The actual law goes as follows:
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
Relevance to sports
Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. The principal objective of Title IX is to avoid the use of federal money to support sex discrimination in education programs and to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices. Title IX applies, with a few specific exceptions, to all aspects of federally funded education programs or activities. In addition to traditional educational institutions such as colleges, universities, and elementary and secondary schools, Title IX also applies to any education or training program operated by a recipient of federal financial assistance.
Before Title IX:
The primary physical activities for girls were cheerleading and square-dancing. Only 1 in 27 girls played high school sports. There were virtually no college scholarships for female athletes. And female college athletes received only two percent of overall athletic budgets.
After Title IX
There's been real growth in the number of women who participate in sports, receive scholarships, and benefit from increased budgets. There are more opportunities to compete at elite levels through competitions like the Olympics, World Championships and professional leagues.
Title IX present/future
Female college athletes receive $183 million less in NCAA athletic scholarships ($965 million female v. $1.15 billion male).
In addition, female high school and college athletes continue to lag behind males in the provision of equitable resources such as equipment, uniforms and facilities.
The Title IX law still has work to do on behalf of athletes in order to move closer to greater equality. Opportunities to participate in athletics are still not equal to total female enrollment. Specifically, minorities and immigrant girls have much lower rates of participation than their white counterparts. In addition, while the overall participation in female sports has increased, the role of female coaches has decreased. In 1972, females coached 90% of women’s teams, however, today that number is only 43%.