Balance

It's all about balance. But thats life. College students need to balance many things. I need to balance classes, homework, soccer and relationships. Its a big load but i manage it. It's the same with sports. Women coaches, and Ad's need to balance sports and life. I think this is key to success. If a women can balance this, how can men say we aren't qualified for the job lets say of being an AD. I mean what gives them the right. Women have come up with a mentoring program to help them balance. Its basically just a support system, so when they are overwhelmed they have people to fall back to. I think this is great. It's women proving they can get ahead in life without a man!

http://my.alma.edu/portal/tag.8a9733433f9fb000.render.userLayoutRootNode.uP?uP_root=root&uP_sparam=activeTab&activeTab=2

Athletic Directors

This article talks about athletic directors. It starts out saying in the 80's mens and women's programs were finally intertwined, but that athletic directors were only male. Today women make up 20% of the population of athletic directors, that means 80% are male. This is a sad percentage. I mean i defiantly don't think women should take over the population but i think it should be close to an even 50-50%. It would give more power to woman in athletics. Being the head of intercollegiate sports is a big role to take on, but why's it labeled as a male job? I think women are just as qualified. It goes back to the issue, can women take care of their families and handle a powerful job. what do you guys think about this? Yeah this isn't very common but women can do it!

http://my.alma.edu/portal/tag.8a9733433f9fb000.render.userLayoutRootNode.uP?uP_root=root&uP_sparam=activeTab&activeTab=2

The real story behind the passage of Title IX 35 years ago

I found this article to be interesting. It talks about the "godmother of title IX" and what she has done with her involvement with title IX. She filed over 250 law suits back in the 70's when there was no laws prohibiting sex discrimination. She also given many speeches. I think this is awesome. We need more women like this. I guess i'm just interested in your thoughts about this. I think it's cool that one women has put so much time and effort into something she's so passionate about. She's done so much for women in athletics, which is great because i am a women in athletics and love hearing about things like this.

http://my.alma.edu/portal/tag.8a9733433f9fb000.render.userLayoutRootNode.uP?uP_root=root&uP_sparam=activeTab&activeTab=2

St. Mary's college

Today our soccer team traveled to St.. Mary's and beat them! But thats besides the point, St.. Mary's is an all girls school. In the locker room we were chatting with some girls on their team and asking them if they liked an all girls school, such and things of that nature. Most girls love it and said playing sports there was awesome. I guess most of the coaches are female, which they love and they there is no discrimination with no boys. Thats awesome. I mean like for us, the alma women's soccer team has to fight to get the alma college bus, that doesn't happen there. I mean there is a plus and minus, no female discrimination within sports, but also no male interaction at all. Its a price you chose to pay or not i guess.

Fired Lesbians

This article is really interesting. A lesbian couple recently got fired from their coaching job at Mesa college in california because obviously they were identified as lesbians. They have been at this college for a decade and have made huge improvements in its basketball program. I just find this interesting because how does being a lesbian hurt a basketball program in any way? I mean their not public about their relationship and the teams ok with it, so whats the problem? Thankfully the National Center for lesbian Rights is representing them.

http://search.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/suite2/+mewVvAe79p5wFqz68hnw68mxxFqnwcMwNFqnh1cc/full.html

Feminist Law Journal

This article mainly focuses on golf but and also "why have a feminist law journal". Meaning why do women have less rights in sports? Why do women suffer more with inequality? I mean this is somewhat off my topic but it relates back to it. It just goes back to equal rights and women not having them. Any why? well idk. There hasn't been one good article i've read that so far explaining why women are not getting equal rights in sports. One of the main arguments in a mans favor is that there sports are more entertaining, well how so? women get big crowds too. Idk maybe this just bugs me a lot because i am an athlete and i really want women to get equal rights within sports and just in general.

http://search.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/suite2/+cDedLJCeoxbtqz68hnw68mxxFqnwcMwNFqnh1cc/full.html

A gender comparison of the BBC's TV coverage of the 1995 World Athletics Championships

Out of 164 minutes of total sports coverage for all sports analyzed, 92 minutes (56%) were devoted to the coverage of the men's events, while 72 minutes (44%) were allocated to the coverage of the corresponding women's events. I just thought this was interesting. I guess I never really took the time to think about how much woman sports were covered, but i mean obviously we wouldn't be treated equal and get equal coverage time. I just thought this was interesting. I guess we have to think of it in a different aspect, that most men love watching their sports games. Yes, there are woman out there that love watching sports too but not as many as men. What are your thoughts on this and do you think law suites or anything like that should be filed because of this?

http://search.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/suite2/+TewRJyPeX4nwFqA68h6m_v6++xFqnwcMwNFqnh1cc/full.html

Gender Equality in Sports

This article talked about how male teams get more money in athletics than female. The study showed that although women and men enroll in the schools in roughly equal numbers, men athletes outnumber women athletes by 50%, get about 70% of athletic scholarship money, 77% of operating money and 83% of recruiting money. Equality has a price, and nothing underlines it more than the disparity in the dollars spent on women and men athletes in higher education. What do you all think about this? This obviously isn't fair, but what are we to do about it?

Society is Accepting...

This article talks about how desegregation in athletic participation is changing. Society is beginning to accept girls who are good enough to play on boys teams, especially in high school where certain sports are only offered for boys. I defiantly agree with this. if a girl is good enough, why not let her? I guess there could be a negative side to this though. I would wonder how well the girl got treated and if she had the respect she deserved. Also if she was on a boys team, i wonder how comfortable she would feel. Like say it was a girl on a boys hockey team, would she have to change in a separate locker room, would she want to, how would that make her feel? Idk, just things to think about. And if this is allowed what do you think about boys joining girls teams? Would this be ok too? Honestly, i don't know which way i would go with this one. I wouldn't want boys to over-populate and dominate a girls team, but maybe having a few boys on a girls team would be ok. IDK! What do you all think?

What exactly is title IX?

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, now known as the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in honor of its principal author, but more commonly known simply as Title IX, is a United States law enacted on June 23, 1972 that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

There is a three prong test of compliance:

1. Prong one - Providing athletic opportunities that are substantially proportionate to the student enrollment, OR
2. Prong two - Demonstrate a continual expansion of athletic opportunities for the underrepresented sex, OR
3. Prong three - Full and effective accommodation of the interest and ability of underrepresented sex. There is a lot of controversy over this because they don't know if this is the best way to analyze Title IX's intended purpose, which is to eliminate discrimination based on sex.

Title IX has increased the opportunity for many women in athletics. Female teams have grown and female coaches have increased as well.

More on Title IX...

Title: Despite Title IX, sports still inequitable, homophobic.
Source: Women in Higher Education, 17 (1):  30, January 2008. ISSN: 1060-8303
Publisher: Women in Higher Education

Despite 35 years of Title IX the federal law requiring gender equity in educational programs including athletic leaders at some schools still ignore or misunderstand it. Having run out of patience, female athletes and coaches who are victims of sexual harassment, retaliation or homophobia have decided to hire attorneys and fight it out in court. The outcomes are costing schools big bucks. Fresno States volleyball coach sued for sex discrimination and the college was forced to pay $ 5.85 million. Also, the University of Colorado has agreed to pay $2.85 million to settle a lawsuit by former students Lisa Simpson and Anne Gilmore, who claimed they were gang raped by football players and recruits at an off-campus party in 2001. This is a serious problem and a solution is desperately needed. Colleges are losing too much money getting sued for sex discrimination. What should the solution be? Title IX came about and this is still happening.

http://search.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/suite2/+jD2BeI4nwFqA68nqWvXW9wxFqnwcMwNFqnh1cc/full.html

Alma College Athletics

Last weekend both the mens and women's soccer teams traveled to Trine University. The mens team ended up getting to take the Alma college bus. Our team got stuck with some old bus that barely gave us enough room to stretch our legs. Now, how is this fair? I personally think the men got the Alma college bus because to the college they have more priority than women, even though our record this year is a lot better.

I know this got brought up in a class discussion a few weeks back and i never came first hand to a situation as such so i thought i'd share it. Why do you think mens soccer team got the bus over us?