remained the same, but the proportion of female participants increased from 35 percent to 38 percent, and a similar increase occurred with operating expenses.... * * * In the movie "The American President," the president's dowdy aide interrupted him at an important event to report: "Mr. President, those militants are complaining about parity in sports." The president replied, "I thought we passed Title IX 20 years ago to address that!" Yes, but those militants think it should be enforced! There are things yet to do, and things that need to be enforced, not through the legal system but through our personal commitments. Several generations of girls and women have already missed out on the value of participating in competitive athletics, being on a team, setting goals, learning to win and lose, having role models, dreaming, and having those dreams come true. It is our responsibility to ensure that current and future generations have the opportunities they deserve. We need: * Full compliance with Title IX, not an approach of "What do we have to do to get by?" * To change discriminatory attitudes. * To do the right thing. * To enhance experiences of our sons and daughters. * To develop an environment that promotes better social acceptance of female athletes. * To improve TV coverage and marketing of women's sports. * To be creative in generating resources and utilizing resources. We need: * To use our resources to improve programs, not fight legal battles in court. * Eliminate reasons that females have no alternative but to take legal action. We need: * To celebrate the advancements and improvements in girls' and women's athletics without becoming complacent that all the work is completed or accepting that what needs to be done is done. * To continue our sincere commitment to male and female athletes to provide positive educational experiences through sport. We need to just do it, NOW. On April 15, 1997, a half-century after Jackie Robinson began his career as a Brooklyn Dodger, his widow Rachel stated: "The greatest tribute we can pay to Jackie is to gain new support for a more equitable society." President Clinton's follow-up comments drew loud applause when he said that the Robinson experiment has proved "that America is a better, stronger, richer country when we all work together and give everyone a chance." Isn't that what Title IX is all about? These Title IX seminars allow us to work together, to identify ways that we can give everyone a chance. We then have the opportunity to take our ideas and efforts back to our campuses and communities and support a more equitable society. Let's "just do it." Judith M. Sweet is director of athletics at the University of California, San Diego. Letter to the Editor -- More NCAA leadership needed on Title IXIn view of the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the Brown University case, it is essential for every NCAA institution to take stock of its program of intercollegiate athletics. The emerging criterion of varsity slots proportional to enrollment has certainly taken center stage. With the large squad sizes in football, most institutions can meet the proportionality criterion only by adding significantly to the number of varsity slots available to women. Since Title IX requires that scholarships be awarded in proportion to participation, the financial aid consequences of new slots are substantial. In response to all those institutions that wish to meet Title IX obligations without decimating their football programs, the NCAA should be providing the necessary leadership. Indeed, if the NCAA were to reduce the number of athletics aid slots in football, thereby reducing squad sizes, the financial impact of Title IX compliance could be reduced substantially. A reduction of, say, 20 percent in the number of football slots would close the typical disparity between slots available to women and those for men even as it frees up resources for supporting women's programs. Indeed, such a reduction, by distributing football talent more widely, might even improve the average quality of play. It is almost impossible for institutions to reduce football squad size one by one, or even league-wide, since intra- and interleague competition encourages parity. Thus, changes are required at the NCAA level. If they are not forthcoming, I fear that many institutions will be obliged either to drop football or a large number of other men's sports. Those of us committed to the importance of intercollegiate athletics in educating men and women would be the losers. The NCAA must act and not merely implore compliance.
Neil R. Grabois Opinions -- Coach: Comparisons of spring and fall football not valid
Don Nehlen, football coach Discussing the difference in injury rates between spring and fall football: "In the fall, you're getting ready to play a game. And it's pretty much just game-planning. "We don't teach kids how to tackle and how to block and all that stuff in the fall. That's what we do in the spring. "This is a very dangerous game to play. And if they don't know how to play it properly, then they have a greater chance of getting hurt worse in the fall.... "You have to teach them how to tackle, how to block and how to shed blockers. "And if you don't have spring practice, how are you going to know who your (best) players are? The game is so complicated that it takes a long time to get kids to know what to do."
Turning pro early
Rick Pitino, basketball coach "If a Wall Street firm comes to a sophomore in college and offers him or her $2- to $3 million a year to go to work, what's that student going to do? Go, of course. "NCAA schools don't own the players any more than the schools own their business majors."
Gender equity
Editorial "Most colleges are grudgingly granting women students more of the athletics opportunities that men enjoy. More sports. More scholarships. Most important, more respect. "The movement began 25 years ago with the passage of Title IX. "This federal law requires colleges to offer substantially equal athletics opportunities to male and female students. A recent federal Supreme Court ruling offered important support to the goals of Title IX. The high court, by refusing to accept an appeal, upheld the notion that spending on women's athletics must match the proportion of female students. Technically, the ruling applies only in some New England states. "In general, women's collegiate sports needed this Supreme Court boost. Women form the majority of full-time undergraduates at major colleges and universities. Yet an extensive survey by the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, found that neither the participation nor spending in women's sports matches women's enrollment rates. That doesn't necessarily mean fewer women are interested in athletics. "Those figures may simply be the result of less recruiting of and fewer scholarships for women. "There are many reasons to support Title IX's goals. "Participation in high-school sports boosts adolescent girls' grades and self-esteem. Women athletes in college typically have higher graduation rates than their male counterparts. Thanks partly to Title IX, women have more post-college professional sports opportunities in the U.S., including new pro basketball leagues. "The Supreme Court decision doesn't require dollar-for-dollar compensation for years when only men's athletics received significant budgets. It just gives future women athletes more chances to play."
Kenneth A. Shaw, chancellor "Should we provide more opportunity for female students now and in the future? The answer to that is 'yes.' "The next question: Is there somebody out there who is going to provide the money for expansion? The answer to that was, that somebody was the athletics department. It is a self-sustaining enterprise. We were not going to raise tuition to pay for this. We were not going to take it out of the library or out of the salaries. "Then we asked whether we should cut everybody a little bit. We said 'no.' If we do that, then everybody is watered down. And it is not fair to a student-athlete not to be able to compete on a national level. "Do you cut your big spenders (football and men's basketball)? Well, they provide all the money for our program. If you do that, you are not going to have a winning tradition, and you are not going to raise the revenue you need."
Nancy Leiberman-Cline, broadcaster "While colleges have created more opportunities for women, they continue to shortchange them when it comes to equipment, meals, lodging and transportation. "And while it's up to the NCAA to monitor gender equity, the responsibility for implementing these overdue changes falls directly on the universities. "Brown University argued that funding should be based on the percentage of women interested in playing sports, but that figure is artificially low. Any successful company knows it's not only about creating a good product, but also it's about promoting and marketing, getting the word out to consumers. And women's college sports have suffered in that respect. "Look at last year's U.S. Olympic basketball team. With its $3 million budget, its world tour and its collection of corporate sponsors, this was a true women's 'Dream Team' -- and the stars became household names. This season in the fledgling Women's NBA, Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes and Rebecca Lobo each will receive close to $1 million in salary and endorsements. Think they would make that kind of money without their Olympic team exposure? "Women college athletes also deserve to be taken seriously. We've proved we can play, draw large crowds and attract high TV ratings. "We've proved we can do all that without taking away opportunities from men's college athletics, which have been growing at an even faster clip than women's. "And most of all, we've proved we can compete."
Division III
Alvin J. Van Wie, educational consultant "Isn't it time to bury the issue of subdividing Division III and move on to other important issues that affect the welfare of the Division III student-athlete? This is an issue that has been on the table since the beginning of Division III. But if there is one thing the long and protracted discussion/debate over the past four years has shown, it is that there is no easy way to divide the Division III membership that will satisfy the majority of the membership. If history is any guide, rest assured this issue will reappear sometime down the road. For the present, it is time to move on as there are other important issues that deserve the attention of the membership."
|
This past month has been filled with a number of coincidental and significant events.