Caitlin Clark sinks the basket to break the all-time NCAA scoring record. The USA women’s basketball and soccer teams won the gold medal at the 2024 Olympics. These are special moments in the history of women’s sports, but none of them would be possible without Title IX and the women who have pushed for equality and grown women’s athletics.
Women’s sports at Weber State University has been gaining funding over the past decade compared to men’s sports. This has given more opportunities for women to play through college. With the percentage of women athletes on campus growing, it provides more inclusion and opportunities for these female athletes and the ability to gain more funding, which is getting them closer to the men’s sports.
Title IX was introduced by Congress in 1972 as a part of the Education Amendments program. The reason behind Title IX is that it set a precedent to prohibit discrimination based on sex when it comes to school based education, sports and program funds. Although the numbers have heavily favored men over the years, it has made a positive difference in the opportunities for women in collegiate sports and remains important to this day.
“Title IX has really just created a sense of equality in the sports world for women,” Mia Rushton, former Weber State University softball outfielder, said. “More women’s sports in college means more opportunity and growth.”
For years, men’s sports dominated the college scene as much of the funding and revenues was focused on the men’s programs. However, in recent years, due to Title IX, women’s sports have gained more funding to help provide them with more equity. This growth of women’s sports has been led by volleyball, soccer, basketball and softball.
“Title IX has been very successful in expanding opportunities in women’s sports,” Will Pridemore, associate athletics director for student-athlete support services at WSU, said.
During the 2015-16 season there were a total of 218 male athletes and a total of 233 women athletes on campus. However the money for men’s sports was significantly higher at $5.5 million while the money put into women’s sports was only $3.5 million. The women’s programs received about 65% of what is provided to the men’s sports.
For three consecutive seasons, the percentage of student athletes that were rostered on Weber teams favored the women’s teams, while the funds for these teams heavily favored the men’s teams. In 2020, the number was an even number of athletes for both mens and womens sports. Recently, the number of female student athletes at Weber have started decreasing, while the number of male athletes have increased.
When it comes to Weber spending money on the different sports, football is the leader and receives around 27% of the athletic department expenses for funding of the athletes each year. In 2015-16 the average amount of money spent per male athlete was $25,334 while athletes in the women’s sports received $15,397 per athlete. This meant women received only 60% of what the men received.
Fast forward to today, 10 years later the numbers have jumped on both sides. The average male athlete is receiving $33,493 per athlete while females are now receiving $28,268. That percentage has increased significantly to where women athletes now receive 84% compared to what male athletes receive.
When it comes to the 13 NCAA sports teams on campus there are a total of five men’s teams and eight women’s teams. Although the women’s sports are more prevalent, the men are still favored in funding.These teams have changed over the years but Weber is an important part of the Big Sky Conference.
Although the money for women’s sports has increased over the past several years, there continues to be a discrepancy in the funds available.
Back in the 2015-16 season, the average salary per head coach for male teams was $100,105 compared to the average female head coaches, who were making $56,982 on average per head coach. Coaches of women’s teams only made 58% of the salary spent on coaches of men’s teams.
Currently, with the 2024-25 season the numbers have increased, especially for the women head coaches. The male head coaches are receiving $111,717 on average, while the average female head coach is making $83,126. The difference between salaries has shrunk, with women now making around 75% of what their male counterparts earn.
With the ongoing improvement for financial support on the women’s programs for coaches and players, it shows that Weber follows the guidelines of Title IX but still has a way to go to continue to close the gap in compensation.
Pridemore added, “The university and the Department of Athletics proactively review Title IX issues and work to ensure equitable opportunities for women’s sports.”
With the funding of athletes increasing, the funding for the women’s basketball team has provided them with better quality equipment.
“We get all the travel gear that we will need to wear on our trips or to athletic events and workouts,” sophomore guard for the women’s basketball team Amanda Edwards said.
Each of the players on the women’s team receives workout shirts, shorts and socks. Additionally, they are provided with travel apparel which includes jackets, sweats and a parka. They also receive shoes and a backpack which are sponsored by Adidas.
The women’s basketball team also has access to the Dee Events Center and gym for practices and workouts. According to Edwards, the team trains regularly, “We can go in the Dee Events Center anytime from around 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., we just can’t go when the men have their practice, which is from 1-3 p.m. Other than that we usually have at least half the court and the guys get the other half.”
This allows them plenty of time during the week to work together as a team in preparation for each and every game they will be playing in. It adds friendly but competitive competition with one another to help everyone grow and mature as an athlete.
Athletes need to get the proper rest and nutrition throughout the season to perform at their best. With all the funding and being able to provide each athlete and teams with the best training and nutrition programs possible, today’s athletes have more opportunities than in the past. This is why travel accommodations and hotel room assignments are so important.
Communications Law professor, Stephen Salmon, was previously involved in the Athletic Department at Weber for seven years. He discussed the growth of Title IX and how it has positively impacted the growth of women sports.
“Title IX means to me having equal and equitable access for underrepresented athletes, specifically women. Documents like this are living and breathing and change with the era that they are in. Do I think Title IX is working? Yes and no, but I do think it’s working the way it was planned,” Salmon said.
When comparing Weber to some of the other larger universities throughout Utah, including the University of Utah and Brigham Young University, it can be a challenge for smaller schools to have the same impact and ability to draw student athletes into the program.
“We as an institution are a low resource institution, meaning we have to do more with less. So, I think the athletic department in general has done a great job with Title IX and helping our women’s sports teams,” Salmon said. “I mean, you can look and see numerous Big Sky championships from our women’s teams.”
With other schools in the state having bigger athletic programs than Weber, it can affect how much money is being brought in.
“I’m not sure it hurts us from getting our fair share of funds from the state, but where it does hurt us is in getting donations and people in the stands. When you have three bigger D1 schools within reasonable driving distance, it hurts us because the market gets saturated,” Salmon said.
“The biggest thing is making the collegiate dream more achievable and fair for everyone,” Rushton said.
Information in this article was sourced from Weber State University.
