How Athletes are Viewed: Does Title IX Impact this?
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — — On January 24, I attended a Skidmore women’s basketball home game against St. Lawrence University. I was one of only a handful of Skidmore students in the fan section and overall the bleachers were mainly empty. The few fans in attendance were the St. Lawrence men’s basketball team, who was playing next, a local Saratoga Springs, girls, youth, basketball team and a handful of parents of the players. Immediately following the women’s game the Skidmore men’s basketball team played St. Lawrence, also in Williamson Sports Center. The bleachers were completely full, and the Skidmore Sports twitter tweeted the following picture and caption in reference to having a full fan section.
It should not be surprising that the attendance at the women’s basketball game was significantly lower than at the men’s game because this is in line with patterns seen nationally. Every year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) publishes basketball game attendance statistics for both men’s and women’s Division I, II and III basketball. In 2016, Division III women’s basketball had on average 233 people in attendance at home games compared to men’s division III basketball that had on average 396 people in attendance at home games. On January 24, Skidmore did not have close to the average at the women’s game.
Creating Equal Opportunity in Athletics:
On June 23, 1972, Richard Nixon signed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 into law. This law states that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” College athletic programs are considered educational programs and therefore nearly every private and public college is impacted by Title IX. According to the NCAA website college athletics are impacted in three ways:
1. “Participation: Title IX requires that women and men be provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports. Title IX does not require institutions to offer identical sports but an equal opportunity to play.”
2. “Scholarships: Title IX requires that female and male student-athletes receive athletics scholarship dollars proportional to their participation.”
3. “Other benefits: Title IX requires the equal treatment of female and male student-athletes in the provisions of: (a) equipment and supplies; (b) scheduling of games and practice times; (c) travel and daily allowance/per diem; (d) access to tutoring; (e) coaching, (f) locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities; (g) medical and training facilities and services; (h) housing and dining facilities and services; (i) publicity and promotions; (j) support services and (k) recruitment of student-athletes.”
Are Women and Men Sports Equal?
Though, Title IX requires there to be equal treatment and opportunity for male and female athletes and teams, the attendance at the Skidmore basketball games on January 24th and the national attendance game averages for 2016 would show that male and female sports are not viewed the same. Basketball attendance data and ticket prices shows that men’s basketball is more popular than women’s basketball.
“The men’s [basketball games] are definitely more heavily attended at Brown, and we have more security for the men’s games,” said Oliver Fox ’18, the Head Manager for the Women's Basketball Team at Brown University. The men’s games have more security “because they expect there to be more people, which there always is,” said Fox.
Fox commented that the women’s games “are more heavily attended by fans when it’s a double header with the men’s team…. or if there is a special event.” A double header at Brown attracts more fans to the women’s games because they will come for the second half of the women’s game and then stay for the men’s game.
Though, Title IX leads to equal opportunities for male and female athletes, these athletes aren’t always treated and viewed the same “I don’t think title IX has been able to change the overall perception of women’s basketball versus men’s basketball,” said Fox.
“When there is a guy who is an athlete, or maybe I am just more attune to it, it seems that you can kinda tell, but a lot of female athletes unless you know them or talk to them…or pay attention to if they have the backpack that signifies what sport [they play] you don’t really know what sport they are on or [if they are an athlete]” said Courtney Plutte ’18, who is a member of the Skidmore Riding team. How athletes are viewed and judged by other students is not protected under Title IX therefore female and male athletes don’t need to be viewed the same.
Cecily Spindel ’18 a former female Coxswain for Emory University Men’s Crew Team also alluded to differences in male and female athletes. She didn’t think Emory’s mens and women's crew teams were viewed differently, but one difference she did point out was that “I think the men’s team is a lot more intense and rigorous, and the women’s team is a bit more empathetic.”
For Spindel being a female Coxswain on “the men’s crew team was very unique and beneficial towards [her] confidence.” Overall, Spindel thinks “being a coxswain is a great experience for women because it is very empowering.”
When Plutte was asked if she felt that she had been treated differently as a female athlete she shared that “I don’t feel I have been treated differently as a female athlete. Riding is treated differently I feel as a sport because there are still a lot of miss conceptions about what we even do. So, you know there are still the quips about you just sit there but frequently not from other athletes just by on lookers.”
Erin Silgardo ’18 also a member of the Skidmore riding team echoed Plutte in saying she felt there were miss conceptions about riding, and how some people think riders are not actually doing the work because the horse is doing it. Silgardo said that this is a misconception because “someone has to tell the horse what to do. It doesn’t just jump for you.”
Over the past few decades, collegiate athletics for both men and women have changed because of Title IX and because of non Title IX issues (for example, new safety regulations in sports). “I think with each passing year it becomes more common for women to be athletes at the collegiate level and I think that is a good trend,” said Spindel.