Sport

    Sports are a very important aspect of human life, and every normal person ought to be involved in at least one sporting event during ones lifetime. The value of sporting events can be defined by considering the role that sports play in shaping the life of the individual. Sporting events are all essential, and not a particular one can be said to have a greater value than the other. It is for this reason that it is becoming increasingly worrying that some group or section of the members of society is finding it difficult to engage in active sporting for one reason or another. This has meant that regardless of the cause of this inability to engage in sports, the concerned people are denied the benefits that come with taking part in sports. Institutions of learning in general and colleges in particular are some of the major players that have greatly contributed to the development of sporting activities in the country.

College sports have become very popular owing to the fact that sporting events at such a high level get the chance to be sponsored by different agencies and organizations including government. In spite of this popularity of college sports, the trend has been that more and more men and an increasingly lesser number of women have been able to take part in such sporting events. The concern has almost shifted from seeking to understand how best to improve sporting events to trying to have more women take part in the events (Blumenthal, 2005). This paper discusses the reasons that have been cited, or are believed, to be responsible for the declining popularity of college women sports, and in women participation in college sports in the country. The paper particularly discusses these reasons from the point of view of the women themselves, and from that of the sporting associations in the country.

College Sports
    For a very long time, there has been a concern at the slackening participation of women in activities of sporting. College sports have for a long time been the main avenues that have allowed for the equal participation of both men and women in sports of their choice. The rate at which women sports in colleges are declining is fast enough to warrant a concern and even an explanation from the relevant stakeholders in the sports (Blumenthal, 2005). The realization that sporting events have lacked the full participation of both genders, with the majority of participants being men while women have remained less active in them drove the NCAA searching for answers. This concern particularly led to the establishment of a legislation that was geared towards ensuring that the participation of women in sports was not going to be let to keep declining but would be improved through this appropriate legislation. This led to the formulation and consequent implementation of the popular Title IX (Blumenthal, 2005). This was the legislation that specifically sought to address the issue of declining participation of women in all sports throughout the country, and in all disciplines at all levels of participation (Blumenthal, 2005).

Title IX
As of June 23rd 2007, this landmark sporting legislation was marking its 35th anniversary. It was on this occasion that the NCAA unveiled the findings of a research that had been conducted to find out why the participation of women in sports was still on a decline even after it had fallen so much in spite of the efforts done until then to halt the trend (Blumenthal, 2005). Among other provisions, Title IX endeavors to ensure that in the allocation of funding to different sporting events by colleges and institutions, there ought to be in a proposition to reflect recognized benefits as far as educational benefits are concerned. It seeks to have the allocation of funds to sporting events done not on the basis of gender but on merit, so that sporting disciplines which are predominantly for women can have participation levels equal to and just like those for men (Blumenthal, 2005).

 Title IX recognizes the fact that that the popularity of a sport has a lot to do with how it is funded and how it is viewed by the society. It is also dependent on how the participants in the given sport are viewed (Blumenthal, 2005). On the other hand, this legislation sought to have women participants given the moral support they deserved, as well as to be seen as no less strong than their men counterparts. It sought to ensure that discriminatory remarks or behavior against women were highly discouraged because they killed the morale of the women in sports. The mentality that certain sporting activities were meant for a certain class of people or a certain gender was also targeted to be done away with and instead people had to understand that women, just as men, could perform pretty well in sports given the chance (Blumenthal, 2005).  The following have been cited as some of the credible factors responsible for this decline

Indiscriminate Sporting Policies
     It was disclosed during this 35th anniversary that there were certain colleges and institutions of higher learning like universities that were deliberately putting in place rules and measures that discriminate against women. It was noted that this has prompted organizations that support the equal participation of women in all college sports such as the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to threaten using their powers as vested on them through their laws and policies to take legal action against such universities and colleges (AAUP, 2003). AAUP has been among the organizations that have been at the forefront fighting for a greater women participation in sporting events. The AAUP has worked in conjunction with different sporting association with a view to improving participation of women in sporting events, especially at college level (AAUP, 2003).

The Attitude of the People towards Women Sports
    Most women believe that they are their own worst enemies when it comes to participation in sporting events and activities because the attitude of people toward sports is rather negative as long as women are the participants. Whether this attitude has been inherited from the past culture which effectively forbade women from taking part in all sports or if it has been learnt is not quite much of an issue (Womens Sporting Foundation, 2008). What matters is that today, a lot more people still associate women with weakness and even inability, and this mentality has been passed on to the sporting arena where the woman is still seen as a weakling whose is incapable of taking part in any competitive sport. The result has been that more people, especially women, have kept away from women sporting events and activities because they have a firm belief that such are not entertaining and competitive enough to be watched (Cozzilio, 2005). The fact that one has to pay money to watch a sport has worsened the problem, as more people will prefer to watch a sport that is able to give back what they call real value for their money. All these have contributed to a lack of full participation of women in sports.

Poor Popularity of Women Sports
    There has always existed a rather cautious silence around most women sports in college, with most students desiring to watch the male sports which are usually more popular. Usually, people will be drawn to what is popular as opposed to what is unpopular even if the latter is offered free of charge. College women sports have been so unpopular that it makes little sense to try to get people watching them. Since the force that drives any sport is the fan base, participants in these sports soon or later find out that they can hardly keep participating without the moral support they desperately need from fans. So, they opt out of the same for the moment or leave it altogether (AAUP, 2003). On the contrary, most male college sports have a real high level of support from people across the college community. In fact women form a large majority of the people who support men on their sports. As it really never matters where the support comes from, the participants in popular sports always seek for an opportunity to take part in them again to revel in the undying support they receive (OReilly, 2007).

Therefore, from the point of view of most colleges, women sports in college are very unpopular because the colleges find it increasingly expensive to host women sporting events. They cite as the main reason for this the failure by most women college sports to offer enough returns to cover whatever is invested in them. To have a sport that is not particularly adapted to the needs of the stakeholders in terms of financial and even psychological returns is uneconomical. Such people are in essence opposed to women sports in colleges because they are neither as appealing as men sports, nor do they offer the needed financial returns. In this age in time, sporting activities have become one of the most lucrative business ventures. It is no longer a matter of having the sports just for the sake of it but for the financial gains that can be derived from them (Rader, 1999). The money drive, according to most people opposed to women sports in colleges, is too much to allow any other considerations.

Physique and Stamina
    All along from time immemorial, sports have been associated with a lot of physical strength that is needed to keep the participants going on. Based on this fact, most people cite the general lack of stamina by most women as one of the factors that drive them to shy away from sports. Women themselves have agreed to this point, alleging that some college sports are just too demanding as far as physical strength is concerned that they find it hard to take part in them (Womens Sporting Foundation, 2008). A most commonly cited sport that is very demanding physically is rugby, which, although not very popular on the general in the country, is hardly a women sport. Soccer is only becoming popular of late, and most of the efforts are paying off because more colleges are allowing more women to take part in them (Cashmore, 2000).

A comparatively lower physical strength has hampered the participation of women in other college sports like cricket and even basketball. That aside, feminism has stood in the way of expansion of women college sports. Most women have admitted that they never really feel comfortable enough being subjected to public critique and exposure. While men find it rather easier to cope with criticism from sports commentators, the media, fans, and the public in general, women will get affected by any negative comment. Since in all competitive sporting events the ridicule and critiquing is part of the sporting activity, it therefore pays a lot morally for them to keep off the sport. To add to that, there is usually a lot of expectation placed on the competitor, and any failure to compete according to these expectations will cause outrage even from ones own fans. The woman competitor therefore feels pressured to compete in order to please her supporters and not for her own satisfaction (Shulman, 2004). Given such prevailing conditions, most women prefer to avoid such public disgrace and pressure by not taking part in sports.

Poor Rewards
Unlike most mens sports, women sports do not have a lot of rewards for the effort one put in. Considering many sporting event, say women soccer, the ultimate prize is far lower that that for men. Both the people opposed to women sports and women themselves have agreed to this fact, although the former argue that it is the way women approach sports with a lackluster nature that drives organizers to rate their sports lowly. They insist that in order to avoid financial risk, it is only viable to have them compete for a less valued prize than men sports which are sure to bring in far much returns (Mitchell, 2007).

Poor Marketing of Women Sports
     Finally, women have maintained that their sports are not marketed very well, at least not as well as those sports for men. This has been attributed to a number of factors that include the failure by the federal and state governments to give women a greater chance to lead sporting associations. Colleges have also been blamed for focusing too much on men sports and neglecting those for women. Women have complained that even when they have wanted to take part in a certain sport, they have been unable to because they cannot find anyone to compete with or they do not know where to find other participant (Blumenthal, 2005).

    Sports are very critical to the well-being of all people. It is for this reason that colleges and universities have initiated sporting events to allow all students to take part in them for their own mental and physical health. The participation of people in college sports, however, has been largely skewed to favor men, although not deliberately but because men just seem to be more ready to take part in them. The realization by the federal government that the participation of women in sports was declining led to the formulation of legislation to promote women sports and to help reverse the trend. Currently, although the participation of women in college sports is still low compared to men sports, a tremendous improvement has been noted. Title IX has been the legislation that has helped to bring this about. It is expected that a lot more women are going to come forth and take part in college sports even as the legislation continues to bear fruits.