While no one can deny the progress that women’s sports have made since Title IX became law in June 1972, the stark reality of intercollegiate athletics were laid bare at last year’s NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament. A Tik Tok video posted by Sedona Prince, a player from the University of Oregon, showed that the women’s weight room for all the athletes—the women’s and men’s tournaments both took place in bubbles due to the pandemic—consisted of one small rack of free weights and some yoga mats. Images of the men’s weight room showed a fully equipped gym. Other disparities were subsequently showcased in everything from food to swag bags.
Title IX is a federal civil rights law stating that any education program receiving federal financial assistance cannot discriminate in allocation of those funds based on gender. While this is not limited to athletics, sports have largely been the focus. The NCAA website states, “Title IX requires the equal treatment of female and male student-athletes.” 
Danielle M. Donehew
“We are a nation of laws, and one of the most impactful laws for women’s sports was Title IX and the Education Amendments Act of 1972,” said Danielle M. Donehew, executive director of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). “We’ve seen an incredible growth in women’s sports participation numbers, and specifically for women’s basketball we’ve seen an incredible opportunity of investment in our sport as a business and as an asset for an athletic department.”
Still, despite the clear terms, many colleges and universities are not in Title IX compliance. The circumstances around last year’s Division I basketball tournaments led to external review of NCAA championships and recommendations for addressing the gender inequality.
Dr. Ketra Armstrong, a professor of sport management and director of the Center for Race & Ethnicity in Sport at the University of Michigan, said that over the past 20 years there has been considerable pushback against Title IX, not only from institutions, but also from elected officials.
Armstrong played college basketball in the mid-1980s and her entry into academia came as a basketball coach and then an administrator before completing her doctorate and becoming a faculty person. How institutions treated Title IX, she said, has depended on the school.
“Some programs are more financially solid than others,” said Armstrong, who sees gender equity celebrated at Michigan. “When I worked at a program that had a lot of money, clearly there was equity and you could see it—in travel, uniforms, practice facilities and even in the support, such as marketing. But when I was at a place that didn’t have deep coffers, you could clearly see it prioritized men’s sports.
