Gender Equity in NESCAC Varsity Athletics and Title IX Compliance

Abstract

Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments to the 1964 Civil Rights Act now includes a proportionality standard, that is, the percentage of women who participate in sports at a university should approximate the percentage of female undergraduates at the school.  The authors examine whether New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) schools were compliant with the proportionality standard during the 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17 academic years.  The results show that practically all NESCAC schools were in compliance with the proportionality standard all three years, but only when 5 percentage points were added to the school’s percentage of women who participate in varsity sports.