Why Dads & Daughters Supports Title IX
We believe that Title IX is a huge advantage for fathers, a boon for our
daughters, and good for our sons, too. At Dads & Daughters, we reject the
notion that helping girls requires short-changing boys, or vice versa. To
our eyes, Title IX is a great example of this.
First, even though females in high school and college still receive less than
their fair share of athletic resources, girls’ and women’s sports have exploded
since the passage of Title IX more than 30 years ago. The evidence is overwhelming
that this trend is positive for our daughters’ physical and mental health, across
the board. Title IX is among the most successful civil rights initiatives in our
country’s history.
In addition, since we fathers grew
up steeped in the culture of sports, sports participation by our daughters
gives us an invaluable arena through which we can connect with them,
strengthening our relationships. This
arena wasn’t nearly so available to previous generations of fathers—because
there was no Title IX. That’s why Dads
& Daughters says that Title IX is one of the best things that ever happened
for fathers of girls.
Title IX is also good for our
sons, because the growing number of female athletes helps boys and men see
girls and women as real, multi-dimensional people, rather than toy-like,
pseudo-sexualized objects. That’s
particularly important in a culture which encourages our sons to value a
woman’s appearance over her inner qualities and accomplishments. As fathers, we know that successful long-term
relationships are built on quality and accomplishment, not on outward
appearance—and Title IX helps us teach this truth to our sons.
Finally, we believe the evidence
shows that, in a substantial majority of cases, schools have not cut male
athletic programs because of Title IX.
Federal courts (in opinions by both conservative and liberal judges)
have consistently ruled that Title IX is constitutional and is not to blame for
the elimination of men’s sports like wrestling.
Indeed, even the NCAA acknowledges that the so-called “minor” men’s
programs (which are not minor to the men and boys who participate in them) are
being cut because men’s athletic departments are shifting spending to the
so-called “major” sports like football and basketball. One glaring example of this spending shift is
the skyrocketing salaries of football and basketball coaches, which often
exceed the salaries of a college’s professors and president. NCAA President Dr. Miles Brand says that
smaller men’s programs are being cut primarily because of what he calls “an
arms race” in higher revenue sports—not because of Title IX.
This is why Dads & Daughters is part of the National
Coalition for Girls and Women and Education and the national Title IX Task Force.