The year 1972 is often hailed as an inflection point in the evolution of women's rights. Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a law that outlawed sex-based discrimination in education. Many Americans celebrate Title IX for having ushered in an era of expanded opportunity for women's athletics; yet fifty years after its passage, sex-based inequalities in college athletics remain the reality. Equality Unfulfilled explains why.
Published by Cambridge University Press, the book identifies institutional roadblocks—including sex-based segregation, androcentric organizational cultures, and overbearing market incentives—that undermine efforts to achieve systemic change. Drawing on original surveys with student-athletes, athletic administrators, college coaches, members of the public, and fans of college sports, it highlights how institutions shape attitudes toward gender equity policy. It offers novel lessons not only for those interested in college sports but for everyone seeking to understand the barriers that any marginalized group faces in their quest for equality.
Dr. Elizabeth A. Sharrow is an associate professor in UMass Amherst’s School of Public Policy and the Department of History, and Director of Faculty Research at the UMass Institute for Social Science Research. Their scholarship focuses on the politics of gender and race in the U.S. with a focus on how policy has shaped intersectional meanings of sex, race, sexuality, disability, and class over the past fifty years. Sharrow’s research looks at Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the politics of the family, and the politics of college athletics.