Federal regulations implementing title IX became effective in 1975 and specifically required gender equity in intercollegiate athletics. Less Emphasis on Compliance Reviews

OCR’s title IX activities have focused recently more on policy development, technical assistance, and complaint investigations and less on assessing schools’ compliance with title IX through compliance reviews. Following the 1992 NCAA Gender Equity Study, which showed that women represented 30 percent of all student athletes and received 23 percent of athletic operating budgets, NCAA created a task force to further examine gender equity in its member colleges’ athletic programs. Studies Show Some Advances in Gender Equity but Women’s Athletic Programs Still Are Not Comparable With Men’s Programs in Some Respects

The eight studies on gender equity in intercollegiate athletics that we identified showed that women’s athletic programs have made slight advances since 1992 toward gender equity as measured by the number of sports available to female students, the number of females participating in athletics, and the percentage of scholarship expenditures for women’s sports. Scope and Methodology

To determine the actions the Department of Education has taken to promote gender equity in intercollegiate athletics since 1992, we interviewed the National Coordinator for Title IX Athletics and analyzed information from the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Summary of Responses to GAO’s Survey of State Efforts to Promote Gender Equity in Intercollegiate Athletics

This appendix contains the responses to questions we asked higher education officials in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (referred to in this appendix as 51 states) about gender equity in intercollegiate athletics efforts. It also reported the percentage of NCAA schools offering each type of sports program. It identified a slight increase in the proportion of female student athletes and their share of athletic scholarship funds; however, participation opportunities and scholarship funds continued to lag behind those for men, even though women constituted over half of the colleges’ undergraduates. 4. 1, 1996). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 1994 Survey of WBCA Division I Head Coaches.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Department of Education and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) efforts to promote gender equity in intercollegiate athletics by implementing title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, focusing on: (1) steps taken by states to promote gender equity in college athletic programs; and (2) what existing studies show about progress made since 1992 in promoting gender equity in intercollegiate athletics.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) since 1992, the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has focused on prevention of title IX violations by clarifying its policies on title IX compliance and increasing technical assistance to help colleges meet title IX requirements while it continues to investigate the relatively few complaints filed each year; (2) NCAA created a task force to examine gender equity issues and now requires certification that athletic programs at all Division I schools meet NCAA-established gender equity requirements; (3) state efforts to promote or ensure gender equity in intercollegiate athletics vary considerably; (4) of the 22 states that reported having laws or other requirements to specifically address gender equity in intercollegiate athletics, 13 reported having full- or part-time staff responsible for gender equity issues; and (5) results from 8 national gender equity studies show gains in the number of women's sports that schools offer, number of female students participating in athletics, and percentage of scholarship funds available to female students, but many women's athletics programs lag behind those for men in the percentage of female head coaches, salaries paid to coaches, and proportion of women athletes to total undergraduate enrollment.