CWLC Initiative: NCAA Data Shows Discrimination Against Female Athletes Is Getting Worse (2020)

Champion Women and the California Women's Law Center performed an in-depth analysis of data available via the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act. Because athletics is sex-segregated, discrimination and gaps are easy to measure. The data shows discrimination throughout intercollegiate sports and that inequality is growing at an unrestrained rate. Key findings include:

  • 90% of universities and colleges discriminate against women in sports. Our analysis shows that most intercollegiate athletic departments are not meeting any of the standards Title IX sets for schools to demonstrate equity in sports opportunities.
  • Women miss out on $1 billion in athletics scholarships annually. NCAA schools alone allocate $3.5 billion to college scholarships, yet female student athletes are routinely denied hundreds of millions of dollars.
  • NCAA institutions would need to provide women an additional 148,030 sports opportunities to match the same ratio of opportunities that are offered to men.
  • Women cannot move to another competitive tier or geographic region to escape the sex discrimination. Data for the entire NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, and USCAA paints a clear picture that intentional discrimination against women is not isolated to specific conferences, competitive levels, or geographic regions.

CWLC hosted an online discussion in June, 2020 to analyze the findings of this study in more depth. Speakers included Olympic athletes and attorneys specialized in Title IX enforcement. Watch our recorded panel discussion HERE.

For the full data report and legal memo, see the below materials and visit: titleixschools.com.


Resources
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Watch the Recorded Webinar: Title IX: The Growing Gap in Women's Collegiate SportsDownload
Legal Memo: Title IX Athletic Department ComplianceDownload
NCAA Schools Title IX Data TableDownload
Fact Sheet: Discrimination Against Women in Collegiate Sports is Getting WorseDownload
Press Release: Title IX Data Shows Gender Discrimination in Sports Getting WorseDownload
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