Unit Two: Title IX-- History and Heroes

10 Biggest Ideas:

1.     Women’s rights

2.     Title IX

3.     Women’s sport participation

4.     Gender inequalities in participation opportunities

5.     Strategies to promote gender equity

6.     Empowerment of women through sports

7.     Gender ideology

8.     Gender ideology in sports

9.     Femininity and masculinity in sports

10.  Challenges of sexuality in sports

·      * Sports participation by women have increased and women athletes have been able to overcome the discrimination of gender inequalities and gain personal empowerment. *

·      Scholarly Research Analysis Protocol

·      What structural features define this text as falling within the genre of scholarly/ academic writing? (Create a bulleted list.)

·      Analysis of in-depth Interviews with a university community

·      Multiple scholarly sources.

·      University press releases

·      Archival record

·      What is the argument statement of this text?  (Write one sentence.)

* The argument of this text is whether or not Title IX has had a negative or positive impact on sport for men and women.

·      Identify the jargon of this text. [Jargon is specialized terminology characteristic of a particular discipline or area of theory.]  (Use bullets.)

·      “Stick your nose to the grind stone” –page 120

What are five statements that the author uses to support the argument statement? Use only direct excerpts; frame them with quotation marks, and note the page number.

1)    “This is an exploratory qualitative case study of a campus community’s reaction to the university’s decision to drop several men’s athletic teams,”(116).

2)    “Opportunities gained—and/or lost emerged as the main theme of the study as all participants talked about Title IX in terms of opportunity; however, when looking across the study participants, Title IX meant both providing and creating opportunity as well as taking away or denying opportunity,”(119).

3)    “In sum, study participants consistently viewed Title IX as a policy that helps increase women’s participation in athletics. This was a central meaning of Title IX for all, whether they saw Title IX positively or not,”(119).

4)    “According to four of the participants, another meaning of Title IX was that it provided women with opportunities for development—opportunities that they believed male athletes had been receiving for years. Specifically, sport participation was believed to be a context for the development of leadership, teamwork, goal setting, and cooperation,”(120).

5)    “For some of the participants in this study, the skills learned in athletics are vital and should be experienced by everyone to fully develop as a person. These individuals believed Title IX means female athletes are provided with the opportunity to experience the development male athletes have had access to for years,”(120).

·      What values or views were represented in the message? (Write no more than three sentences.)

·      Values or views that were represented in the reading were what Title IX meant to the different individuals in a particular university, and the negative and positive effects it had on men and women. The research shows that Title IX not only meant the creation or provision of opportunities for women, but also men as well.

UNIT TWO:

STEP ONE:

“Benefits”

“Discrimination”

“Denial”

“Female participation increase”

“Fewer opportunities”

“Receive less financially”

These words and phrases are significant because they show the negative and positive affects of women athletics. The negative included the fewer opportunities girls have than boys have, to participate in sports. Women also still receive less in athletic financial assistance than men. Positive affects include the long way women in sports have come in the past forty years, and how female participation has grown.

STEP TWO:

1.     When she led a revolt- This was important because women had to deal with such challenges. There was pay disparity. Men who owned the tournaments, who rant he tournaments, started to drop the women’s events entirely. Women were giving about 12-1 ration of prize money too, which was totally unfair to Margaret and other women.

2.     The battle of sexes- match with Riggs; since Margaret lost, it meant King had to win. She played not just for herself, but for other women. Since Margaret lost, King noted that it “would be a good chance for some of the people to start jumping on the bandwagon to weaken Title IX, hurt our tour, to hurt women’s sports, the women’s movement..” She stated that, “for me to beat him meant absolutely nothing athletically. Nothing. But it’s what it represented.”

3.     Sexuality- Dealing with her sexuality in the 70s. She stated how it is much different today. She was not sure if she was bi-sexual, and it was such a confusing time.  Also, being outed in 1981, dispute over property and money. When her and Larry got divorced, it hurt her financially. This was also important because of the support her parents gave her. They told her to always tell the truth, have a peace of mind, and to always do the right thing no matter how popular it may be.

STEP THREE:

The article I chose: The Next Generation of Title IX: Athletics

The argument in this article was that Girls opportunities are still not at the same equal level that boys’ opportunities are at.

Supporting points:

“Thanks to Title IX, girls and women are playing sports at earlier ages and in much greater numbers than ever before, but they still face many hurdles on the road to equality.”

 “While more than half of the students at NCAA schools are women, they receive only 44% of the athletic participation opportunities.” – The playing field is still not level.

“In addition, at the typical FBS school, for every dollar spent on women’s sports, about two and a half dollars are spent on men’s sports.”

In this article, I learned more about how Title IX made an impact on people in the U.S. This impact included having girls and women playing sports at earlier ages, and in much greater numbers than ever before. Since Title IX was passed, girls participation in sports in elementary and secondary schools have skyrocketed. This article talks about why Title IX matters, and the impact it has had on women and girls. “By not providing girls and women with equal opportunities to play sports, schools are denying them the health, academic, and economic benefits that accompany participation”. Title IX has had great effects on the health of women. For example, obesity percentages have been lowered. Female athletes have higher levels of self-esteem, decrease in depression, and a more positive body image. Female athletes were less likely to use drugs or some too.

STEP FOUR:

I chose to answer the questions for when I was in high school, since I am really not familiar with RIC’S athletics. I am proud to say that my high school did offer a “level playing field. For each sport, there was a men’s and women’s team, although there was only one female on the wrestling and football team. There were no males on the cheerleading and dancing team. We never had any surveys about sports in high school, and it might have made a difference in what sports we have. Equipment, supplies, scheduling of games and practice times, locker rooms, recruitment, publicity, etc. were all equal.

STEP FIVE:

The survey results that surprise me the most are express themselves with originality and enthusiasm, and take risks, to strive freely, and to take pride in success.

These surprise me because sometimes in the world we live in, it can be tough to express yourself and be original with all the pressures from society on how you are supposed to be. Taking pride in success could be hard, because women have not had equal opportunities with men, and when you get success, it’s as if there must be a mistake. I believe women put extra pressure on themselves due to the males dominated and patriarchal world in which we live it.

STEP SIX:

1.     ARTICLE NAME: The 40^th Anniversary of Title IX: The 21^st Century Issue of College Coaches’ Salaries

·      The argument is, although there have been positive effects on women athletes since Title IX has been passed; women athletes and coaches are still being discriminated in such things as equity.

Supporting points:

·      “Title IX’s regulations provide that wages and compensation cannot be distinguished “. . . on the basis of gender, or result in such distinctions for equal work on jobs which require ‘equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions.”

·      “40 years after Title IX was enacted, the greatest change it can make in the 21st century is to create parity in compensation between men’s and women’s sports coaches.”

This article showed how Title IX made an impact on not only male and female athletes, but also their coaches. The article mentioned how other than revenue driving, public and media scrutiny, coaches of both men’s and women’s sports perform generally the same functions. Since they perform generally the same functions, they should be making the same amount of money, no matter what gender you are.

2.  ARTICLE NAME:  40 Years On, Title IX Still Shapes Female Athletes

·      The argument is, with the many benefits of Title IX, it also cause collateral damage as well.

Supporting points:

·      “Title IX, which turns 40 on Saturday, has helped reverse years of bias, banning sex discrimination in federally funded schools and colleges.”

·      “It was a time when sports was still a man's world, and it was difficult to even imagine the iconic moment of women's sports that would take place three decades later.”

·      “Nick Knowles, a former wrestler at Virginia's Liberty University, is one of many athletes in so-called minor men's sports who say they've been bumped so their school can comply with Title IX.”

This article showed how much of an impact Title IX made on lives of women. This article was written day before Title IX’s 40^th anniversary. Title IX has given a guarantee of equal access to sports, and has played a huge part in shaping lives. This article shows how Title IX gave women the confidence and empowerment in which they have deserved.

3.       ARTICLE NAME: 40 Years After Title IX, Men Still Get Better Sports Opportunities

·      The argument is, although Title IX have made a positive effect on women athletes, in some universities, men athletes are being treated like kings, and women’s athletics were barely existent.

Supporting points:

·      “Athletic directors and administrators often hide this sobering reality behind the fact that equivalent male and female teams (tennis, track and field, soccer, etc.) receive proportional funding, claiming that with football out of the equation men and women have equal athletic opportunities.”

·      “If the boys' ice hockey team has to be at the rink at 5:30 a.m. because the girls' team has the rink right after school, instead of saying that Title IX is to blame, we should say that it's to Title IX's credit that fair play is enforced.”

·      “We must continue to work every day to overcome the obstacles that still face women in sports, and to address issues of pay equity, equal access to health care for women, and family-friendly workplace policies.”

This article was my favorite out of the three. This article brings up the realities that women athletes and women as a whole are discriminated. The article states, “Title IX revolutionized women’s participation, but women in this nation still make 77 cents to every dollar men make.” This article brings up the struggles that women face every day, and shows how women are treated less equal than men.

STEP SEVEN:

Girls and young women are able to play sports and have the same hopes and dreams as boys and young men. Women are able to, “play professionally, become a hero, get their face on a cereal box, make lots of money”, and the list goes on. There are still inequalities today, but women in sports have come a long way, especially comparing to how it was fifty years ago. These eleven female sports pioneers that are described in this article, have overcome many obstacles due to one reason, their gender. Ann Meyers Drysdale became the first woman to receive a full athletic scholarship from UCLA. There were women who became the first woman winners in such things like the Breeder’s Cup in 2003, by Julie Krone. Horseracing is still an old boys club, so this win was an amazing accomplishment. Eri Yoshida was the first woman to play any kind of pro ball in North America since Ila Borders. Janet Guthrie was the fist woman to complete in the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, although did not win. Even though she did not win, she finished pretty highly, beating many men. Wilma Rudolph, Althea Gibson, and Toni Stone, were able to overcome being a woman in sports and also being black. At just sixteen years old, Rudolph won her fist Olympic medal. Billy Jean king changed women’s sports through determination, and crusaded for equal pay for women at the U.S. Open and got it. Women’s tennis would not be what it is today without King.

STEP EIGHT:

Growing up, I was always a tomboy. With older brothers, I never acted girly. I am six feet, long brown hair, and have strong arms for throwing. I always played football with my brothers, family, and even would play at my brothers practices with their all male team. I was always disappointed having to be on the sideline and watch my brothers play the game that I loved so dearly. I always thought to myself, “I could have caught that ball”, or “I would have blocked him if I was playing”. I never understood why I could not have that opportunity to play football with the guys. When I learned that my gender had something to do with this, I was dumbfounded. My gender? Just because I was born a girl and not a boy, I will be treated with less respect and be discriminated against in such things like sports.  My brothers felt that I would get hurt because the other guys were stronger, but I said I ran much faster and that they would never get the chance to even tackle me. I felt that my brothers were just coming up with random excuses for me not to play. Just because I am a girl, does not mean I cannot play football with boys. I wanted to prove them wrong. I decided to ask my brothers and their team to play flag football with me. This game is different than football but with some of the same ideas. There was no tackling involved, so the boys would have no excuse to not play against me. I got a few of my girlfriends to come play too, and we were confident and ready to play. We played three rounds of flag football. In the first round, the boy’s team won. They became obnoxious and bragging about being the champions already. This gave us girls more compulsion to beat the boys, and we did. Rounds two and three were tough, but we knew if we lost, the boys would keep on having this image of girls as weak. The following season, I tried out for the football team with my friend, and we both made it. Sports can be a mechanism to improve society because it can bring a community of people together. Sports can have men and women exceed, when they may have thought otherwise before. Sports bring people together with the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and the humanity of a shared experience. It can help overcome ignorance and discrimination from others, and sports make people healthier.

CHECK THIS LINK OUT! : http://www.pittsburghsportsreport.com/KidSports/KS200903/KS090301.html

Thoughts?