After nearly two decades of misunderstanding and even misuse of one of the NCAA's most widely used terms -- senior woman administrator -- all three divisions are taking steps to sharpen the definition of those words.

With votes August 4 by the Divisions II and III Presidents Councils -- and with similar action anticipated this fall by the Division I Board of Directors -- all three divisions are adopting a common bylaw that more clearly defines "SWA" as a role that is assigned to women working in intercollegiate athletics, rather than a job for which women are hired.

The new bylaw simply reads: "An institutional senior woman administrator is the highest-ranking female involved with the management of a member institution's intercollegiate athletics program."

Thanks to the difficulty of distinguishing a role from a job, just agreeing on those words proved to be a challenge -- especially given a widespread desire within the Association to encourage inclusion of women in meaningful athletics management positions.

However, rewording the bylaw also probably will prove be the easiest part of solving a long-standing problem. The hard part comes next, as the NCAA works to undo history and lead member institutions away from a widespread tendency to think of "SWA" as a specific job within athletics departments.

"While this was supposed to be a designation of an individual who was hired for another purpose -- to be an administrator in a program -- it has not been understood or interpreted that way," said NCAA General Counsel Elsa Cole, explaining how the tendency has developed into a legal issue for institutional athletics programs.

"From time to time, I've received calls from attorneys representing member colleges and universities asking about the SWA designation, and quite often, there has been confusion on their part, because they have perceived this designation as a job description, though it would be illegal to set aside a job only for a woman," Cole said. "The (previous) language of the bylaw itself, and some materials that were created -- for our Web site, or brochures -- only made the situation more confusing."

Cole asked an advisory board she regularly consults on legal issues to review NCAA legislation and an assortment of materials that have been created to promote the role of SWA, and it responded with concerns that language from those sources could be interpreted as a job -- rather than role -- description.

That advice set in motion not only a national office staff recommendation to the three divisions to modify legislation, but also plans for an education campaign to help correct misconceptions about the SWA designation.

"We've revised the language to make it consistent with the law in this area, while continuing to try to assist our members in identifying the kind of person who is most appropriately given the SWA designation," Cole said.

The education campaign is seen as crucial in efforts to lead institutions toward broadening roles for women in intercollegiate athletics administration.

"Our initial charge was to iron out the legal issues, but as we delved into it, we decided that in addition to the legal piece, we needed to get into the actual role of the SWA and try to find ways to help the membership clarify it in the future," said Delise O'Meally, NCAA director of governance and membership, who chaired the staff working group that proposed the bylaw revision and education campaign.

Added another member of the working group, Director of Division III Bridget Belgiovine, "The question is, how do you culturally encourage and infuse the value of women -- and the role that women play -- in leadership positions within the Association? And then balance that with the legal problem of, you just flat can't advertise for a woman administrator?"

Among other steps, the staff proposes identifying -- and publicizing --- model athletics programs in all three divisions where administrators clearly understand the purpose of the SWA designation and have assigned major responsibilities to women who have been assigned that role.

Many women involved in athletics administration agree that the ideal SWA role includes an advocacy component -- ensuring that women are represented in and have significant influence over decision-making in athletics departments.

"The SWA provides a female voice at the table, many times the only female voice, by providing a diverse, different view -- a different perspective," said Rosie Stallman, NCAA director of education outreach.

It is a voice that serves both a symbolic and practical purpose, some suggest.

"I feel fortunate in the institutions where I have worked that I didn't feel like I had to have the SWA designation to be taken seriously as an administrator," said Darlene Bailey, associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator at Southwest Missouri State University and chair of the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics. "But I think that situation does exist in some places. Unfortunately, if the SWA designation did not exist, there would be some programs that did not have any women at all in administration."

However, advocacy for women isn't enough, and limiting an SWA to that role risks reducing that individual's impact in administration of athletics programs.

"I think people in my department see me as an advocate for women, but they don't see my job as being an advocate for women," said Rosalie Resch, associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator at the University of Chicago. "I think that's an important differentiation, because otherwise it's possible that you lose credibility in dealing with other areas, or people will feel that you can't be objective if your primary job is advocating for women."

Ideally, Bailey said, the SWA designation is assigned to a woman who is integrally involved at a senior level in administering all aspects of an athletics program.

"It's important to involve the SWA in virtually every administrative decision that goes on in the department," she said. "Whether it has to do with men's or women's sports, ideally the SWA would be an administrator of all programs -- would be involved in the total administration of the department and involved in decision-making for all sports -- so that there's a better likelihood that all sports are treated better in those decisions."

Another administrator suggests that the NCAA's continuing promotion of the SWA designation is important in helping more women earn the opportunity for greater administrative involvement.

"Women have come far, but we still have to find structural ways to help women move through the glass ceiling and have experiences where they can become athletics directors, because we're still not there," said Val Cushman, director of athletics at Randolph-Macon Woman's College and a member of the Committee on Women's Athletics.

"That's why we have to get past the legal issues of the title versus the role. We can't let that get in the way of what we really want to do, which is ensure that women have (a way) to get educated and have practical experiences, so that they can move into leadership roles."

The best way to measure achievement of that goal might be elimination someday of the SWA designation.

"In an ideal world, I'd like to see us not even have the designation," Bailey said. "Everyone would be around the table, there would be a diverse representation of our population, and there wouldn't be a need to say you have this person.

"I'd like to see women at the very highest levels of administration, whether they be athletics directors or senior associate athletics directors, so that we wouldn't have to have the designation -- we'd have many senior women administrators, much like we have many men who've been around for a long time."