More than 30 years after Title IX of the Civil Rights Act required school athletic programs to provide equal opportunities for women, a bill in the state Legislature aims to make parks and recreation departments do the same.
But local parks officials, including those in Lakewood, Puyallup and Pierce County, worry the bill would create a nightmare of gender-equity reporting requirements for their shrinking departments.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, would require park districts to submit annual reports to the state Human Rights Commission showing that they offer equal opportunities to men and women.
Areas of concern include whether parks departments offer a ratio of programs proportional to the gender makeup of the community, and whether independent men’s teams get preference over women’s teams when it comes to booking public facilities, said Linda Mangel, a sports equity advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.
She described the problem as rampant in Seattle, where women’s volleyball club teams routinely have trouble scheduling practices in gyms because club basketball practices or games were already scheduled.
In other cases, women’s softball facilities are in substantially worse condition than men’s baseball fields, Mangel said.
That’s the case in Burlington, where parents complained this year that girls must change in portable toilet units while boys have permanent restrooms at the baseball field, she said.
Mercer Island’s community softball fields also lack the illuminated scoreboards and concession stands found at the community’s baseball fields, Mangel said.
“A lot of the men’s teams are older, and in a lot of cases it’s tradition that they get first pick,” Mangel said. “It’s playing out in communities all over Washington. Without a law that specifically tells communities that they have to consciously allocate resources equally, it’s just not happening.”
Local parks directors say they support the intent of the bill to promote gender equity in sports.
What they can’t get behind is the requirement that they submit annual reports on compliance. They also would have to ensure paperwork is completed by athletic associations and other third-party groups that rent public facilities.
Parks directors are working with Kohl-Welles to come up with a version of the bill they find more palatable, said Mary Dodsworth, Lakewood’s parks director and the president of the Washington Recreation and Parks Association.
“It’s really an unfunded mandate when you start looking at all this monitoring and reporting it would require,” Dodsworth said. “What’s maintained in the bill would be very difficult for a parks and recreation department, small or large, to implement – especially with the kinds of budget cuts we’re facing.”
Lakewood had to cut about 10 full-time staff positions citywide this year. The Parks Department had to cut $80,000, which included eliminating one full-time employee, Dodsworth said.
Kohl-Welles bill would also require parks departments to develop procedures for users to file complaints if they feel gender discrimination has occurred. Departments would have to designate a staff member to investigate complaints.
Puyallup Parks Director Ralph Dannenberg said he’s not sure discrimination is happening in his community.
“I think we’re almost trying to solve a problem that certainly hasn’t been demonstrated to me,” Dannenberg said. “I’d certainly like to see them have to prove that a little bit more.”
One part of the bill would set up a work group to compile and review compliance reports from each community and decide if additional reporting is needed. No public money would be used to fund the work group.
Pierce County Parks Director Kathy Kravit-Smith said she would support a group looking into whether the problem is real before communities are forced to comply.
She and other parks directors said they’d favor targeting communities that receive complaints over implementing blanket requirements.
“I’m not sure this legislation is going to give us the opportunity to find out where the issues are,” Kravit-Smith said. “Let’s find out where this is happening and go after those communities.”
Kohl-Welles said she’s amenable to tweaking the bill so it doesn’t put as much burden on parks departments. At the same time, equal athletic opportunities for women and girls must be ensured, she said.
“I want to find something that works,” said Kohl-Welles, who introduced a similar bill last year. “What we’re trying to do is make sure there’s a level playing field.”
Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058
WHAT: Hearing on Senate Bill 5967
WHEN: 10 a.m. Monday
WHERE: State Capitol in Olympia, before the Senate Committee on Government Operations & Elections. A companion bill in the House has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.
