Gender segregation vs. semi-segregated: Two approaches to governing intercollegiate athletics, neither of which achieve parity

• In Event: Separate and Unequal: Studying Title IX in an Era of Extreme Conservative Backlash

Abstract

Title IX is celebrated for revolutionizing women’s sports participation, by increasing their opportunities to play and public support for their athletic achievements (Hextrum & Sethi, 2022). Yet, 50 years later, girls still lag behind boys and men in athletic opportunities, resources for their teams, and public support for their accomplishments (Hextrum et al., 2024; Flowers et al., 2023; Staurowsky, 2022). Moreover, Girls of Color have far fewer opportunities than white middle-class girls for initial athletic access and chances to persist to college (Evans, 1998; Hextrum et al., 2024). Black women’s sports participation, especially at K-12 levels, decreased after Title IX, as their participation rates fell from 34.7% to 27% (Theune, 2019). Thus, there remains an urgent need to uncover the intersectional barriers in sports.
The radical elements of the civil rights movement were mitigated through political compromises that largely retained whiteness, masculinity, and capitalism as dominant norms and superior forms of governance (Cohen, 1997; Crenshaw, 1989). Such an approach preserved the status quo all while appearing to transform society (Brake, 2004; Crenshaw, 1988; 1989; Cohen, 1997). Applying intersectionality to Title IX finds this presentation explores three ways the law reestablishes the social order: biological, gender essentialism, the law’s single-axis framework, and capitalism and gendered markets.
It is within these legal constraints that athletic departments make decisions about how to host and organize their programs (Hoffman, 2020). By and large, departments use a separate-but-equal approach to hosting men’s and women’s teams and to subsequently meet the thresholds of Title IX compliance (Theune, 2019). The presenter will share insights from her multi-year qualitative inquiry centering the lived experiences and life histories of Division I women athletes to explore how women experience separate-but-equal athletic programs. While the study originally did not intend to compare and contrast organizational approaches to Title IX, these differences arose as major research findings. Track & field (TF) is a rare exception to the gender-separate organization of college athletics. TF athletes often share coaches, resources, facilities, and training regimes. It is also one of the only racially diverse women’s college sports (Theune, 2019). Title IX does not specify how schools ensure gender equity under these arrangements and research in this area remains scant (Posbergh & Jette, 2022). Rowing, however, is gender-segregated and rowers have separate coaches, resources, facilities, and training regimes (Hextrum, 2020). The sport is also nearly 100% white (Hextrum, 2021b; 2022; 2025). Findings explore how women in these contrasting settings internalized separate but equal policies, experienced gender discrimination, contested gender norms, and redefined athletic success on their own terms. Women athletes’ attempts at contesting their subordination were constrained by Title IX and the way their university complied with the law. While the current anti-DEi and men’s rights movements may persuade progressives to retain past Civil Rights victories, these findings will encourage activists to use this moment to reimagine more aggressive and expansive pathways to equity rather than preserving an already-insufficient.

Author

• Kirsten Hextrum, Oregon State University