Gender equity has been a challenge to implement in every sector of the economy. Despite the efforts that have been put in place to ensure that gender equity is achieved, men find great favors than women in very many areas. Sports sector is one of the areas where gender equity has not been attained.
It should be noted that women sports activities are not taken seriously in many countries of the world. Much emphasis is placed on men sports activities given the fact that sports is seen as a masculine activity which women cannot be able to favorably engage in. Male sports activities are well funded, have adequate facilities and are properly advertised than female sports.
The enactment of Title IX law was seen as a great step towards achievement of gender equity in several areas including sports. Nevertheless, a lot still needs to be done in order to have fairness. The challenges that face implementation of the law should be dealt with.
Title IX is a federal law in the United States of America which was enacted in 1972. The law illegalizes discrimination of people on the basis of sex in any educational program that is supported by the federal government. The law was enacted to ensure that female students have equal opportunities in sports just as their male counterparts.
It is important to note that women are not only disadvantaged in terms of sports participation, but also in administration due to lack of opportunities to train for these careers (Gavora, 2002). It is very unfortunate to note that 40 years since the enactment of Title IX, women are still discriminated against in sports related activities.
Among the factors that hinder successful implementation of Title IX is prejudice and stereotypes that have been associated with female sports. Women are made to think that sports especially athletics is a masculine activity. Consequently, women who are engaged in sports activities are said to be unattractive thus they cannot get married.
Moreover, there has been a misconception spread by various people that women who participate in various sports have reduced chances of giving birth. In this regard, women themselves become a stumbling block in the implementation of Title IX.
Another factor that hinders implementation of Title IX is lack of sponsors for women sports. While male athletes easily get sponsors, women find it very difficult to get sponsors. This is due to the fact that it has been assumed that men athletes easily win and they are well rewarded.
As a result, women teams lack the necessary resources to facilitate their participation. On the same note, women do not have training facilities that can enable them to train effectively. Moreover, many women are not willing to be involved in physical activities (Rosner & Shropshire, 2011). In this regard, it becomes very tricky for coaches to get women that are physically fit to be trained as athletes.
Therefore, even if educators would want to be fair to women, it becomes difficult because women are not ready. On the same note, women will want to have fellow women as their coaches. This will enable them to have freedom of expression during training sessions thus enhancing their confidence. Unfortunately, there are very few women coaches in sports. In this regard, though women are not prevented from participating in athletics, they find it difficult to join and get trained by men who will not understand them.
Fairness has been a nightmare in sports. Male dominate every section of sports. They form majority of participants, coaches and even administrators. It is important to note that there have been increased efforts not only from women activists, but also from other social organizations to ensure that fairness in sports is achieved. Unfortunately, this has not been met due to various factors.
To begin with, there has been masculine supremacy in the sports field with men dominating almost every section. In this regard, the need to maintain status quo has kept women out of question whenever selection is done.
On the same note, people have a tendency of using connections to get into positions of leadership in most sectors of the economy (Northouse, 2009). In the sports field also, people favor those who are close to them or those with whom they have something in common. Women lack the essential connections that will enable them get selected to participate or even climb the ladder to administrative positions.
Moreover, horizontal segregation is quite common in the sports field. People still have the perception that women cannot properly run sports departments. Consequently, women have been segregated when it comes to hiring or even selection of participants in sports sector (Rosner & Shropshire, 2011).
Men choose other men and train them thus limiting the opportunities available for women. Furthermore, sports sector is viewed to be a demanding masculine field which requires somebody who has enough time to train. Unfortunately, society takes women to be people who should take care of children and thus do not have enough time for physically demanding activities.
Lack of women sport administrators has also hindered achievement of fairness. Women are given few opportunities as management interns in sports compared to men. As a result, women always lack the experience that is required for administrative posts. The hiring process is also biased in favor of men thus limiting chances of women advancing. Unlike men, women lack the necessary motivation and support whenever they decide to join sports.
Due to lack of opportunities to be trained, women lack the necessary training required to join administrative positions in sports. It should be noted that it is not only women who face challenges in their endeavors to be sports administrators. The problem of getting opportunity to join management internship is common to men and women alike.
On the same note, the problem of connections is rampant and it makes many people to miss vital opportunities (Moran, 2004). Similarly, it is difficult to get the necessary mentorship which is crucial in motivating people. Since many administrators are men, male participants are favored.
Culture is another factor that causes unfairness in the sports field. Though people will argue that culture is not very influential in the United States, it should be noted that U.S. is a country with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Consequently, culture cannot be left out of any discussion. Group work is very vital in sports and implementation of decisions involves consensus and commitment from group members.
Participation of team members in day to day activities is crucial for success. Unfortunately, this attributes are not of much importance in some cultures. Women are regarded lowly and men do not respect their opinion. In this regard, women are not given opportunities to compete on the same level as men or even access management positions.
It is important to note that discipline and time management are crucial in sports (Gavora, 2002). However, some cultures take women to be very poor managers of time. This reduces the probability of men being willing to cooperate with women in sports. This poses a big challenge to sport administrators.
Achievement of gender equality in sports is therefore an issue that requires addressing. Women also need resources and the support that is accorded to men in various sports activities. Women need to train just as men in order to effectively compete in various competitions. On the same note, in order to enhance quality of women sports, facilities used should be advanced. Nevertheless, some people argue that focusing on increasing resources of women will jeopardize men opportunities.
It is crucial to point out that this is a wrong notion. To begin with, providing women with pitches to train will not interfere with opportunities available for men. Women can easily use the same facilities with men in training with some few adjustments like changing rooms. When the number of men using the same facility increases, nobody’s opportunity is hindered. Consequently, opportunities of men cannot be hindered if women join men in using the same facilities (Rosner & Shropshire, 2011).
On the same note, women need their benefits for participating in various sports activities to be increased. Conspicuously, benefits that women receive are far much lower than those paid to their male counterparts. If federal money allocated to female sports is increased, then benefits paid to women can be increased.
It is quite crucial to note that this will in no way reduce the amount of benefits paid to men. Women can also be motivated to join not only athletics, but also other sports activities. Motivation can be achieved through mentorship, having more women to be administrators of women sports as well as giving women necessary support.
People should also be encouraged to increase their enthusiasm in women sports. If women get more people cheering their sports, they will be psychologically and emotionally persuaded to join different sports activities. Once again, it should be noted that this will in no way interfere with the opportunities of men to advance their talents (Northouse, 2009).
In administration of Title IX, people should ensure that equity is maintained. The law was meant to maintain equity and not to favor anybody in any way. Therefore, if I was in a position where I am required to administer the law, providing equal opportunities would be my main aim.
Women need to participate in various sports just as men. The idea that there are some sports which are masculine is misplaced and should not be allowed. Female gymnasiums should be well equipped just as those of men. This will ensure that female students get enough training that will increase their confidence when they are participating in different sports activities.
Another important thing regarding the implementation of Title IX is ensuring that female sports receive enough funding. Funding has been a great hindrance as far as providing opportunities for women is concerned. Most of the time only men teams receive funding from various sponsors. As a result, they are able to purchase the necessary equipment and even join various competitions which enable them to prepare adequately.
On the contrary, women teams get very minimal financial support. In many occasions, women teams have to buy their own uniforms as well as other equipment. Moreover, the teams will have to cater for their transport to various competitions (Moran, 2004). This financial difficultly not only affects performance of women, it also demoralizes them from working hard on improving their talents.
On the same note, women need motivation to join various sports activities. This can be achieved through having mentors. Consequently, it would be vital to have women as coaches of women teams or at least more women in administrative positions in women teams. This will encourage women to join sports since they will be assured that there are people who will understand them.
Moreover, administration of the law will require civic education on the available sports opportunities for women. Making women aware of what is available for them will increase their participation. Most importantly, discrimination of any kind should be done away with.
To ensure that women get their fair share in sports, it is important to have a level competing ground. Research has proven wrong the claims of people that women are not good in some fields. Women are able to do what men can do (Northouse, 2009).
Right from the point of funding various sports activities, gender equity should be the guiding factor. Women should have same opportunities as men so that they can improve the quality of their sports. It is not yet late to know that Title IX has not met its objectives. Therefore, more should be done to ensure that the law is fully implemented.
References
Gavora, J. (2002). Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex. New York: Encounter Books.
Moran, A. P. (2004). Sport and Exercise Psychology: a Critical Introduction. London: Routledge.
Northouse, P. G. (2009). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage publishers.
Rosner, S. & Shropshire, K. (2011). The Business of Sports. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.