Washington, D.C. — Although women have made tremendous strides in collegiate sports since the 1972 passage of Title IX, significant work remains before women achieve equality with men on campus.
That was the thrust of one of several events held here in the nation’s capital Thursday meant to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the landmark federal legislation that outlawed sex discrimination in federally-funded education programs and activities.
“We’ve come a long way since Title IX has passed, but we have a long way to go,” Neena Chaudhry, senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, said Thursday at the Center for American Progress during a panel discussion titled “Playing Fair: Title XI Now.”
Chaudhry’s remarks echoed a new report titled “Title IX at 40” by the National Coalition for Women and Girls.
Among other things, that report found that while fewer than 30,000 women participated in college sports in the 1971-1972 school year, in 2010-2011 the number had grown more than six-fold to 190,000.
Similar gains were made in the amount of money devoted to female athletes.
For instance, in 1972, athletic scholarships for women were nonexistent, but in 2009–2010, women received 48 percent of the total athletic scholarship dollars at Division 1 schools, although they received only 40 percent of total money spent on athletics, despite making up 53% of the student body, the report found.
