A key battleground in the fight for gender equity over the past decade is the softball diamond. Few school and athletics administrators foresaw this development. When Title IX was enacted in 1972, most administrators believed that the law would be used mainly to give girls and women equal opportunities to participate in athletics at the expense of male athletes. Male athletic participation, in fact, was not adversely affected at the high school level, while female participation simply exploded as administrators put their focus on offering a greater range of opportunities. Administrators' understanding of the need for equitable facilities, however, was not as quick to take root, and so Title IX case law has increasingly focused on this area.

In determining whether an institution is in compliance with Title IX, the law requires the court to specifically look at the quality, availability, exclusivity of use, maintenance and preparation of practice and game facilities, as well as locker rooms. In a lot of high school sports, such as soccer and basketball, boys' and girls' teams share the same competition and practice facilities, so the only facility-related equity issues involve availability and scheduling. Baseball and softball, however, are a different matter. The two sports, while similar, require different fields of play, and as in the suit filed against the Sweetwater Union High School District by the Castle Park softball players, it is not uncommon for schools to provide their boys' baseball team with state-of-the-art facilities while their girls' team plays on lower-quality softball diamonds.

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John T. Wolohan

April 29, 2009 

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