They were separate, but not equal.
Elma Roane can remember when the U of M’s women’s athletics were in the physical education department. With an operating budget of only $300, the goal was to produce gym teachers, not athletes.
Title IX changed all that. Signed into law June 23, 1972, by President Nixon, Title IX provided for gender equality in all schools that receive government funding. The measure sought to level the playing field for women both in the classroom and in the locker room.
But that change didn’t come easy. Guidelines were years in the making, and the courts have seen their fair share of Title IX.
Despite all of this, numbers indicate it has worked. In the last 30 years, schools across the country, including The U of M, have seen monumental increases in female participation.
A study released last month by Brooklyn College showed that the average number of women’s teams is 8.34 per college. In 1972, that number was a little over two. According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, the number of female college athletes increased from 90,000 to 163,000 between the 1981-82 and 1998-99 school years.
“The difference between now and then is just night and day,” Roane said.
She would know. The woman for whom the field house is named arrived at what was the Memphis State in 1936, the year they discontinued women’s varsity sports.
“It’s so broad, it’s like telling the history of the United States,” said the 82-year-old Roane of how Title IX changed things. “We had to battle for everything that came along.”
She remembers driving the girls to competitions in her own car, only to have to sleep on mats in school gymnasiums once they arrived. She said when the girl’s basketball team would play in the Mid-South Coliseum, the band, the cheerleaders and the audience would pick up and leave after the boys were through playing. There was no such thing as athletic trainers, and a coach without a full-time class load was an unheard-of luxury.
Title IX effectively folded women’s sports under the umbrella of the Athletic Department — a move Roane considers key.
“When we became part of the athletic department, we were accepted. Then we could move forward,” Roane said.
Though gains have been made, there’s still much left to be done at The U of M, according to the U.S. World Report magazine. The U of M ranked 307 out of 316 among schools in level of compliance with Title IX. That’s because The U of M student body is doesn’t meet the proportionality guideline, which requires the number of female athletes to match the number of females enrolled in school. The U of M is 58.5 percent female, while the number of women who participate in sports is only 25.4 percent.
“We’ll probably never match that guideline,” said Lynn Parkes, associate athletic director. “It would just be hard for us to do.”
The U of M is in compliance with the two other requirements, which say a school must have equal opportunity to participate and it must meet the students’ interest levels.
Parkes said people have the misconception that Title IX requires the same amount of money be spent on both women’s and men’s programs. In fact, women’s teams represent 26.6 percent of the budget expenditure.
Parks said this year, for the first time ever, the Athletic Department has hired an outside consulting firm to study the U of M’s compliance with Title IX. The results should be back by early this summer.
“We just felt it was a good time to do that,” Parkes said.
Charlotte Peterson, head women’s tennis coach, has been at The U of M for 26 years. She said it’s amazing to her that this generation is often unaware of what Title IX is.
“A lot of the athletes don’t know that scholarships, as well as travel funds, uniforms and shoes, didn’t always used to be here,” Peterson said. “They just don’t know what’s been done for them.”
She said she’s proud of the gains The U of M has made.
“To get one scholarship, then two and three, and then full funding and an athletic trainer... It just keeps growing. It has come full circle. I’m just glad someone had the foresight to say ‘Title IX.’”
