EDITORIAL
Education's Title IX: More cheers than tears

Thirty years after President Nixon signed into law Title IX of the Education Amendments, more women than men earn college degrees.

Though the bill, co-authored by Hawai'i's own Democratic Rep. Patsy Mink, is better known now for leveling the field of college athletics, it was originally designed to bring gender equality to education.

And it succeeded beautifully.

It's hard to believe that Title IX came at a time when graduate schools frequently limited the number of women they would admit, and women's sports programs received little money or recognition while men's programs were generously funded.

Ironically today, people complain that quotas intended to bolster female athletic programs have cut or shut down male athletic programs.

A case in point is Howard University, whose student body is 60 percent female yet whose roster of athletes is only 30 percent female. Title IX's mandate that the percentages of women and men who play athletics mirror the percentages of women and men in the student body — or "proportionality" — is blamed for killing Howard's baseball and wrestling programs.

We'd like to see reforms that save men's athletics from suffering unnecessarily under Title IX.

But the costs and benefits of Title IX differ depending on the region. For example, female athletes in Hawai'i still haven't caught up with the men. According to a review conducted by the state Department of Education in 2000, fewer girls than boys play sports in Hawai'i's public high schools. And when they do play, girls' teams have less money and fewer facilities.

Overall, though, the number of girls playing high school sports in Hawai'i has increased 139 percent since 1975. Apparently, new girls sports such as judo, wrestling, and golf have boosted the numbers.

It looks as if the gender balance that Title IX sought to establish has yet to be struck. But we've come a heck of a long way, and the journey isn't over.