Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2012
Abstract
It is clear from the proliferation of cases and complaints challenging programmatic disparities in school and college athletic programs that Title IX’s goal of equal treatment has not been fully realized. As the scholarship addressing equal treatment in athletics has been minimal, this Article is an effort to add to this scholarship in order to provide a greater understanding of equal treatment provisions. It examines why many school officials administer athletic departments in apparent oblivion to Title IX’s equal treatment mandate.
The Article provides the history of Title IX’s equal treatment provisions and their enforcement at the high school and collegiate levels since the 1970s. Trends in the types of equal treatment violations and the success of both public and private enforcement are also discussed. The Author analyzes why the equal treatment mandate remains largely absent from the public discourse about Title IX through a discussion of the political philosophy and climate in the United States, constructions of masculinity, and the role of amateurism in sport. She also offers recommendations to address the relative invisibility of Title IX’s equal treatment mandate with the goal of facilitating greater enforcement of equal treatment provisions and improving the overall equality of athletics.
Recommended Citation
22 Marq. Sports L. Rev. 427 (2012)