Gender Equity and Title IX

Since the enactment of Title IX in 1972, women have come a long way to balance out the social injustices they faced in society. The one sentence law taken from Cotton and Wolohan (2001) stated that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” (p. 563).
Initially, the law had been enacted to prevent discrimination in schools. The legislative bodies had no idea the impact that this statute would have on the opportunities for women to participate in sports. However, the controversy surrounding Title IX today is that the law places gender quotas on institutions. This “gender equality” law has caused much trouble for the men and for the women it had intended to help.
Gavora (2002) looked at the unintended consequences of Title IX in her book, Tilting the Playing Field: Schoo...