It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to respond to Professor Stimpson's paper entitled "The Atalanta Syndrome: Women, Sports, and Cultural Values." Professor Stimpson touched upon many of the struggles women have historically faced and continue to face. I will respond to Professor Stimpson from my personal experience as a feminist physical educator and athletic administrator. The main point I would like to make, and I am sure Professor Stimpson would agree, is that women have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.

Yes, the Atalanta syndrome exists for women in sport, but it is not as bad as it used to be. For many women today, physical activity is an accepted part of their lifestyle, and they include fitness, sports, and outdoor activities into their daily lives. Women engage in physical activity to relieve stress, ward off disease, and improve mental, emotional, and physical health.

One of the joys in my life is that every day I see women's lives enhanced through physical activity. We have long believed at Mount Holyoke College that physical education is an important part of the liberal arts curriculum. Even before it was in fashion for women to exercise we were encouraging and even expecting women to engage in daily physical activity. So highly did Mary Lyon, our founder, regard physical activity that she required all students to walk daily for exercise. Lyon's 1839 and 1840 catalogue stated that "young Ladies do not study during regular hours of recreation and exercise. Those who enjoy bodily idleness, enjoy sin."[1]

Even today, we continue to offer a broad physical education program that includes over 45 different fitness, sports, and dance activities. We are one of the few higher education institutions that require three semesters of physical education as part of the core curriculum. While approximately 18 percent of our students are involved in intercollegiate athletics, we still have our own "Atalantas" arriving on campus each year. Even today, many of the women who attend Mount Holyoke lack basic bodily awareness, coordination, and fitness. Often our international students come from cultures where they are not encouraged (or in some cases, even allowed) to engage in sports or physical activity. Some students have not had the financial means or parental support to pursue active lifestyles or youth sport experiences. For these students, physical education often begins as a challenge and ends as a liberating experience, not only for their bodies but for their minds as well. These young women start off as uncoordinated and lacking fitness at the beginning of the term and depart at the end of the semester stronger and armed with skills that will enable them to be active for a lifetime. Over 50 percent of our students take physical education courses above and beyond the requirement, which is a clear indication that women understand and want the benefits of healthy, active lifestyles.

The world of intercollegiate athletics clearly continues to illustrate the Atalanta Syndrome. As Professor Stimpson notes, Title IX made new athletic opportunities available to girls and women at all levels, but we are still far from reaching equity in high school and college sports. Since the passage of Title IX 33 years ago, female interscholastic athletic participation has increased by 875 percent, and female college athletic participation has increased by 437 percent. This is great news, but high school females still have 1.17 million (41 percent) fewer participation opportunities than their male counterparts, and college females have 54,557 (34 percent) fewer participation opportunities than their male counterparts.[2]

Besides the fact that girls have 1.17 million fewer participation opportunities at the high school level and 54,557 fewer participation opportunities at the collegiate level, the resources spent on sport for females have also never caught up to the resources allocated to males. Currently, 57 percent of our college and university populations are female, yet female athletes receive only 37 percent of our sports operating budgets, 33 percent of the dollars spent on recruiting, and 45 percent of athletic scholarship funding. This amounts to $133 million less than male athletes receive in scholarships each year. It is clear that the Atalanta syndrome is alive and well, as we continue to seriously shortchange our daughters.

I want to make it perfectly clear that women's sports have not gained at the expense of opportunities for men. From 1988-89 to 2003-04, 3,304 women's teams were added and 1,967 were dropped, for a net gain of 1,967 teams. During the same time period, NCAA schools added 2050 sports for men while dropping 1951, for a net gain of 99 new men's sports teams.[3] As noted by Professor Stimpson, many blame Title IX for the decline in men's sports such as wrestling, gymnastics, and other minor sports, and yet these data show that participation rates have increased annually for men.

Any claim that the decline in men's wrestling teams is due to Title IX is unfounded. From 1984 to 1988, Title IX's application to intercollegiate athletics was suspended due to the Supreme Court's decision in Grove City College v. Bell. This decision held that only those programs that directly receive federal funds - intercollegiate athletics do not - were covered by Title IX. In that four year period, when the three-part test[4] was not in effect, colleges and universities cut wrestling teams at a rate almost three times as high as the rate of decline during the 12 years after Title IX's application to intercollegiate athletic programs was firmly reestablished by the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987. Data on the interscholastic level support a declining interest in wrestling as well. High school wrestling participation peaked in 1976-77 at 355,160. By 1981-82, it declined to 245,029, and by 1989-99, to 235,973.[5]

In gymnastics, most athletic administrators would agree that the most likely reason for the elimination of teams is liability. The significant loss of women's gymnastic teams over the same period supports this contention. During the past 15 years, 100 women's gymnastics teams and 56 men's gymnastic teams have been discontinued at the college level.[6] Certainly, no one would consider blaming Title IX for the loss of so many women's teams.

In analyzing the data, it appears that the wealthiest schools, those capable of fielding large athletic programs, are choosing to allocate significant resources to a limited number of sport programs. It should be noted that in NCAA Division I-A, 74 percent of the total men's athletics operating budgets are spent on two programs, football and men's basketball.[7] Some may say, well, this is all right, because football supports all other programs. But this is one of the biggest myths in intercollegiate athletics. Revenue producing and profit generating are not equivalent terms. Many sports produce revenues, but few produce profits. Among NCAA programs in all competitive divisions, 78 percent of all football programs and 73 percent of all basketball programs spend more than they bring in and contribute nothing to other sports budgets. Even among Division I-A football programs, more than one third are running deficits in excess of $1 million per year.[8]

The sport of football has done nothing but thrive during the Title IX era. According to the General Accounting Office, football participation across all three NCAA divisions has increased by a total of 7,199 players, which more than offsets the combined losses of male participants in wrestling (2,648), tennis (1,405), and gymnastics (1,022). The average Division I-A football roster has grown to 117 as coaches continue to say they need more players to be successful.[9]

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:

1. Participation opportunities for male and female students are provided in equal numbers substantially proportionate to their respective enrollments.
2. 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.
3. The school can demonstrate that the present program fully and effectively accommodates the interests and abilities of the members of that sex.

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]