S ince Title IX has been passed in 1972, there have been numerous progresses with the equity of women's athletics in schools. Many individual female athletes are facing equal chances of participating in varsity sports and have had the same level of interests and ability as individual male athletes. Many more females have now benefited from more athletic participation opportunities and have equal usage of facilities. Despite the improvements on equality for women, there is still a long way to go.
Women are still only about one-third interscholastic and intercollegiate athletes.
The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, who enforced Title IX, does not have enough financial support from federal funding. This creates problems for women to file lawsuits. Many women have to file lawsuits on their own to challenge discrimination in schools, which can be very costly and time-consuming. It is said that when more women have become athletes, there have been fewer opportunities for men to play sports. In the five-year period ending in 1996, the number of men's participants in the NCAA has shrunk by 20,800 athletes.