are things equal between the sexes in college sports

Are things equal between the sexes in college sports? "Monday
night football won't be shown this week, instead women's field hockey will
be aired." Monday night football has been a long lasting American
pastime and a change like this would tend to really shock and upset
millions of dedicated football fans. This group, made up of mostly men
gather round the tube each week for a chance to watch men running
around a field carrying a ball and running into each other. The situation I
stated earlier probably won't happen, at least not in the near future.
Men's sports still seem to dominate, and in order to allow this to be
changed, certain steps must be taken. First of all, the situation needs to
be addressed as a serious problem, then those people affected need to
be determined. Next, the cause of the problem needs to be addressed
and finally, it is time to think of solutions. So, first of all, is there
really a problem? Why does it matter that men get all the attention in
sports? That's the way it has been for hundreds of years dating back to
the first Olympics. But then again why should men get all the attention,
women work just as hard as men at their sports, why not give them some
credit? Men and women are treated differently in sports ranging from the
size of budgets, the number of scholarships given, and in how many
athletes are participating in sports. Men's athletic budgets are
without a doubt a lot higher than women's athletic budgets. On average
men's athletic budgets are nearly five times that of women's (Moline 18).
An example of this is at schools that offer women's sports of field hockey
and volleyball that have budgets less than 20% of that which is allocated
for men's sports (Hanmer 13). Overall operating funds for women's
sports are about three times that of men's (Moline 18). Funding for
individual sports is different but when all added together men receive a lot
more money for their sports than women. Another difference
between men's and women's sports is the number of athletic scholarships
given to athletes of differing sexes. Male athletes, as a whole, receive
twice the number of scholarships that women athletes receive (Moline

18). In a survey conducted by the NCAA( national collegiate athletic
association) of 253 division 1 schools, athletic scholarship funding was
69.5% for men and 30.5% for women. The actual average amount of
money given for scholarships was $849,130 for men and $372,800 for
women (Farrey C1). In 1992, division 1 schools with football teams were
allowed to offer 92 scholarships per season (Farrey C1). This exceeds
any other sport, men or women's, in the number of scholarships available.
When everything is added together male athletes receive more
scholarship money than female athletes. This is another example of the
inequality between the sexes. Yet another difference between men
and women's collegiate sports is the number of participants. The ratio of
men to women at most colleges is usually one to one, but sports
participation is usually two to one favoring men (Tarkan 25). Men's
athletic teams are generally bigger than women's teams. This could be
attributed to the bigger budgets and more scholarships that would allow
men's teams to be larger. This two to one ratio shows that participation is
not equal and therefore women are discriminated against. These
examples of inequality in college sports shows that there is a problem
and it has been a problem for some time. Women have less money
budgeted for their sports, less scholarship money, and there are a lot
fewer female athletes than male athletes. In 1975, a girl in Colorado had
to use the court system in order to be allowed to practice and play with a
men's team. This was done since there was no available women's team.
(Hanmer 96). Having to go to court, again shows that a problem does
exist, and even though it is getting better, with the number of female
athletes rising, the problem of inequality still exists. Now that it
is known that a problem exists, the next step in solving the problem is to
figure out who is affected by sexual discrimination in sports. Contrary to
popular belief, female athletes are not the only people affected by sexual
discrimination. Male athletes, female athletes, and society are all harmed

by sexual discrimination in sports.First of all, the most noticed and the
biggest group of people that have brought this problem to everyone's
attention is the female athlete. Female athletes have struggled for years
to become men's equals in many areas, including athletics. Even though
the female role in sports has grown, men still receive most of the glory.
Television stations that air sporting events generally air male sports such
as football and basketball. The sports that are shown on television
receive money from the television station. CBS has paid over 1.7 billion
dollars to broadcast the men's NCAA basketball tournament until
2002(Chad 22). Some of this money goes to each team playing in the
tournament. Female sport's teams don't have the opportunity to receive
money from television because the television stations don't want to air
their games. Another way that women are harmed by sexual
discrimination is in the amounts of money budgeted to keep their sports
going. As I stated earlier, men's sports are budged an average of five
times more than women. Male sports seem to take everything away from
female sports, but this is not necessarily true. Male athletes are also
affected by sexual discrimination in sports. As opportunities are gradually
getting better for female athletes, something must give in order to make
these opportunities available. These things are usually men's athletics.
In some instances men's sporting teams have been limited or totally cut
from a school's athletic program in order to make room for more female
teams. At the University of Illinois, the men's swimming and diving team
was cut in order to meet the title ix equality requirements. Members of
this team filed a lawsuit claiming reverse discrimination, but lost(Briggs
B4). Another example of male athletes being harmed is at Yale. Water
polo and wrestling teams were dropped in 1991 and the track and cross
country teams had limits placed to control the numbers of
participants(Frankel ). Though title ix was issued to stop discrimination, it
is causing some men's sports to be harmed. Now that both sexes of

athletes have been addressed, who else could be harmed by sexual
discrimination? The answer to that question is society. Everyone that
pays taxes is affected. A portion of the taxes that everyone pays goes
toward education. Some of the money given to schools through taxes
goes toward the school's athletic program. As schools try to equal things
out between men's and women's sports, more money will have to be
spent. This rise in athletic costs could eventually lead to a raise in taxes
in order to allow state schools to continue having sports programs.
Another possible affect is the rise in a school's tuition. Parents wishing to
send their children to college could face a higher tuition resulting from the
money it takes to add women's sports. Parents with athletically gifted
male children could find it harder for their children to receive athletic
scholarships, as more scholarships are given to girls. The people that are
affected by sexual discrimination, including female athletes, male
athletes, and society, are affected in different ways. Each group faces
hardships caused by sexual discrimination. Now that it is known who is
affected by sexual discrimination in sports, the next step to is to learn
what causes it. Sexual discrimination is caused by many things that have
been around for many years. The three main things that cause sexual
discrimination in sports are football, television, and tradition. These three
reasons all are causes to sexual discrimination. Football is a widely
appreciated and closely watched sport in America. Football alone is the
major cause for the wide gap between equality in men's and women's
sports. There is no female sports that is comparable to football (Becker
70). Football teams usually cost the most to run of any sport at a college
(Gullenberg F5). This is partly due to the large number of players on a
team. Numbers can range from 75 to 125 players per team (Tarkan 26).
The University of Nebraska took 132 players to the Orange Bowl in 1994
(Burk 93). Some schools are known to put up their football teams in nice
hotels before home games, two to a room, while women are bunked four

to a room while out of town(Tarkan 27). Football players daily food
allowances can average $25 for dinner and $15 for breakfast, while
women receive only an $11 total daily allowance. Another luxury of being
a college football player is the mode of transportation. While female
sports and most male sports rely on busses and vans, the football team is
flying. Football games also tend to draw the biggest crowds. For
example, at the University of Iowa, home football games can bring in
crowds in excess of seventy thousand screaming football fans. The big
public response that football receives only causes the sport to grow.
ABC's sports commentator, Keith Jackson states, " I don't care for it.
There's too much emphasis on one game at the expense of others."
Football dominates the airwaves during the season with sometimes three
or four college games shown each weekend. Football is a big cause in
the sexual discrimination problem that exists in sports today, but it's not
the only cause. Another cause for sexual discrimination in sports is
the television and other forms of media. As I stated earlier, football
games are shown every weekend during the season with hardly any
counter balance of women's games shown. The two teams that played in
the Fiesta Bowl split $17 million which is about $500,000 more than any
other bowl game (Kirkpatrick 82). Basketball season, with numerous
games shown every weekend, follows the football season. Even with
women's basketball getting some television time, it still doesn't compare
to the amount of air time men's basketball gets. During the NCAA
championship, ESPN shows men's basketball for nine straight days.
CBS broadcasts nearly 66 hours of championship basketball over a 19
day span (Chad 23). This is compared to the one full day allowed for
women's NCAA championship basketball (Baker 38). Other sports that
are aired by CBS are the College World Series, the NCAA outdoor track
and field championship, and NCAA women's gymnastics. The big time
sports, football and basketball, bring in the biggest sponsors which is how

a television network makes its money. Temple University spent $500,000
on advertising it's men's sports teams while only spending $945 total for
women's advertising (Bedell 5B). The money a team receives to be on
television also adds to the budget differences between men's and
women's sports. Tradition also plays a role in the cause of sexual
discrimination in sports. For years, male sporting events have been very
exciting and popular. Today, with men generally controlling what is
shown on television, male spectator sports still reign (Nelson 78). Male
sports are what people grew up watching and appreciating. The
excitement that comes in watching these competitions has kept them
popular. As women's sports grow, it is hard for people to change their
ways and switch over to watch field hockey or volleyball instead of the
high intensity game of football. As exciting as these sports may be,
people are not always so open to change. Tradition can be a very strong
cause to sexual discrimination in sports. These causes; football,
television, and tradition, all lead to sexual discrimination in sports. Now
that the causes have been identified, it is now possible to start thinking of
solution that will help the situation improve. Solutions to this problem of
sexual discrimination in sports do exist. Limiting football spending,
offering more scholarships for women, and adding more women's sports
programs are all possible solutions to this problem. As stated earlier,
football is a major contributor to the problem of sexual inequality in sports.
Limiting the amount of money spent on football would free up a lot of
money for other sports. If there was a national limit on the number of
football scholarships allowed, this would ensure that no one team would
have an advantage over another. The limiting of scholarships would free
up money to a school's athletic program as well as bring the overall
number of scholarships closer to the number given to female athletes. If
the number of football players is reduced, this would also free up lots of
money that would have been spent on helmets, uniforms, expensive knee

surgeries, food, and assistant coaches. It would also mean fewer tutors
and counselors, because of the large number of academically deficient
athletes football tends to include (Farrey C2). According to NCAA
president Judy Sweet, "If you took football totally out of the mix, the
number of scholarships for men and women would be equal-maybe even
more for women." An argument to this situation is that football programs
bring in lots of revenue that goes to help athletic programs. This is not
necessarily true. Nearly 80% of all football teams lose money(Burk 93).
There are too many players on football teams and these excess players
use up money. Limiting the football budget and distributing the money
elsewhere is a good solution, but it has it's disadvantages as well.
Another possible solution to the problem is to offer the same number of
scholarships to male athletes and female athletes. As stated earlier, men
receive more than double the amount of scholarship money than women.
Doing this would be a big step towards equality between men's and
women's sports. This solution also has a disadvantage, the cost.
Scholarships cost money and adding scholarships gets to be rather
expensive. This would be a good solution, if not for the high cost.
Another possible solution is to add more women's teams to a school's
athletic program. This would be a good solution since most schools offer
more men's sports than women's sports. In the Big Ten Conference, they
voted to bring intercollegiate sports to a two to three ratio of women to
men (Moline 18). Since 1992, over 800 athletic teams for women have
been added to colleges across the country (Tarkan 26). This has helped
in closing the gap between the number of men's and women's sports
teams offered. However, this is not a solution without drawbacks. In
order to bring this ratio closer, men's teams would have to be cut or
additional funding would have to come from somewhere else. In Illinois,
a bill is being passed that would allow colleges to receive more funding
for athletics (Tarkan 26). This would allow more women's teams to be

added without hurting men's teams. This is a good start, but in most
states funding for this solution makes it less attractive. Overall,
money seems to be the biggest problem when it comes to a good solution
to the problem of sexual discrimination in sports. The solutions of cutting
back at football funding, giving equal number of scholarships, and adding
women's teams, all have their drawbacks. It seems that none of these
solutions alone will solve the problem. I think a combination of all of
these solutions is the best solution to this problem. Lack of money was
the drawback to the solutions of adding scholarships and more sports for
women. These solutions are good, but a source of money is needed to
allow these to be practical solutions. The money for these solutions could
come from football. Football has far more money budgeted than any
other sport at a college. As I stated earlier football doesn't necessarily
make money and therefore they shouldn't need to spend as much as
they do. If football funding helped subsidize new women's teams, it
would allow more women's teams to be created. This would help bring
the number of men's and women's sports to a closer ratio, as well as
bring the participation of male and female athletes to a closer proportion.
If football programs were limited to a smaller number of scholarships,
those extra scholarships could be distributed to female athletes in order
to equalize up the number of scholarships given to male and female
athletes. This combination of cutting back at football funding and
adding more scholarships and sports for women seems to be the best
solution to the problem of sexual discrimination in sports. Even though
this may not make things totally equal, it does make things better.
Hopefully, someday men and women will be considered equals in all
aspects of life, including sports. Until then, we must do our best to be as
fair as possible.