The issues of gender equality in youth sports and the ethical dilemmas that surround it are widely known and have been extensively discussed by scholars, educators, parents, athletes and administrators. Despite the amount of dialogue and discourse on the subject, there remains little consensus and much disagreement on how to deal effectively and manage equal opportunities for both sexes in school sports. From an athletic administrative perspective, managers must negotiate the situation of whether or not to allow girls to play on boys' teams, and if so, then should they also allow boys to play on girls' teams? The athletic administrator must also understand Title IX, its implications and how it shapes school funding, policy and attitudes. According to Hums and MacLean (2009), "athletic administrators should consider how they respond to Title IX in terms of corporate social responsibility and whether they are providing opportunities because the law mandates it, or because it is the right thing to do" (p.98) .
Boys on Girl Teams, Girls on Boy Teams .
Generally speaking, I think most would agree that in high school sports, it's usually a girl that wants to play on the boys' team and not the other way around. This is because girls have historically been the underrepresented sex in school sports and athletics. The National Women's Law Center cited statistics showing that even in 2010, "schools are providing 1.3 million fewer chances for girls to play sports in high schools than boys" (as cited by Hums, McLean, 2009, p.98). Hums and Mclean (2009) point out, "while great progress has been made for girls in high school sports, there is still work to be done" (p. 98). If there is no opportunity for a girl to play the sport of her choice at her school, then her only option is to play on the boys' team. The rule in most cases is that boys and girls can participate in a sport on teams of the opposite gender so long as that sport is not offered for one's own gender (MIAA, 2013).
