Title IX and Gender Equity in Athletics: No More Excuses

by Neena Chaudhry, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

The Washington Post’s story yesterday about the disparities between the girls’ softball field and boys’ baseball field at Hylton High School in Woodbridge, Virginia is unfortunately all too familiar. Girls continue to receive second-class treatment in school sports programs across the country despite the fact that Title IX has mandated equality now for 37 years. As if that fact isn’t disturbing enough, many of the schools that are caught out of compliance pass the buck and try to justify amenities that boys have and girls do not by pointing out that they are donated to boys’ teams by outside supporters or booster clubs. But the law says that the buck stops with the schools.

Title IX requires schools to treat their male and female athletes equally with respect to equipment, facilities, publicity, and more. (See our handy checklist to learn all about Title IX’s requirements in athletics.) The fact that an outside entity’s generosity funds improvements for boys’ teams at a school—as was the case with the Hylton High baseball team’s press box and concession stand—does not excuse inferior treatment for the girls’ teams. As the Post article correctly notes, the bottom line is about the available benefits, not where they came from. That does not mean that schools have to turn down donations; no one wants that. But it does mean that schools need to think about how to provide similar benefits to girls (see our fact sheet for examples and ideas).

Some may contend that this is unfair, but stop to think about it for a moment: Would we allow an outside donor to fund new computers for boys and not girls? If we truly believe that athletic opportunities are educational ones, then the answer is clear.