Bush administration gives Title IX a mystifying twist

When it comes to Title IX, the Bush administration can't figure out if it's pitching or catching. Most Americans associate Title IX with the incredible burst in participation rates for girls in high school, college and ultimately professional sports. Signed into law in 1972, Title IX requires colleges and universities receiving federal funding (few if any refuse all federal support) to spend equal amounts of money on men's sports and on women's sports.

The boost Title IX gave to girls and women has helped them well beyond the bounds of the gymnasium or the soccer field. Experts credit team-sports training with helping women advance in corporations and in politics.

Despite all this, even after three decades, the law never succeeded in leveling the college sports playing field (arghhh — a cliche, I admit). Most estimates are that colleges funnel some 60 percent of their sports funding into men's programs and around 40 percent into women's sports. Nonetheless, in 2002 the Bush administration made a widely decried attempt to weaken enforcement of Title IX. Washington was deluged with letters, calls and e-mails from angry parents, saying, "Don't touch Title IX." A USA Today poll taken at the time showed that 7 in 10 Americans familiar with Title IX wanted it left alone or strengthened, not weakened. The Department of Education sprinted hastily away from its failed plan.

Nestled in the comforting bosom of a second term, the administration moved again, this time much more stealthily, to weaken Title IX enforcement. This time, the tactic worked. The public never caught on. The effort received much less media attention, and the weakened enforcement mechanism is now in place. It will most likely be years (and well after this unpopular crew has split town) before we see the impact on women's participation in college sports. It will likely drop.

But this past week the Bush administration did something uncharacteristic and unexpected. It announced it would explore the possibility of using Title IX as a tool to channel more women into the studies and fields of science and math. Helping women with Title IX instead of hurting them? Unheard of, at least by this administration.

Conservative outrage was palpable and immediate. The complaints were entirely predictable: Why isn't the Bush administration doing more for men who want to enter female-dominated fields such as social work and nursing? The answer is equally obvious: Fewer men enter pink-collar ghettos because those jobs pay less.