The number of women competing at the highest level of college athletics continues to rise along with an increasing funding gap between men's and women's sports programs.
The state of women in college sports was found in a report released on Thursday.
When looking at the home of the most profitable revenue-generating sports, the Football Bowl Subdivision, the gap was even more pronounced because men's programs received more than double that of women's.
Amy Wilson said it shows schools are investing a lot of money. Football is the primary revenue-generating sport, along with men's basketball, according to the NCAA managing director.
The business side of college sports has changed over time.
When looking at expenditures for recruiting as well as compensation for head coaches and assistant coaches, the gender gap was close to three times. Even with increased expenditures for women, the gap is not new.
The difference between median total expenses for men's and women's programs has grown over the last seven years.
Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving federal funds if there are discrepancies between men and women. Concerns are raised when evaluating whether schools are providing equitable opportunities for men and women athletes and how they are spending to achieve those goals.
The numbers are not easy to read. She said that the difference was a big one. The anniversary of Title IX is an ideal time to recommit to funding equitable participation opportunities, experiences, and financial aid for student-athletes in men's and women's athletics programs.
The Knight Commission made another push to eliminate inequity in the NCAA's revenue distribution plan in a letter made public on Thursday.
The NCAA awards 28% of its annual revenue distribution to Division I men's basketball teams' wins and participation in the March Madness tournament according to the letter. The NCAA does not award any money for the performance of women's basketball teams in the tournament. The NCAA's current revenue distribution is not in line with the NCAA's stated commitment to gender equity according to the commission's letter.
The NCAA's power to quickly correct inequity is at odds with the NCAA's bedrock principle of gender equity and should not be delayed. The NCAA's financial incentives inevitably reflect the association's values and priorities and further delay is likely to raise questions about the NCAA's commitment to gender equity.
Title IX compliance can be measured in a number of ways, including the gender breakdown of the program. The study found that Division I athletics couldn't match that standard when looking at data from 2020.
We need to ask ourselves if there are opportunities that could be created and more teams that could be formed. Wilson made a statement.
The governing body for college sports faced criticism for failing to ensure equity for last year's men's and women's basketball tournaments after an outside review.
There are other things that came from the report.
Women are lacking in leadership.
Since the signing of Title IX, fewer women are filling head-coaching roles.
In 1972 the percentage of women's teams led by women coaches was more than 90, but in 2020 it is less than half. The decline in the number of women's teams at that time was attributed to the fact that more men coached women's teams than women coached men's teams.
Richard Lapchick is the director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida. TIDES compiles report cards every year looking at diversity hiring for college sports and professional league.
Lapchick told the AP that it was without movement. It is as baffling as any of the statistics we report on. Some issues can usually be improved. This one isn't budging.
According to the study, women have accounted for 20% of athletic directors since 1980 after dropping 22% in 2020.
According to the study, conference commissioners have been the outlier among women in leadership roles, with women accounting for 31% of those roles for the year.
There are issues of diversity.
There was a lack of women of color in those roles.
According to the report, 16% of women working as head coaches of women's teams and 16% of women athletics directors are minorities. The percentages have gone up slightly over the last five years.
There are high school drop offs.
The 1971-72 school year was when the law's implementation took place, and the report shows that girls' participation numbers haven't reached that of boys.
The number of opportunities for boys was more than 264,000 higher than the number of opportunities for girls.
It's 50 years after Title IX, and the college data shows there's still a big participation gap. They don't want to play. I would like to know what the barriers are to that access.
The AP and Heather Dinich contributed to the report.
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