Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds the following: More than 50 years ago, Congress passed title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (referred to in this section as title IX ), helping to transform participation in and support for women’s sports by barring discrimination on the basis of sex in all schools that receive Federal funding, including in their athletic programs. Since the passage of title IX, millions more women and girls have had the opportunity to compete in school-based athletics.

In high school athletics, athletic participation opportunities have increased from nearly 300,000 in 1972 to more than 3,400,000 in 2019. In intercollegiate athletics, opportunities have increased from nearly 30,000 in 1972 to 215,000 in 2020 on teams sponsored by institutions who are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (referred to in this section as the NCAA ). Despite progress, women and girls still face unequal opportunities and unfair treatment in school-based athletics.

In high school athletics, girls have over 1,000,000 fewer athletic opportunities than boys, with schools providing girls with 43 percent of all athletic opportunities while girls represent nearly half of all students. In intercollegiate athletics, colleges would need to provide women with an additional 148,000 sports opportunities to match the same ratio of sports opportunities per student as is offered to men. Overall, girls still do not have the participation opportunities provided to boys before the enactment of title IX, over 50 years ago.

Girls of color are often most impacted by unequal resources and unfair treatment. At high schools predominantly attended by white students, girls have 82 percent of the opportunities that boys have to play sports, while at high schools predominantly attended by students of color, girls have only 67 percent of the opportunities that boys have to play sports. As part of title IX athletics requirements, schools can show they are compliant by providing athletic participation opportunities for men and women that are substantially proportionate to their respective enrollment rates.

Yet, a Government Accountability Office report from 2024 found that 93 percent of all colleges had athletic participation rates for women that were lower than their enrollment rate at the colleges. At 63 percent of colleges, women’s athletic participation rates were at least 10 percentage points lower than their enrollment rates. Overall, the athletic participation rate for collegiate women was 14 percent less than their enrollment rate. Despite widespread noncompliance with title IX athletics requirements, no college has ever had Federal funding rescinded nor been sued by the Federal government for noncompliance.

The magnitude of current gaps in intercollegiate athletics participation opportunities is likely undercounted, as investigations of intercollegiate athletics data have found that the majority of NCAA member institutions inflate the number of women participating in sports by double- and triple-counting women athletes who participate in more than one sport more often than the institutions double- and triple-count their counterparts who are men, counting men who are practice players on women’s teams as women athletes, and packing women’s teams with extra players who never end up competing.

Women and girls in sports also face unfair treatment. They are frequently provided worse facilities, equipment, and uniforms than men and boys, and they receive less financial support and publicity from their schools. In the 2019–2020 academic year, women received $252,000,000 less than men in athletic-based scholarships, and for every dollar colleges spent on recruiting, travel, and equipment for men’s sports, they spent 58 cents, 62 cents, and 73 cents, respectively, for women’s sports.

Amid ongoing unfair treatment, athletes and athletics-related staff too often are unaware of the rights and obligations provided by title IX. In surveys of children and their parents, the majority report not knowing what title IX is. A study conducted by the Government Accountability Office in 2017 found that most high school athletic administrators were unaware of who their title IX coordinator was or felt unsupported by their title IX coordinator. In intercollegiate athletics, most coaches report that they never received formal training about title IX as part of the preparation for their jobs.