Women's Sports Foundation Reports on Participation Trends in High School Athletics

The Women's Sports Foundation has published a new report called “Progress Without Equity: The Provision of High School Athletic Opportunity in the United States, by Gender 1993-94 through 2005-06.” Using data from the Civil Rights Data Collection and the National Center for Education Statistics, the report authors, Professor Don Sabo from D'Youville College and Phil Veliz from SUNY Buffalo, examine gender differences in athletic opportunity in a sample of 24,370 public high schools across three school years, 1993-94, 1999-2000, and 2005-06. The authors measured the number of athletic participation opportunities, the number of teams, and the number of sports in the sample school districts during these years, and then controlled for a variety of factors about those schools including geographic region, level of resources, and whether urban, suburban or rural. As described in the report's abstract, its key findings include:

• While high schools gradually increased their allocations of athletic participation opportunities between 1993-94 and 2005-06, progress toward closing the gender gap slowed after 2000.

• Boys received a larger proportion of athletic participation opportunities than girls did for each school year in all communities (i.e., urban, suburban, town, and rural). The lowest percentages of athletic participation opportunities occurred in urban schools, whereas the highest percentages were issued in rural schools.

• Schools with greater economic resources provided more athletic participation opportunities for their students—both girls and boys—than their less fiscally sound counterparts.

• Girls were provided proportionately fewer athletic participation opportunities than boys during each school year and in all geographic regions (i.e., Northeast, Midwest, South and West.

To me, this report provides an answer to those who would curtail Title IX's enforcement at the high school level. By proving that girls' opportunities are still lagging and progress towards equality waning, this report should encourage regulators and lawmakers to strengthen Title IX's application to high school athletics such as by taking seriously those seeking OCR enforcement against continued disparities, and by passing legislation that would standardize participation data and make it available and easier to find for those seeking to file a complaint or a lawsuit.

Congratulations!

Go to Nancy Hogshead-Makar who was named Senior Director for Advocacy for the Women's Sports Foundation. Professor Hogshead-Makar is a former WSF president and currently one of the busiest Title IX/gender equity advocates we know!
We are very happy to have her filling this very important role within the organization and we wish her luck!

New CEO for WSF

The Women's Sports Foundation has named Kathryn Olson its new CEO.
Olson is a former exec at Shutterfly and Leapfrog Enterprises. She lives in San Francisco and will be opening an office there though WSF headquarters remain in NY.
Olson was already a member of the WSF Board of Trustees serving as the Vice-President of Governance.

We're sorry to see you go

It is with great amount of sadness that we report, to those who do not yet know, that the Women's Sports Foundation has decided to eliminate the It Takes a Team initiative to eliminate homophobia in sports. Run by Dr. Pat Griffin for the past five years, WSF cited budget woes as the reason behind the decision which will result in the end of the program at the end of January.
We at the Title IX Blog have been very grateful for the opportunity to see Dr. Griffin and the efforts of It Takes a Team in action. Its demise is a huge loss and certainly leaves a gap in the education of athletes and those involved in athletics around issues of sexuality and gender identity.
Dr. Griffin has posted about the cut on her blog--which she will keep writing. She does plan on continuing her work in some form. And we offer her any support we can in whatever her future plans are.

V is for Victory. So is IX.

That's the great title of a new initiative by the Women's Sports Foundation to encourage girls and parents to think about what kinds of opportunities are afforded to male and female athletes at their schools.



The page also features a couple of videos which are short, funny (but probably too close to the painful truth at some schools) and to the point:



For parents:





V is for Victory. So is IX. from Womens Sports on Vimeo.



And for students:





I hope this initiative gets out to more parents and students with questions and concerns about their local athletic programs.

Women's Sports Foundation Studies Gender Gap in Youth Sports

The Women's Sports Foundation released a new report today about youth sports, examining participation rates and trends across class, race, and geographic regions. Nationally, boys participate in youth sports at higher rates than girls. However, this gap is widest in urban, immigrant, and nonwhite communities. Though Title IX does not directly govern youth sports opportunities outside the context of schools, the statute's affect on culture has created a wide range of opportunities for girls. But, the report's lead author, Professor Don Sabo told the New York Times, "Title IX has left a favorable footprint on the soil of suburban communities...[but] it has yet to produce any semblance of equity within urban communities throughout the United States.”

The report also documents the benefits of youth sports participation on children’s general health and body esteem, healthy weight, popularity, quality of life and educational achievement. It also finds a positive correlation between children's participation in youth sports and strong families because it encourages intrafamily communication and time spent together.

In light of the social significance and benefits of youth sport participation, the WSF argues that policymakers should address the gender gap, especially in urban and minority communities. Schools, community organizations, churches and other nonprofits should be encouraged and supported in their efforts to provide more "girl-centered sports and exercise programs that emphasize 'fun and friendships'" that are likely to attract girls of elementary school age. It is also important to lower the barriers to entry to middle school sports, as the increasingly competitive nature of sports deters girls who have not played before.

"The Title IX Blame Game Should End"

...said Marj Snyder of the Women's Sports Foundation to the Wall Street Journal in an article about the Foundation's new study on college sport participation.

Consistent with prior studies (e.g.), the WSF report concludes that both men's and women's participation has increased in the last 25 years, which itself should neutralize criticism that Title IX hurts men. It is true that the number of teams in certain men's sports have declined and that many schools today offer fewer teams for men than for women, but since men's teams (e.g., football) offer more opportunities, no net loss in participation opportunities has occurred. The report also points out that the only years when men's athletic participation declined was in 1984-87, a period when Title IX did not apply at all to college athletics, due to a Supreme Court decision that was later negated by Congress.

The report also demonstrates that universities have more often responded to Title IX by adding women's teams than by cutting men's teams. Schools that weren't in compliance in 1995-96, for example, were less likely to reduce men's opportunities and more likely to add women's opportunities than those who were. The report also presents financial data showing that rapidly increasing athletic department expenditures, which may cause the financial straits that cause schools to make cuts, are concentrated at Division I instituitons in football and men's basketball rather than women's sports.

Last the report considers a number of factors that may have influenced the realignment of sports offerings. For instance, increased participation in men's and women's lacrosse may be due to the perception of universities that lacrosse players possess traits that universities value, such as stronger academic preparation and families with higher income levels. The higher injury rate associated with gymnastics, coupled with the rising cost of health care, helps explain the declining number of teams in that sport, while the decline in tennis teams correlates to prevalence of international players, which might make the sport less appealing to schools, especially state schools, that need to serve a local market.

The report is being criticized by the College Sport Council, an advocacy group for men's sports, which argues that the WSF report relies on unverifiable data from the NCAA. However, according to the report, even using data collected by the Department of Education under the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, men's opportunities have still increased 5.1% in the last 25 years (compared to the 6.3% increase you get using NCAA's data).

New CEO for WSF

The Women's Sports Foundation has named a new CEO. Karen Durkin who has been with the NHL most recently and the LPGA prior to that will take over the position from Donna Lopiano who resigned last summer.

Checking in with Billie Jean

Cokie Roberts has an interview with Billie Jean King in this weekend's USA Weekend magazine. They talk about the state of women's sports, Hillary Clinton, history and the future. Remember, the Sports Museum of America opens next month in Manhattan. One wing is dedicated to housing the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center.

In somewhat related news: softball player Jessica Mendoza has been elected the new president of the Women's Sports Foundation and will take office in 2009--after her participation in the 2008 Summer Games.

Gender Gap in High School Athletics, By State

The Women's Sports Foundation recently published* 2006-07 data showing for each state the percentage of high school athletic opportunities offered to girls. WSF then ranked each state by the difference between the percentage of athletic opportunity for girls and the percentage of female students overall.

By this measure, the number one state for female high school athletes is ... New Hampshire! New Hampshire girls receive 47.1% of high school athletic opportunities and make up 49% of the student population, giving it the highest score of any state, -1.9. Pennsylvania was a close second place, with a score of -2. Maine, Vermont, and Minnesota rounded out the top five (all > -3).

Alabama, whose high schools only offer 32.3% of athletic opportunities to girls, has the worst score of any state, -17. Louisiana, D.C., Tennessee, and South Carolina round out the bottom of the list, with scores ranging from -15.9 to -12.5.

*a temporary "homemade" link is provided here, which I will replace with an official, permanent WSF link once the data summary is posted on its website.