Monday, October 27, 2008

Men FOR Title IX??? Are you kidding?

No, I’m not kidding. It’s beyond me that any father of daughters would be anything OTHER than a vigorous supporter of Title IX, the US civil rights law that prohibits gender discrimination in education. There’s a guy who (for a few more months) lives in a big house on Pennsylvania Ave in DC with 2 daughters who hasn't supported Title IX—which I've never understood.

Anyway, it’s a no-brainer for dads of daughters to support gender equity for girls and women—all we have to do is put our own daughters’ faces in the picture. Would we stand for them being denied opportunities JUST because they’re female? No way, so we shouldn’t stand for it with anyone else’s daughter either.

Fortunately, we don’t stand alone among men, as this NCAA video shows.



If you’re a man, be sure you’re speaking up for your daughter or stepdaughter—making sure that her school and world are safe and fair for girls. Learn more at www.dadsanddaughters.com

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You seem to have left some information out of your little post.

Let me tell you why Title IX is horrible. It's not for my daughter, it's for my godson.

You see, my godson plays ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey. Now, two of those sports are sanctioned and fully funded - for girls. NONE are recognized for boys. That means his father has to pay for everything and the school will not even acknowlege the boys teams exist because of Title IX. No uniforms, coaches, no pep rallies or even flyers or their schedule on the school website - absolutely NO acknowlegement from the school while the girls are fully supported and funded because of Title IX. Now, if a girl wants to play with the boys on those or any other team, she is certainly welcome. But, if a boy wants an equal chance for his teams or he as an individual to access sports, they are denied by Title IX

It gets better though. My godson is a whiz in math and science - problem is all the scholarship money that goes to girls not only for university, but for camps and programs. Again, thank you Title IX.

Oh, and for the one subject where he is just average English - in large part because of teachers that marginalized boys' interests in early years, he can't get focused extra help because he is a boy. Yet again, thank you Title IX


Don't get me wrong, Title IX was a great idea - but so was buring lots of coal to power factories. Now it's time to fix it. Supporting Title IX now is purely sexist


Stop making your daughters princess taking what they don't deserve and give the boys an equal chance

Hill Rat said...

Aaron,

The idea that boys are losing opportunities to participate in sports because of Title IX is misguided and factually incorrect. People tend to concentrate on the "Proportionality" component of Title IX while ignoring the fact that proportionality is only one of three ways that institutions can show that they are complying with the legislative mandate. The real truth is that football takes up a disproportionate amount of athletic budgets and is much more to blame for restricted opportunities for other male athletes than anything that happens under the aegis of Title IX.

Abby said...

I would have to say that Hill Rat is correct in that the proportionality part of Title IX is about the only way the school can keep track of Title IX working. It's a major flaw that will have to stand until there is a better way of tracking things.

On the flip side, in defense of football, Football is what makes the money for the school in terms of athletics. Take it away and the ENTIRE athletic system at the school fails.

I'm not a huge fan of Title IX and I'm a girl! Mainly because of what Aaron said. I don't like being given opportunities solely because I'm a girl. I want to earn it.

Anonymous said...

University of Delaware just cut track to comply with Title IX. Oh and Syracuse won't add men's ice hockey but has women's ice hockey because of Title IX. - You know because there aren't enough boys to play Ice Hockey in New York.

Sure proportionality isn't the only test. The other option is make sure EVERY girl that wants to play sports gets the opportunity. Doesn't matter how much it costs or even if they've ever played it before. Want to row crew for the first time in your life even though you're going to Arizona State University? Sure, Title IX says the girls get what they want. How to fund it? Why ASU held the boys' swimming, diving, tennis, and wrestling programs hostage - give the school 1 Million dollars or be cut. Did they do the same to the women's water polo team? Nope - even though the girls can't even get enough people together for one high school team? Just the boys have to be fund raisers. The money that the football boys raise? Not enough to satisfy the girls' teams.

Oh and the other test? Getting closer to either proportionality or giving girls any opportunity they want.

And you still didn't explain why your daughter gets more rights and opportunities in academics.

Make sure to explain to her that it's girls like her that reinforce the negative stereotypes of entitlement that women like Abby have to deal with.

Anonymous said...

Bottom line is the law if you get funding through government you have to share it equally, They dont make up teams because girls want to play , if you have football and you get funding i.e. from government grants
for the school you can not give all the funding to football if you have girls softball they have to get a portion and so on, and finally you get a scholarship for education because of your grades not gender anyone can apply title IX is for equal distribution of funds without discrimination.