An analysis of participation increases in college sports by race and gender demonstrating the underrepresentation of racial minorities in many college sports and severe underrepresentation of females of color.
Executive Summary
Are women of color receiving their fair share of the opportunities in intercollegiate athletics? Some writers have suggested that female athletes of color have not accrued as many gains during the Title IX era of American sport as white female athletes. Other writers suggest that Title IX has hurt male athletes of color. Overall, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all education programs and activities receiving federal funds, has helped to spur girls' and women's participation in sport. Yet the assessment of progress in intercollegiate sport by women of color and men of color is confounded not only by the complexity of race relations in American history, but also by the scarcity of reliable data on minority athletic participation rates during the Title IX era (from 1970 to the present).
Historically, both race and sex discrimination has shaped the patterns of institutional opportunity in sport and higher education. Thus, an untangling and understanding these forces is a complicated challenge. The main purpose of this study was to examine the limited amount of available data on male and female athletes of color in collegiate sport in order to evaluate the extent to which their participation and scholarship support compares to those of white male and female athletes. We also attempted to measure or judiciously estimate some racial and gender trends in athletic participation since 1972, the year that Title IX became law. Whenever possible, we used NCAA data on athletic participation and graduation rates by gender and race, and United States Census Bureau statistics as the empirical basis for analysis.
The Analysis of Available Evidence Yielded 10 Major
Conclusions:
1. Since the passage of Title IX, female college athletes of color have experienced a dramatic increase in NCAA sports participation opportunities.
For female athletes of color, there was a 955% increase in participation opportunities from 1971 to 2000 (2,137 to 22,541 participants respectively).
2. Female college athletes of color have also experienced a substantial increase in scholarship assistance.
Women athletes of color received approximately $82 million in scholarship assistance in 1999 compared to less than $100,000 in 1971.
3. Sex discrimination negatively impacts all female athletes, including female athletes of color.
Compared with the percentage of women of color enrolled at NCAA institutions (24.9% of female students), female athletes of color were underrepresented (14.8% of female students). A similar pattern of disproportionate representation existed for all female athletes. (54.7% of all students enrolled, but only 42.1% of athletes were women).
4. Unlike female athletes of color, male athletes of color in NCAA varsity sports(22.1% of male athletes) were proportionally represented compared to their presence in the student body (22% of male students).
However, the overrepresentation of male athletes of color in basketball and football, sports with high participation numbers, disguises a pattern of racial inequality in many other men's sports.
5. There is a pattern of racial inequality in most NCAA sports.
This pattern of racial clustering appears to be related to continuing racism and the disparate impacts of economic inequality on populations of color. Clustering refers to a situation where athletes of color have very high participation rates in some sports but very low participation rates in others; e.g., male rates for athletes of color are very high in football but very low in swimming and diving. The analysis uncovered an overall pattern of under-representation of males of color in 14 of 25 intercollegiate sports and females of color in 20 of 25 intercollegiate sports in 2001. The realities of clustering must be addressed if male and female athletes of color are going to reap the same widespread athletic and educational benefits as their white counterparts.
6. Sports help to advance opportunities for some students of color in higher education.
Male athletes of color in basketball (43%), football (34%), volleyball (29%), outdoor track (26%) and indoor track (24%) exceeded their overall student body representation (22%). Female athletes of color in bowling(80%), badminton (33%) and basketball (29%) exceeded their overall student body representation (24.9%). However, in the sports of badminton and bowling for females, these sports reported extremely low rates of overall participation (33 and 197 total participants respectively).
7. Scholarship opportunities for male and female athletes of color are greater than their proportion within the athlete population.
Male and female athletes of color were overrepresented among scholarship recipients (32.6% and 19.3%,respectively) compared to their representation in the total athlete population (26.4% and 17.5%, respectively). Male and female athletes of color also received a larger proportion of the scholarship dollars (36.2% and 19.5%, respectively) than would be expected considering their proportion in the total athlete populations (26.4% and 17.5%, respectively). However, female scholarship athletes of color (19.3%) were underrepresented in comparison to their proportion in the overall student body (26.2%).
8. All female scholarship athletes graduated at higher rates than the general female student body.
Both white female scholarship athletes (68%) and female athletes of color who are on scholarship (55%) graduated at higher rates than their respective counterparts in the general student population (59% and 49%, respectively). White male scholarship athletes (53%) and male athletes of color (41%) who are on scholarship graduated at about the same rate as their respective general student counterparts (54% and 42%, respectively).
9. Graduation rates of both female and male athletes of color were significantly lower than the corresponding rates for white athletes.
This relationship is also true for the general student body and demonstrates that regardless of athletic participation, students of color face unique challenges throughout their undergraduate educational experience.
10. Title IX has not decreased the participation opportunities for male athletes of color.
More than 85% of the teams that have been discontinued (i.e., wrestling, tennis, gymnastics, rifle, and swimming) are in sports in which males of color are moderately or severely underrepresented. In addition, more than half of the total participation opportunities added for male athletes were in sports in which male athletes of color were overrepresented.