March 27, 2004
27 Year Study of Women in Intercollegiate Sport
FROM THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SPORTS (NAGWS) comes the Women In Intercollegiate Sport study, a report on the twenty seven year update of women in intercollegiate sports.
The richly detailed 27 page report is replete with charts, percentages and comparisons of the trends of female participation by student-athlete, by administrator, by coach, by sport, by year, by division 1-2-3. The meticulously compiled, all-embracing analysis is the handiwork of Linda Jean Carpenter, Ph.D., J.D. Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College and R. Vivian Acosta, Ph.D. Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College.
Herewith is a College Athletics Clips abbreviated summary of the Women In Intercollegiate Sport study executive summary:
Participation Opportunities for Female Athletes
� Nationwide, college women have more athletic teams available to them than ever before.
� 8.32 teams per school is the average offering for female athletes in 2004. In 1972 (the year Title IX was enacted) the average was slightly over 2 per school.
� In 2004 female collegiate athletes had a total of 8402 teams available to them at the nation�s NCAA schools.
� In the last six years, a total of 1155 new women�s teams have been added.
� The five most frequently found college varsity sports for women are in rank order: basketball, volleyball, cross country, soccer and softball.
� Soccer exhibits the greatest growth of any sport in the last 27 years. It is now offered for women on 88.6 % of the campuses while in 1977 it was only found on 2.8% of the campuses.
Status of Women as Administrators
� No female at all, at any level, is found in the administrative structure of 17.8% of women�s athletics programs.
� Division I contains the fewest programs lacking a female in the administrative structure (6.3%) with Division II at 30.2% and Division III at 18.8%.
� The average NCAA athletics program employs 3.32 administrators of whom 1.15 are female.
� There are more female college presidents of Division IA schools than there are female athletic directors in Division IA programs.
� There are 3356 administrative jobs in NCAA programs offering women�s athletics in 2004.
� In 2004, women hold 34.6% of the administrative positions.
� Division I includes the smallest percentage of programs with a female Athletic Director (8.7%). Division II includes 16.9% and Division III includes 27.5%.
Status of Women as Head Coaches
� 44.1% of the coaches of women�s teams are females, down from from 47.4 in 1998.
� When Title IX was enacted in 1972, more than 90% of women�s teams were coached by women.
� Even though over half of women�s teams are coached by males, very few females serve as head coaches of men�s teams. The percentage of females among the coaching ranks of men�s athletics remains under 2% as it has been for the last 3 decades.
� Female athletes in Division III are the most likely to have a female coach (46%), closely followed by Division I with 44.9%. Among the 10 most popular sports, field hockey and lacrosse teams are the most likely to have a female coach with 96.6% and 86.2% respectively. Softball, at 64.8%, and basketball at 60.7%, follow next.
Status of Women as Assistant Coaches
� Women hold 57.2% of the paid assistant coaching jobs within women�s NCAA athletics programs.
� Women hold 5273 of the 9215 paid assistant coaching jobs; males hold 3942 paid assistant coaching jobs.
� Women hold 52.9% of the unpaid assistant coaching positions on women�s teams.
Status of Women as Sports Information Directors
� 978 NCAA institutions have full time Sports Information Directors.
� 12.2% of the full-time SIDs are women. The highest percentage of female full time SIDs (14.5%) is found in Division III.
� 11.6% of Division I Sports Information Directors are female.
Status of Women as Athletic Trainers.
� 972 institutions have full time head Athletic Trainers.
� 30.0% of the full time head Athletic Trainers are females. The highest percentage of female head Athletic Trainers (38.9%) is found in Division III. and the lowest percent (20.3%) is found in Division I.
(this excerpt was extracted from the Women In Intercollegiate Sport. A Longitudinal National Study, Twenty Seven Year Update: 1977-2004, by R. Vivian Acosta, Ph.D. Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College and Linda Jean Carpenter, Ph.D., J.D. Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College. Professors Acosta and Carpenter can be reached at: PO Box 42, West Brookfield, MA 01585 or, contacted at the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS) at 703-476-3450 or nagws.org.)