PARTICIPATION:

• While women made up 55.8% of all undergraduate students during the 2004-2005 school year, the female share of athletes was only 41.7%. (Cheslock, J. (2007). Who’s Playing College Sports? Trends in Participation. Women’s Sports Foundation.)
• Female athletic participation is still increasing, but the rate of growth is slowing. 26,000 more women participated in college athletics in 2005 than in 1995. However, only 15% of this increase took place between 2001 and 2005. (Cheslock, J. (2007). Who’s Playing College Sports? Trends in Participation. Women’s Sports Foundation.)
• Women’s soccer has consistently shown the strongest growth pattern within all divisions of the NCAA. In 2006, it was the third most popular sport overall. (Carpenter, L.J. & Acosta, R.V. (2006). “Women in Intercollegiate Report: A Longitudinal, National Study, 1977-2006.”)
• Female college athletes receive only 38% of sports operating dollars, which is $1.17 billion less than their male counterparts. (NCAA Gender Equity Report, 2003-2004. NCAA, 2004.)
• Female NCAA athletes receive only 45% of college athletic scholarship dollars, which is $148 million less in scholarships than male college athletes. (NCAA Gender-Equity Report, 2003-2004. NCAA, 2004.)
• NCAA colleges spend 33% of recruitment money on women, which is $43 million less recruiting female athletes than male athletes. (NCAA Gender Equity Report, 2003-2004. NCAA, 2004.)

NCAA Varsity Athletes

Disparities in Funding Intercollegiate Athletics for 1999

Benefits:

• 71% of the female students who entered NCAA Division I programs on athletic scholarship in 1998 graduated within six years of enrollment, as compared to 63% for female students overall. (2005 Graduation-Rates Report for NCAA Division I Schools. NCAA, 2005.)
• Girls who participate in some kind of sport experience higher than average levels of self-esteem and lower levels of depression. (Colton, M. & Gore, S. (1991). “Risk, Resiliency, and Resistance: Current Research on Adolescent Girls.” Ms. Foundation for Women.)
• Sports participation is associated with reduced rates of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. (Tiggemann, M. (2001). “The impact of adolescent girls’ life concerns and leisure activities on body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and self-esteem.” The Journal of Genetic Psychology.)
• Young women who participated in sports were more likely to be engaged in volunteering, be registered to vote, feel comfortable making a public statement, follow the news, and boycott than young women who had not participated in sports. (Lopez, M.H. & Moore, K. (2006). Participation in Sports and Civic Engagement. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.)
• Teenage female athletes are less likely to illicit drugs, less likely to be suicidal, less likely to smoke and more likely to have positive body images than female non-athletes. (Miller, K, Sabo, D.F., Melnick, M.J., Farrell, M.P. Barnes, G.M. (2000). The Women’s Sports Foundation Report: Health Risks and the Teen Athlete. Women’s Sports Foundation.)
• Team sports participation is associated with a lower prevalence of sexual risk-taking behaviors for young women. (Kulig, K., Brener, N. & McManus, T. (2003). “Sexual activity and substance use among adolescents by category of physical activity plus team sport participation.” Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.)
• Female athletes are less than half as likely to get pregnant as female non-athletes (5% and 11%, respectively), more likely to report that they had never had sexual intercourse than female non-athletes (54% and 41%, respectively), and more likely to experience their first sexual intercourse later in adolescence than female non-athletes. (1998). The Women’s Sports Foundation Report: Sport and Teen Pregnancy. Women’s Sports Foundation.)
  
  

Coaches:

• In 2006 only 42.4% of women’s teams (and less than 2% of men’s teams) were led by a female head coach — the lowest level of representation ever, down from more than 90% when Title IX was enacted. (Acosta, R.V. Carpenter, L.J. (2006). “Women in Intercollegiate Sport: A Longitudinal Study – Twenty-Nine Year Update, 1977-2006.” Unpublished manuscript.)
• In the 2003-2004 season, the average salary for a Division I men’s basketball head coach was $330,900 — more than double the average salary of a women’s basketball coach, which amounted to only $162,300. Average school spending for women’s head coaching salaries was $561,800, while the average for men’s was $976,000. (Acosta, R.V. & Carpenter, L.J. (2002). “Women in Intercollegiate Sport: A Longitudinal Study — Twenty-Five Year Update, 1977-2002.” Unpublished manuscript.)
• In 2007, three (18.8%) of the 16 NCAA Executive Committee members are women. In 2001, 26.7% of senior-level positions at the NCAA headquarters were filled by women. Seven (30.4%) out of 23 association-wide committees were chaired by women. (NCAA, 2007; USA Today, Sept. 27, 2001.)
• In 2006. only 18.6% of athletic directors of women’s programs within all divisions of the NCAA were female, compared to 90% in 1972. (Acosta, R.V. & Carpenter, L.J. (2006). “Women in Intercollegiate Sport: A Longitudinal Study - Twenty-Nine Year Update, 1977-2006.” Unpublished manuscript.)
• In Division I-A schools, there are more female college presidents than female athletic directors. (Acosta, R.V. Carpenter, L.J. (2004). “Women in Intercollegiate Sport: A Longitudinal Study — Twenty-Seven Year Update, 1977-2004.” Unpublished manuscript.