FORTY YEARS OF TITLE IX IN SPORTS.
The Osgood File. Sponsored by ClearEars, the comfortable earplug that dries and removes water trapped in the ears. ClearEars - better than drops, safe for kids. This is Dave Ross.
It's the 40th anniversary of Title IX, which requires women to get the same access to college sports programs as men.
Clearly, good for women - but has it become unfair to men?
More after this from Charlie...
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When Title IX became law, the stereotype was that women went to college to find a prosperous husband - and that female athletes ... well, marathon runner Kathrine Switzer remembers what coaches used to say about female athletes.
SOT - Kathrine Switzer
"(Switzer:) In 1967, I had trained for the Boston Marathon - and my coach had inspired me - and he didn't believe a woman could run the marathon distance. And that was the prevailing thinking - that if woman became an athlete, she was going to get big legs, grow hair on her chest and never have children." (:16)
Today, that sounds absurd - but Title IX still upsets some people, who blame it for forcing schools to cut men's sports to balance the required women's sports.
And it's true some colleges have cut men's baseball - and men's gymnastics - even men's swimming. But it turns out these cuts are not just about Title IX - they're about the NCAA.
ESPN's Peter Keating explains the NCAA sets limits on scholarships for the non-revenue sports to protect recruitment for the holy of holies: men's football - a rule he calls the "silent enemy of men's sports."
In schools with football teams in the post-season bowls, for example - the NCAA says football gets 85 scholarships - four times as many as any other sport. So, to balance that out, the NCAA says in sports like rugby: zero scholarships for men. Rowing? Zero for men. Et cetera.
So, yes, some men may have paid a price for the dramatic increase in the number of women athletes - athletes like Katharine Switzer.
SOT - Kathrine Switzer
"Title IX has changed the landscape. There isn't a girl in this country who should grow up with a sense of limitation." (:06)
But, when a men's athletic program gets cut, don't blame Title IX. Take it up with the NCAA.
The Osgood File. Dave Ross on the CBS Radio Network. |
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