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Laurie Priest, "Run, Atalanta, Run: You Do Not Run Alone"
(page 3 of 3)
On the coaching salary front, the data are also bleak. There
continues to be a significant gap between men's and women's coaching
salaries in Division I-A. Trends show that, in Division I, salaries for
men's sports continue to rise more rapidly than for women's sports.
Division I-A men's team coaches receive an average salary of $132,100,
as compared to $43,000 for women's teams head coaches.[10]
With 80 percent of colleges and universities not in compliance with
Title IX, it is ironic that our current administration is opposed to
this landmark civil rights law. In 2002-03, the Secretary's Commission
on Opportunity in Athletics tried to weaken Title IX but pulled back at
the last hour due to public outcry. So, in March of 2005, the Department
of Education, without any public comment, made it easier for colleges
and universities to comply with Title IX. Schools are now permitted to
use a survey to determine students' sports interest without looking at
other factors such as coaches' and administrators' opinions and high
school or recreational programs that could support such teams. There is
no doubt that the Bush administration will continue to underhandedly
weaken Title IX and limit women's opportunities in athletics.[11]
We must never give up. "Run, Atalanta, run." The battle for justice
and equity is not easily won, but we are counting on you to go the
distance. And do not ever forget, you do not run alone.
Endnotes
1. Mount Holyoke College, Book of Duties
(South Hadley, MA: Mount Holyoke College, 1939). [Return to text]
2. National Federation of State High School
Associations, Participation Statistics, 2003-04; National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Sport Sponsorship
Information, 2003-04. [Return to text]
3. NCAA, Sport Sponsorship Information,
2003-04. [Return to text]
4. On December 11, 1979, the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare published a final set of Title IX policy
interpretations which included the three-part test(also known as the
three-prong test) for measuring compliance with the requirement to
effectively accomodate the interests and abilities of the
underrepresented sex. To be in compliance, a school only needs to meet
one of the three tests:
- Participation opportunities for male and female students are
provided in equal numbers substantially proportionate to their
respective enrollments.
- The school can show a history and continuing practice of program
expansion that is demonstrably responsive to the developing interest and
abilities of the members of that sex.
- The school can demonstrate that the present program fully and
effectively accommodates the interests and abilities of the members of
that sex.
[Return to text]
5. National Coalition for Women and Girls in
Education, Title IX Athletics Policies: Issues and Data for Education
Decision Makers, August 2002. [Return to text]
6. Ibid. [Return to text]
7. NCAA, 2002-03 Gender Equity Report
(Overland Park, KS: NCAA Publishing, 2005). [Return to text]
8. D.L. Fulks, Revenues and Expenses of
Division I and Division II Intercollegiate Athletic Programs - Financial
Trends and Relationships 1999 (Indianapolis, IN: NCAA Publishing
2000). [Return to text]
9. Ibid. [Return to text]
10. NCAA, 2002-03 Gender Equity
Report. [Return to text]
11. Nancy Hogshead-Makar and Donna Lopiano, "Foul Play:
Department of Education Creates Huge Title IX Compliance Loophole: Women's Sports
Foundation Position Paper" Scholar and Feminist Online 4, no. 3 (Summer
2006). [Return to text]
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