Celebrating
Women in Sports: 35 Years of Title IX
July 10, 2007
by Scott
Muoio
Joan Wetzel coaching her
young ladies at Maxim Middle School.
Saturday, June 30th,
marked the
35th anniversary of Title IX, the declaration that women’s
sports receive equal opportunity in educational settings where
government money is involved. The law was a landmark moment in
American history and an overwhelming sign that a woman’s
place was no longer confined to the home. Undependent Media salutes
this enactment as we continue to support women’s athletics
100%.
What is Title IX?
The U.S. law Title IX of the Education Amendments
of 1972 reads, “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.”
The law was enacted to guarantee equal opportunity for women in
all aspects of education where Federal funding is involved. Title
IX’s most prominent result is the dramatic increase in funding
and availability of women’s athletics in the elementary,
high school, and collegiate setting.
Life before Title IX
In the early 1960s, Joan Wetzel began her
career as a public high school physical education teacher in Somerville,
New Jersey. An athlete, herself, who participated in international
level field hockey competitions into her 30s, Wetzel was well-aware
of the challenges facing women on an un-level playing field pre-Title
IX. But even then, nothing could prepare her for the invisible
framework that existed to cultivate female athletics as a serious
endeavor once she became an instructor.
The obstacles Wetzel faced daily included
minimal equipment, lack of administrative support, and a non-existent
inter-school system for competition. This meant much of her time
was spent scheduling, organizing, and even refereeing her own
games, an added burden to her already busy teaching and coaching
schedule. Adding insult to injury Wetzel also had to fight merely
for the opportunity to share facilities at which to conduct her
practices. Fortunately, at her next job at Maxim Middle School,
she met Ralph Muoio.
A coach, himself, for boys basketball, Muoio
agreed to share gym time with the new girls coach not because
he had to, but because he believed women deserved the same athletic
opportunities as men. The results were fruitful for Wetzel’s
team: her squad thrived dominating its competition and often “playing
up” against older teams in order to find competitive match
ups. Needless to inform, the situation for Wetzel was a glowing
success.
The story, happily, doesn’t end there:
several years after Maxim Ralph and Joan wed in Point Pleasant,
New Jersey. While coaching for both of them is now in their rear
view mirrors, the couple, who is still married today, continues
to enjoy friendly competition over the ping-pong table as well
as bike riding, kayaking, and numerous other athletic endeavors.
Joan Wetzel
met Ralph Muoio in the 1960s at Maxim Middle School while trying
to schedule gym time.
The two would eventually marry. They
continue to enjoy sports together today.
How are things different now?
As a three-sport male Division I collegiate
athlete (cross country, indoor track, outdoor track), I have seen
first-hand Title IX in action. As one cohesive squad, our men’s
and women’s teams at Harvard University were furnished equal
everything as we strived to be our best while representing our
university. With equal money spent on uniforms, facilities, coaching
staff, as well all other amenities afforded to the men’s
team, women’s sports are an afterthought no more. It is
quite the dramatic change from my mother’s days of having
to share a gym with my father’s boys’ squad in order
to get any practice time whatsoever.
Post-college, the wheels of change are likewise
staggeringly positive. As a participant in numerous adult sports
leagues as well competitive running clubs I have witnessed women
not only competing on an even field with men but also on the same
field. Co-ed football and soccer were enjoyable and challenging
experiences with females given the same respect as their male
counterparts at The Boston Ski and Sports Club. In the more competitive
realm of professional running, I have personally trained with
top level females on the track as we pushed each other to be our
best. Think back 35 years and women would not have been afforded
these opportunities. Now, with the effects of Title IX trickling
into all aspects of American sport, women are not only helping
themselves but their male counterparts as well.
Today's adult sports leagues, such as
The Boston Ski and Sports Club, whole heartedly support co-ed
athletics.
Controversy
Title IX has remained a controversial topic
since its 1972 inception. Low and no revenue men’s sports
at both the high school and collegiate level have allegedly shrunk
while women’s sports have jumped in to replace them. Likewise,
some expensive men’s sports have disappeared as money is
instead put into women’s athletics. Part rumour and part
truth, this may not be so much a result of Title IX as a change
in the increasing importance of the business of education. Football,
an expensive sport to finance but a potential huge revenue cash
cow, has both grown into near professional level athletics at
some schools while disappearing completely from others. A look
at Boston College and their enormous football franchise versus
the now defunct Boston University football program illustrates
how even in the same area chance and circumstance can lead to
radically different results.
So is the rise and fall of some men’s
sports truly the result of funneling money into women’s
sports that otherwise could pay for the men or is perhaps something
else at work? Clearly the emphasis on profiting from amateur sports
is a major player in sport’s evolution and must be heavily
considered when speaking of the possible negative aspects of Title
IX. However, using the change in men’s sports to weaken
the women’s athletics framework seems grossly unfair. For
all the bellyaching opponents of Title IX participate in, the
pendulum of equality seems a much better measuring stick than
the obviously biased system that stood before 1972 and in my opinion,
is the only reason necessary to continue supporting Title IX at
all possible levels.
The Harvard and Yale women's and men's
track and field teams competed together in Cambridge, UK in 1999.
What of the future?
For all the possible explanations of our current
trend in men’s sports, one thing about athletics in 2007
is certain: a woman’s place in sport is leaps and bounds
improved from 1972. With an abundance of women’s professional
sports creeping into public view at ever faster levels and women’s
Olympic participation exploding like never before, there is no
question Title IX has much to do with the progress. Beginning
with girls at the elementary level, there is an awareness, appreciation,
and fervor for female athletic participation that continues to
grow. Even sports such as boxing, wrestling, and ice hockey, for
ages known as men-only affairs, are now thriving women’s
endeavors. Amazing the changes that can occur in 35 years when
ignorance and arrogance give way to equal opportunity and a fair
shake for American women.
As a staunch atheltic supporter, I stand in continued reverenace
and admiration of Title IX. This landmark legislation shows positive
progress in America and shines as a beacon that good things can
happen through political channels when we least expect it. Inevitably,
when right is given a path to triumph over all detractors, we
all win, and Title IX is a glowing example.
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