License to Thrive

WHY DADS & DAUGHTERS SUPPORTS TITLE IX

We believe that Title IX is a huge advantage for fathers, a boon for our  daughters, and good for our sons, too. At Dads & Daughters, we reject the notion that helping girls requires short-changing boys, or vice versa. To our eyes, Title IX is a great example of this.

First, even though females in high school and college still receive less than their fair share of athletic resources, girls’ and women’s sports have exploded since the passage of Title IX more than 30 years ago. The evidence is overwhelming that this trend is positive for our daughters’ physical and mental health, across the board. Title IX is among the most successful civil rights initiatives in our country’s history.

In addition, since we fathers grew up steeped in the culture of sports, sports participation by our daughters gives us an invaluable arena through which we can connect with them, strengthening our relationships.  This arena wasn’t nearly so available to previous generations of fathers—because there was no Title IX.  That’s why Dads & Daughters says that Title IX is one of the best things that ever happened for fathers of girls.  Title IX is also good for our sons, because the growing number of female athletes helps boys and men see girls and women as real, multi-dimensional people, rather than toy-like, pseudo-sexualized objects.  That’s particularly important in a culture which encourages our sons to value a woman’s appearance over her inner qualities and accomplishments.  As fathers, we know that successful long-term relationships are built on quality and accomplishment, not on outward appearance—and Title IX helps us teach this truth to our sons.

Finally, we believe the evidence shows that, in a substantial majority of cases, schools have not cut male athletic programs because of Title IX.  Federal courts (in opinions by both conservative and liberal judges) have consistently ruled that Title IX is constitutional and is not to blame for the elimination of men’s sports like wrestling.  Indeed, even the NCAA acknowledges that the so-called “minor” men’s programs  which are not minor to the men and boys who participate in them) are being cut because men’s athletic departments are shifting spending to the so-called “major” sports like football and basketball.  One glaring example of this spending shift is the skyrocketing salaries of football and basketball coaches, which often exceed the salaries of a college’s professors and president.  NCAA President Dr. Miles Brand sayst that smaller men’s programs are being cut primarily because of what he calls “an arms race” in higher revenue sports—not because of Title IX. 

This is why Dads & Daughters is part of the National Coalition for Girls and Women and Education and the national Title IX Task Force.

For more about Dads & Daughters, go to: www.dadsanddaughters.org