Gender Equity in Sports

Gender Equity in Sports

Gender equity in sports describes an environment in which fair and equitable distribution of overall athletic opportunities, benefits, and resources is available to women and men and in which student athletes, coaches, and athletics administrators are not subject to gender-based discrimination. Title IX, passed in 1972 at the pinnacle of the women's rights movement, banned sex discrimination in any federally financed education program. It threw into quick relief the imbalanced treatment of male and female athletes on college campuses. Ever since Congress passed the federal gender-equity law, universities have opened their gyms and athletic fields to millions of women who previously did not have chances to play. But as women have surged into a...