Title IX is succeeding, but there's still work to do

	RELATED • REACT: What are your thoughts on Title IX? • DEFORD: Title IX needs to be reevaluated • Common sense should be used in Title IX • Title IX's Most Influential People

By Donna Lopiano, Special to SI.com

As we celebrate the 35th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation that bans sex discrimination in schools, many people ask me what greatest challenges facing gender equity in college sports are? What, if any changes, should be made to Title IX to improve it? First, let me start off saying the impact of this omnibus education law has been nothing short of stunning with regard to increasing opportunities for girls and women to participate in high school (904 percent) and college (456 percent) varsity sports. However, there is still much work to be done.

Earlier this month, the Women's Sports Foundation released a research report on collegiate sports participation, using the most comprehensive set of data on the numbers of women and men playing college sports. It validated the post-Title IX growth in women's college athletic participation and disproved claims that men's opportunities have suffered as a result. Opponents of Title IX have tried to mislead the public into believing the loss of men's wrestling and a few other sports at some schools is a sign of massive loss of men's participation opportunities overall. Exactly the opposite is true -- men's sports participation continues to grow. This misinformation campaign takes the focus away from the fact that: 1. Women continue to be significantly underrepresented among high school and college athletes; 2. The gap between men's and women's sports participation and support is not closing; and, 3. It is the wealthiest athletic programs in NCAA Division I-A who are dropping men's minor sports because they are shifting these monies to compete in the football and men's basketball arms races.

So, what is standing in the way of gender equity in college sports? I believe there are three key challenges:

1. The number of women participating in high school and college sports is never going to "catch up" to its male counterparts until athletics administrators are willing to temporarily freeze the budgetary and participation growth of men's sports. For every new opportunity created for women at the high school or college level, it is matched by one or more new opportunities for men.

2. In Division I, no fiscal controls are in place to stop the shifting of financial resources away from Title IX compliance and men's minor sports. NCAA research shows that for every new $3 going into college athletic programs over the last five years, $2 are going to men's sports and only $1 to women's sports. The $1 to women's sports is not closing the significant expenditure gap, and the majority of the new money allocated to men's sports is pumping up the already bloated budgets of men's football and basketball. The problem is college presidents are not putting a stop to the embarrassing waste of money in football and men's basketball programs.

3. The current federal administration, specifically the Department of Education (DOE), is still trying to weaken Title IX by creating executive agency interpretations under the guide of issuing "clarifications" that are creating loopholes for schools and colleges seeking to evade their gender equity obligations. Americans have a right to expect our government to enforce civil rights laws such as Title IX. Schools are not going to change their ways until the DOE threatens to remove federal funding, which has never happened. This administration is deaf to the fact that more than eight in 10 voters (82 percent) support Title IX with agreement across all political parties and among voters with and without children. The American public believes sports participation is as important for our daughters as it is for our sons.

This is not a "zero-sum" game -- men do not lose when women are treated equally. This is about adult leaders making sure our children, boys and girls, share the sandbox. We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic. Our children have never been as unhealthy. We must construct a physical activity system in which every child has a sport and there is a sport for every child. Their lives depend on it and it is up to all of us to make sure this happens.

Dr. Donna A. Lopiano is the CEO of the Women's Sports Foundation. For more information on the effects of Title IX or the importance of sports participation for all children, visit the Women's Sports Foundation Web site.Founded in 1974 by Billie Jean King, the Women's Sports Foundation is a national charitable educational organization seeking to advance the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity.