Authors:Courtney Flowers, Jasmine Hamilton, Joyce Olushola Ogunrinde Pages: 6 - 24 Abstract: The purpose of this study was to reveal Title IX fueled obstacles which prevent Black women from achieving equity in college sports. The researchers sought to provide a critical analysis of the synchronous burden of race and gender discrimination experienced by Black women in college sports. The study found this form of discrimination is unique to Black women as they experience sex discrimination similar to white women and race discrimination similar to Black men, but neither white women or Black men experience simultaneous forms of race and gender discrimination as Black women do (Crenshaw 1988; Mathewson; 1996). Title IX is a single-axis equity law which uses sex to factor discrimination, yet as Black women experience both race and gender discrimination synchronously this law does not protect Black women from discrimination in the way they experience it. Yet, examining the effectiveness of Title IX to prevent race and sex discrimination is problematic because even with the law, schools have not achieved gender equity in college sports since its enactment in 1972 (Butler & Lopiano, 2003; Cooper & Newton, 2021;Kaplan, Hecker, & Fink, 2021; NWLC, 2022; Staurowsky, 2011; 2020; 2022). Another challenge is the NCAA Emerging Sports Program for Women uses a single axis lens to increase athletic opportunities for women. Therefore Black women are barred from benefiting from the increased access and athletic opportunities produced through the Emerging Sports program as it uses sex as a solo determinant to increase athletic opportunities. It is worth noting the extreme lack of research on Black women in sports has rendered Black women college athletes invisible in data on women’s sports (Butler & Lopiano, 2003; Carter-Francique & Flowers, 2013; Cooper & Newton, 2021; McDowell & Carter-Francique, 2017; Pickett et al, 2012; Staurowsky et al., 2021; 2022). This adds to the complexity of examining forms of discrimination experienced by Black women in college sports. The study found racial clustering, the single-axis lens of Title IX, and NCAA gender equity programs collectively provide harm to Black women in college sports and uniquely attack their ability to achieve equity in college sports. PubDate: 2023-03-22 DOI: 10.17161/jis.v16i1.19509 Issue No:Vol. 16, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Stephanie Gerretsen, Tarlan Chahardovali, Scott Brooks Pages: 25 - 53 Abstract: The purpose of this article is to examine the career pathways of NCAA women basketball coaches after the passage of Title IX, with a special attention to the relationship between human capital (i.e., job related qualifications), race, and gender of coaches in the sample population. As such, we looked at job related qualifications of incoming and outgoing coaching hires from 1984-2020 at universities within the Power Five Conferences and HBCUs at the Division I level, considering nine different variables. These variables include a coach’s immediate previous position, number of years as an NCAA coach, years of overall coaching experience prior to hire, highest prior division coached, NCAA championship win as a coach, NCAA championship win as a player, highest level of play, highest division played as an athlete, and highest educational degree. Regarding the overall impact of Title IX on women head coaching opportunities, our data shows relatively consistent opportunities for female coaches across the Power Five Conferences and Division I HBCU schools since 1984. Although the opportunities for women were consistent, they do not seem equitable at the Power Five level when considering a coach’s race as Black women were hired at a much smaller rate compared to their White counterparts. Our data also shows that despite more women being hired overall, on average, women have greater qualifications as NCAA women’s basketball coaches compared to male coaches. This finding shows that women need more human capital than men to obtain head coaching positions which marks the presence of gender discrimination in the NCAA coaching labor market. PubDate: 2023-03-22 Issue No:Vol. 16, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Erika Guenther, Elizabeth Sorensen, Lance Champagne Pages: 54 - 73 Abstract: Female intercollegiate student athletes continue to lack knowledge of their pregnancy rights. Uninformed athletes may react to pregnancy by concealing it or worse, risking their health and the health of their fetus. This study aimed to determine baseline knowledge in a contemporary sample of female athletes and to determine the extent that pregnancy rights information affected intent to seek help for pregnancy. A convenience sample of 146 female student athletes from nine teams at one NCAA Division I university (mean age 20.2 years) responded to an anonymous, online, author-designed survey. Halfway through the survey, pregnancy rights information (the intervention) was provided. Prior to the intervention most participants were unaware of pregnancy rights. If they experienced pregnancy and particularly if they decided to remain pregnant to the completion of their pregnancy, participants expected to be cut from the team, lose financial aid, and be unable to return to the team. Following the intervention, participants were significantly less likely to expect negative consequences and significantly more likely to seek help from athletic staff. Those who were aware of federal pregnancy rights were significantly unlikely to be aware of NCAA protections. A question yet unanswered is who is or should be responsible for ensuring that federal and NCAA pregnancy protections are known to female student athletes who may experience pregnancy. Recommendations to the NCAA and its member schools include more vigorous, effective provision of complete, timely pregnancy rights information. PubDate: 2023-03-22 DOI: 10.17161/jis.v16i1.15816 Issue No:Vol. 16, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Erin Buzuvis Pages: 74 - 90 Abstract: This article presents the current state of college & universities’ compliance with Title IX’s requirements for gender equity in the distribution of athletic financial aid, also known as athletic scholarships. When examined narrowly as a matter of compliance with the regulation governing athletic financial aid, scholarship allocation appears to favor female athletes. However, such framing focus obscures the degree to which women are short-changed in athletic scholarship dollars by college and universities constraining their athletic opportunities in the first place. This article provides updated analysis and figures about the degree to which that is so, as well as historic social and legal context. It also examines enforcement practices that affect compliance. Last, it offers suggestions for regulatory adjustment to add clarity to the concept of compliance in this regard. PubDate: 2023-03-22 Issue No:Vol. 16, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Anne Marx, Joel Cormier, Roman Ciapalo Pages: 91 - 110 Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine changes to the budgets of women’s athletics, men’s basketball, and football when an NCAA Division I intercollegiate men’s team was eliminated. Stakeholder theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. Central to the research was the relationship between the elimination of men’s teams and Title IX. Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 is the landmark legislation passed to provide equal educational opportunities for women, including athletics. Eighty-five institutions were included in the study. Data were obtained from the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) for the four years before and after the elimination of a men’s sport between 2007 and 2014, resulting in 15 years of budgetary data. Comparisons of budgets were conducted between the four years prior to when a men’s sport had been cut and the four years after the sport had been eliminated. Analyses indicated that when a men’s sport program had been eliminated, the budget resources of the eliminated program were reallocated primarily to the budgets of men’s basketball and football rather than to the women’s athletics budget. The argument of athletic administrators that decisions to cut programs were based on the need to comply with Title IX was not supported by the data and belied the prevailing view that men’s sports were cut to fund women’s sports in order to comply with Title IX. PubDate: 2023-03-22 Issue No:Vol. 16, No. 1 (2023)
Authors:Ellen Staurowsky Pages: 111 - 134 Abstract: In 1994, the United States Congress enacted The Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA). The EADA requires colleges and universities receiving federal financial assistance to provide an annual public report on the number of athletic participation opportunities provided to men and women athletes at the varsity level and the allocation of resources and personnel made in support of those opportunities. The passage of the EADA occurred on the heels of the 20th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act, a time marked by the realization that the vast majority of schools around the country were not in compliance with Title IX’s requirements as applied to athletic departments two decades after its passage (NCAA Staff, 1993). The purpose of the EADA when initially proposed in 1993 was to provide accessible information to stakeholders, most specifically prospective students, the public, and the U.S. Congress, that would allow interested parties to raise questions regarding the fair and equitable treatment of women athletes in the nation’s intercollegiate athletic programs. The annual report, colloquially referred to as the EADA report, is officially called The Report on Athletic Program Participation Rates and Financial Support Data. Three decades after the passage of the EADA and five decades after the passage of Title IX, there is reason to question whether the EADA has served its purpose. During Title IX’s 50th anniversary year, researchers and journalists uniformly reported a systemic failure to comply with Title IX in the area of athletics (Staurowsky et al., 2022; USA Today Staff, 2022; Wilson, 2022). Over the years, some have argued that the EADA should be eliminated (Keen, 2007), others have documented how valuable the information from the EADA is to researchers, journalists, and litigators (Tatos, 2019); others have recommended changes that would strengthen the data collection required under the EADA (Staurowsky et al, 2022); and others have argued that something akin to an EADA requirement needs to be adopted nationwide to help address sweeping gender inequities in athletics at the high school level (Green, 2008). This essay begins with an overview of the current state of Title IX compliance and gender equity in college sport, revisits the history of the EADA, provides an overview of what the EADA covers and who uses it, explores the criticisms and limitations of the EADA, and concludes with recommendations for making the EADA a more effective tool. PubDate: 2023-03-22 DOI: 10.17161/jis.v16i1.18992 Issue No:Vol. 16, No. 1 (2023)
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