Lady Tigers to remove 'Lady'
By: Sarah Bleau
Issue date: 11/4/08 Section: Sports
Women have been doing what they can to eliminate discrimination against women in sports since Title IX was passed in 1972.
The act's goal is to stop discrimination against women in federally funded educational institutes, including with athletic programs. Since then, women have been bringing their influence to athletics.
Colleges and universities can comply with Title IX by providing equal opportunities for both genders and providing women's sports.
When the act was put in place, universities began adding women's sports to fulfill Title IX requirements. Two years before Title IX passed, there were only 2.5 women's teams per school for approximately 16,000 women athletes. As of 2006, there was an average of 8.45 for about 180,000 women athletes.
After Title IX passed, the office of Civil Rights, who handles the act, understood that colleges couldn't meet the requirements overnight, saw they were making an effort by adding women's teams and gave them credit for doing what they needed to do.
"What's kind of catching up with people now is it's been several years since they added women's sports, and now that can only buy you so much time," Ross said.
So is the The University of Memphis in compliance?
"The way that you can really tell, like the litmus test as far as if Title IX is working, is if you flip flop and you gave the men all the resources that you're giving the men and you're giving all of the resources you're giving the men. Would everyone be happy?" Ross said.
The men's basketball team plays in Downtown Memphis in the FedEx Forum, while the women's basketball team plays on campus in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. So if The University did as Ross suggested, switching the facilities the teams use, would both teams be satistfied?
Women's basketball forward Ashley Thornton said, "It doesn't even matter where you are, just as long as you have a goal and a floor and a ball you can practice on."
Ross, on the other hand, thinks there would be some disagreements between the men's and women's teams.
The act's goal is to stop discrimination against women in federally funded educational institutes, including with athletic programs. Since then, women have been bringing their influence to athletics.
Colleges and universities can comply with Title IX by providing equal opportunities for both genders and providing women's sports.
When the act was put in place, universities began adding women's sports to fulfill Title IX requirements. Two years before Title IX passed, there were only 2.5 women's teams per school for approximately 16,000 women athletes. As of 2006, there was an average of 8.45 for about 180,000 women athletes.
After Title IX passed, the office of Civil Rights, who handles the act, understood that colleges couldn't meet the requirements overnight, saw they were making an effort by adding women's teams and gave them credit for doing what they needed to do.
"What's kind of catching up with people now is it's been several years since they added women's sports, and now that can only buy you so much time," Ross said.
So is the The University of Memphis in compliance?
"The way that you can really tell, like the litmus test as far as if Title IX is working, is if you flip flop and you gave the men all the resources that you're giving the men and you're giving all of the resources you're giving the men. Would everyone be happy?" Ross said.
The men's basketball team plays in Downtown Memphis in the FedEx Forum, while the women's basketball team plays on campus in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. So if The University did as Ross suggested, switching the facilities the teams use, would both teams be satistfied?
Women's basketball forward Ashley Thornton said, "It doesn't even matter where you are, just as long as you have a goal and a floor and a ball you can practice on."
Ross, on the other hand, thinks there would be some disagreements between the men's and women's teams.