| Minority Report (May 2003) |
By Janet Rayfield
As I sit here at my computer, a mound of paper stares back at me from the left corner of my desk. This mound is made up of articles, letters and e-mails I’ve collected during the past few months. The sources vary: USA Today, The NCAA News, the Women’s Sports Foundation’s newsletter, The Miami Herald, The Dallas Morning News, lawyers, colleagues and friends. As I add to the stack with each article read, my concern for the topic debated there grows. The size of this collection tells me it is time to make my concerns heard on the topic: Title IX. Here’s my own addition to the stack.
Those of you who are involved with boys’ and men’s teams may think that this issue does not concern you. Perhaps you have little desire to hear about keeping a law that some perceive is detrimental to the men’s game. I beg to differ. I truly believe that if Title IX is allowed to finish the job it has started, we all will benefit.
I am a Title IX product – pure and simple. Who I am and what I have become are the result of the athletic opportunities I have been privileged to experience. As a 12-year-old in 1973, I began playing soccer in a new program offered to girls at the local YMCA. It’s not a coincidence that Title IX first became a law in 1972. Without Title IX, it is quite likely that I would never have been introduced to the sport that has become my passion and my profession.
In June of last year, Secretary of Education Roderick Page created the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics to evaluate current standards and practices with respect to Title IX. At the conclusion of the commission’s review, a report was filed that was missing the signatures of two of the most prominent committee members, both staunch supporters of our sport: Julie Foudy and Donna de Varona. These two women believed the report did not adequately cover issues they believed were critical to the commission’s findings. Their concern was so strong that they subsequently filed a Minority Report to express these views.
The report addresses three major areas of concern:
- Findings not included in the Commission’s report that illustrate the continued discrimination women and girls face in obtaining equal opportunity in athletics,
- Supporting evidence that many of the Commission’s key recommendation’s would weaken Title IX and result in substantial reductions in opportunities for women, and that only one proposal addresses the budgetary issues that ultimately are the reason for the discontinuation of both men’s and women’s teams; and
- Problems with the commission’s process itself that contributed to problems in the information in the commission’s report.
The complete Minority Report is available on the Women’s Sport Foundation website at www.womenssportfoundation.org. Whether your interests lie in men’s or women’s soccer, it is worth reading.
Without reproducing that report, I would like to point out several misconceptions that repeatedly are brought forth mostly in an effort to link Title IX to the loss of men’s programs in recent years.
Misconception: To satisfy Title IX, the ratio of female-to-male athletes at an institution must be the same as the ratio of female-to-male student enrollment.
Fact: Proportionality (as described above) is only one of three possible tests that the Office of Civil Rights uses to determine compliance. In fact, between 1994 and 1998 only 21 of 74 schools reviewed by the OCR used proportionality to prove compliance.
Misconception: Advances in opportunities for girls and women have resulted in a reduction of opportunities for men.
Fact: From the GAO Report – Four Year Colleges’ Experience Adding and Discontinuing Teams, 2001:
- Men’s intercollegiate participation rose from 220,000 in 1981-82 to 232,000 in 1998-99, with 1,932 of these additional opportunities coming in men’s soccer.
- The explosion in women’s sports did see a net of 3,784 new women’s intercollegiate athletic teams, but there were also net gains of 36 new men’s programs. It is of special interest to us that 120 men’s soccer teams were added during that time.
In the period between 1984 and 1988, when a Supreme Court decision suspended application of Title IX to intercollegiate athletic programs, colleges and universities cut wrestling teams at a rate almost three times as high as the rate of decline in the 12 years following.
One of the more significant findings stated in the Minority Report is this: “To the extent that schools have discontinued men’s – and women’s – athletic teams since Title IX was passed, there are many reasons for the decisions. Most notably, budgetary decisions, the athletics ‘arms race,’ excessive expenditures and philosophical decisions related to the appropriate quality and size of athletic programs have resulted in the loss of opportunities for other sports.” The report goes on to state: “It is clear from testimony that t his ‘arms race’ has been the catalyst for the discontinuation of many teams.”
As a soccer coach, irrespective of gender, that finding is of great concern. Soccer is a not a sport participating in the “arms race.” As football budgets grow to keep up with the “race,” all other sports – both men’s and women’s – will lose. If Title IX can be a catalyst in halting this process, it must not be weakened or changed.
From my perspective, its reach goes far deeper than budgets and numbers. As a former female athlete, a current female coach and a current coach of women, I often am asked about the differences between coaching men and women. I weigh my answer carefully. Many strong feminists would hope that my answer would be “Differences are about the individual, not the gender – coach the athlete as an athlete, regardless of gender.” If I were dealing with individuals, maybe I could answer that way. Given the challenge of a team sport, we must determine, utilize, and operate within the tendencies of the group to maximize our effectiveness.
Today, with respect to males and females, there are differences. I am willing to admit that, even to admit that there always may be differences, since we are genetically different creatures. However, society also plays a major role in the early development of many psychological differences that currently exist.
I wonder… Will the variances be present when fathers throw balls to their daughters in the crib as they now do with their sons? Will they be there when young girls see female professional athletes making salaries comparable to their male counterparts? Will the differences fade when people don’t assume that a female coach coaches female athletes?
If and when those differences fade, will that be the rock that shatters the glass ceiling in today’s business world? It is a long-standing scientific question regarding gender differences: Are the differences due to nature or nurture? I only hope that we let Title IX help give us the chance to find out the answer.
Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation may have eliminated slavery, but it did not end racism. Some facilities chose to close rather than come into compliance with desegregation laws, but we did not repeal those laws. Changing the views of society, changing a culture, takes time.
Title IX has successfully opened many doors and it continues to raise awareness and put a spotlight on institutional budgetary decisions and the college athletic “arms race.” All of us will suffer – soccer will suffer – if we allow the Department of Education to close the door and turn out the light. Title IX still has a lot of work to do. |
|
| The Technical Area, NSCAA eNewsletter |
 |
|
|
 |
| Soccer Journal - Published seven times a year in print and once annually online, Soccer Journal is the Official Publication of NSCAA and is one of the few publications in the world produced exclusively for soccer coaches. learn more |
| Insurance - Members in the United States automatically receive $1 million in professional liability insurance, providing coverage for most soccer-related activities. learn more |
| Academy Programs - The benchmark of soccer coaching education is the NSCAA Coaching Academy program. learn more |
| Convention - The NSCAA Convention is "The World's Largest Annual Gathering of Soccer Coaches." Held each January learn more |
| Awards and Recognition - The NSCAA administers an outstanding awards and recognition program which includes Coach of the Year, All-America, long-term service and special recognition awards, designed to recognize excellence in soccer, academics and service to the game. learn more |
| Licensed Apparel - A full line of distinctive coaching gear sets you apart as a member of the NSCAA through our licensed apparel program with adidas. learn more |
| For more details, please proceed to the Benefits of NSCAA Membership Page |
|
|
