Womenstake, NWLC's Blog

by Taryn Wilgus Null, MARGARET Fund Fellow
National Women’s Law Center

Thirty-five years after Title IX was passed, complaints of Title IX violations still abound. This month, officials from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights are investigating allegations of Title IX violations at Scotts Valley High School in Scotts Valley, California. The allegations center around inequities in treatment of the boys’ baseball team and the girls’ softball team. The former coach of the girls’ softball team says that the boys’ baseball team receives preferential treatment, noting that “I do think the girls need to have better equipment and a better field. They work and play as hard as the boys. They don’t get the credit and the support that the boys do.”

Some girls who play on the softball team, however, deny that there is a problem and attribute any differences in facilities to the fundraising efforts of the boys’ baseball team. Senior Audrey Payne noted that, “As far as I know the boys did so much fundraising; they spent their money well.” Both Audrey and her father believe that the district should not be held responsible for providing the girls’ and boys’ teams with equal facilities if the boys’ team was able to raise more money.