The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
8 — Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Task Force on Women in Sports shows that Title IX
isn’t enough in Michigan
In
2019,
Governor
Gretchen
Whitmer created the Task Force on
Women in Sports in the leadup to
the 50th anniversary of Title IX with
the goal of creating “opportunities
in Michigan for girls and women in
sports” and increasing the presence
of women in leadership positions in
the larger economy.
The task force’s final report to
Whitmer, published on June 22, 2022,
drew a conclusion that many women
in sports are all too familiar with:
Title IX alone isn’t enough to create
genuine equity in sports.
But the task force also did
something more. In addition to
releasing multiple research reports
throughout its three-year existence,
it also detailed three ways to close the
gender gap in sports, and set the state
of Michigan up to lead an increase in
sports equity:
Recommendation 1: “Modernize
and expand upon Federal Title IX
requirements to increase protections,
compliance, and accountability.
Recommendation 2: “Invest in
pathways for Michigan girls and
women to play, work, and lead in
sports in Michigan.
Recommendation 3: “Encourage
Michiganders to support and invest
in future opportunities and access
for girls and women at all levels of
sports.”
Its advice to expand federal Title
IX requirements is intended to
increase funding for and support of
women’s sports from the government
level. The task force hopes this
will
facilitate
improvements
in
opportunities
and
facilities
for
women’s athletics.
While
federal
Title
IX
requirements
mandate
proportional
opportunities
for
men
and women in college
athletics, the reality is that
less than 10% of NCAA
Division I schools provide
opportunities to female athletes at a
rate proportional to their enrollment.
“Only 9% of NCAA Division I
institutions (30 of 348) offered athletic
opportunities to female athletes
proportional to their enrollment,”
the task force noted in one report.
“In Michigan, participation rates for
female student-athletes average 13%
of the female student enrollment …
compared to a participation rate for
male student-athletes that averages
20% male student enrollment.”
At Michigan, despite making up
nearly 51% of the student body, women
make up only 46.1% of student-
athletes. And while it’s difficult to
analyze funding disparities due to
football generating and receiving
the majority of funds, the recruiting
budget of women’s teams makes up
just 12% of all recruiting expenses.
Across all 27 of the Wolverines’
athletic programs in the 2020-21
academic year, the report showed
that the average salary of an assistant
coach for a men’s team is 3.5 times the
average salary of an assistant coach
for a women’s team.
But the task force doesn’t believe
that
simply
matching
women’s
athletics funding and opportunities
at the government level will cause
sufficient
change.
The
second
recommendation
is
to
create
pathways for women in Michigan to
lead and work in sports too.
Many studies have proven that
women who play sports are more
likely to achieve leadership positions
later on in their lives, whether within
or outside of the sports industry.
Every Wolverines’ men’s varsity
sport has a male coach at the helm.
On the women’s side, track and
field and cross country, rowing,
swimming and diving, volleyball and
water polo are all coached by men.
Across Michigan’s 27 teams, there are
significantly more male coaches than
female coaches at the assistant level.
This isn’t a disparity specific
only to the Wolverines. One study
conducted as part of the task force’s
research found that across
collegiate athletics in the
state of Michigan, women
coached just 41% of women’s
teams and a meager 4% of
men’s teams.
The
task
force
also
reported
that
underqualified men were
more likely to be hired for coaching
positions while qualified women still
faced significant hurdles to earn jobs.
The
committee
believes
that
supporting female leaders in sports
is crucial to achieving equity. It also
recommends that Michiganders give
their support to women’s sports at all
levels.
This final recommendation, while
the most abstract, has the potential
to provide the spark that leads to
grander changes in college athletics.
Attendance at men’s and women’s
sporting events at Michigan isn’t
ELIZABETH CUSHNIR
Daily Sports Writer
even remotely close to equal. Despite
having a significantly stronger win
percentage than the Michigan men’s
basketball team in the 2021-22 season,
the Wolverines’ women’s basketball
team rarely received even a quarter
of the fan turnout that the men’s team
received. In a historic season that saw
Michigan advance to its first-ever
Elite Eight, its support from students
and fans lagged behind significantly.
As the task force noted, efforts to
achieve gender equity in sports are
more successful when they start from
the ground up in youth sports. By
the time they get to college, female
student-athletes have already faced
significant disparities throughout
their athletic careers. But a large part
of that stems from a lack of female
role models that young girls in sports
have.
The state of Michigan doesn’t have
a lack of strong female athletes, and
neither does the University. Rather,
it suggests there’s a lack of support
— whether intentional or not — from
the student body, fans and athletics
departments.
Looking back 50 years, a lot of
progress has been made toward
gender equity in college sports. But as
the task force found — and as almost
any female athlete can tell you — a lot
more work needs to be done to truly
level the playing field.
But as the task force found
— and as almost any female
athlete can tell you — a lot more
work needs to be done to truly
level the playing field.
With the Supreme
Court’s recent
Dobbs ruling,
women’s rights to
abortions — and
autonomy — have
been shattered. This
moment is bigger
than sports, and we
want to share some
resources everyone
can use to do their
part.
JULIANNE YOON, KATE HUA, DOMINICK
SOKOTOFF/Daily
50 YEARS OF TITLE IX