Women and Title IX in the Athletic Profession

Title IX was passed on June 23,1972 and was intended to end sexual discrimination in the educational field. However, after Title IX,  you would think women would have an increased presence in athletic administrations. Obviously it’s no secret that there is a huge gender gap in the world of athletics when it comes to women being involved in athletic administration. Whether that’s being a school’s athletic administrator, agent, coach or a journalist, women are still underrepresented.You would think that after the passing of Title IX which was 45 years ago, that it would bring more women into this field.But just how equal has the field become? In this blog, I will discuss how things really haven’t changed for the better since the passing of Title IX.

To get a good look at gender inequality within athletic administration, it is very important that we look at where things currently stand.. Even though female participation in athletics has increased since Title IX, there is still a male dominance in the field According to Ohio University, “As of 2011, between 30% and 40% of undergraduate students in sport management programs are female.”1 If this is the case then why are the number of women in athletic administration so low? If more than half of the American population is female, and the number of women that are into sports are proportional as well, then why is the percentage of women in sports careers so much lower?

These numbers show that the low numbers of women in this field can not be directly tied to why women are underrepresented in athletics than men. If that was the case then women wouldn't be getting degrees or even interested in the profession. I believe in order to answer some of these questions, we must first realize that women aren’t given the same opportunities as men to hold high-paying positions, and are often paid less than men for the same job. According to the American Association of University Women, “women are paid just 78% of the salaries provided to their male counterparts doing the same job.”2. In order to change the status quo these problems need addressed by society and put into action.  

In closing, the issues with women being underrepresented after 45 years of Title IX being in our world, you would expect for things to be different. The world of athletic administration, and just the world period I believe needs to reach a better place where jobs will hire the most qualified candidate, regardless of their gender.. Hopefully as the years go on, we will see things change, until then all we can do is continue to work hard.

References

1February 18, 2016. Athletic Administration: No Longer a Boy’ Club. Ohio University. Retrieved from: http://onlinemasters.ohio.edu/athletic-administration-no-longer-a-boys-club/?g=infographics&t=maa

2 Miller, Kevin. 2017. The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap. American Association of University Women. Retrieved from:   http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/