Title IX at 35: Beyond the headlinesRead full report here:
http://www.ncwge.org/PDF/TitleIXat35.pdfExecutive summaryThirty-five years after the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the stunning progress brought by this landmark civil rights legislation is evident in women’s unprecedented achievements in many areas, including business, the professions, academics, sports and public leadership. But, much remains to be done, for the evidence shows that girls and women continue to suffer discrimination in many educational activities, although it is usually in a more subtle form than it was before Title IX was enacted.
A glance at the news headlines from the last five years shows that in spite of the continuing discrimination against girls, Title IX is under attack from critics who claim that there is a “boys’ crisis” and that the law now favors girls and women at the expense of boys and men.
However, studies show that the educational performance of both sexes has continued to improve under Title IX and that girls’ gains have not come at boys’ expense. Moreover, both boys and girls face problems such as low high school graduation rates, sexual harassment and sex stereotyping. Policymakers must seek solutions that benefit all students.
This report sets forth the facts behind the headlines in six areas covered by Title IX that have been focused on in recent years: athletics in schools; education in the “STEM” subjects— science, technology, engineering and mathematics; career and technical education; employment in educational institutions; sexual harassment of students; and single-sex education. Through this examination, NCWGE seeks to inform the continued search for policies that will promote true equality of educational opportunity in all of these areas.
Some critics contend that Title IX has weakened boys’ and men’s opportunities in athletics. However, while Title IX has opened up the playing fields, women and girls still lag behind men and boys in participation, resources and coaching. And, contrary to the critics’ claims, boys’ and men’s opportunities to play sports have continuously increased since 1972, albeit at a slower rate than that of girls and women—who
had so few opportunities before Title IX.
Nevertheless, opponents continue to claim—ignoring relevant court decisions to the contrary—that Title IX policies set forth quotas that are taking participation opportunities and resources away from boys and men. After convening a Commission on Opportunity in Athletics in 2002 to consider changes to Title IX policies, including the so-called “quotas,” the Department of Education declined to make any
changes. Then, in March 2005, without any notice or opportunity for public comment, it suddenly released an “Additional Clarification” of its athletics policies, which authorizes schools to use e-mail surveys as the sole measure of girls’ and
women’s interest in playing sports. The Clarification creates a major loophole through which schools can evade their obligation to provide girls and women with opportunities in athletics.
Before Title IX, many educators accepted the stereotype that girls could not achieve in STEM subjects. Since then, that stereotype has been weakened, and significant progress has been made in this area. The gender gap at all grade levels has decreased significantly since 1970 in nationwide assessments
of science and math performance; women’s share of bachelor’s degrees in natural sciences and engineering has more than doubled, and their share of doctoral degrees in these fields has more than quadrupled. However, women still only earn 20% to 25% of degrees in physics, computer sciences and engineering, and the culture of STEM fields still isolates and excludes girls and women.
A GAO study in 2004 found that enforcement of Title IX in STEM has been severely lacking, and that students and faculty generally do not know that Title IX applies to this area. In addition to remedying this situation, educational institutions should cultivate girls’ and women’s talents in STEM to meet the demand for workers in
the emerging high-tech world and grow America’s capacity for innovation.
In the last 35 years, women and girls have made very little progress in “blue-collar” technology and trades occupations. Male students continue to predominate in courses that lead to high-skill, high-wage jobs, while female students fill
the low-wage, low-skill tracks. Before the 1970s, the career and technical
education system in the United States intentionally segregated students
by sex. Title IX made this unlawful and required that schools take steps to
address the disproportionate enrollment of students of one sex in a
course.
Between 1984 and 1998, Congress spent about $100 million annually for sex-equity
coordinators and programs in each state to eliminate sex bias and stereotyping and to meet the needs of single parents, displaced homemakers and other individuals
facing significant barriers. Congress eliminated this funding in 1998, and OCR has done little to investigate sex segregation in career and technical education, despite the patterns of persistent discrimination. Girls still make up almost 90% of the students enrolled in classes leading to traditionally female occupations and only 15% of those in classes in traditionally male fields. Biased career counseling, gender stereotypes, unequal treatment by teachers, sexual harassment and other discriminatory practices result in a career and technical education system that limits the educational opportunities of women and girls. This has significant negative consequences for women’s economic security, and fails to develop women’s skills in fields with a high demand for skilled labor at good wages.
Women continue to face sex discrimination in education employment. Despite progress, relatively few women hold administrative positions at any level of education and they remain under-represented in higher levels of academia, especially at the most prestigious universities. The numbers are especially low for women in the “hard sciences.”
Women’s salaries remain below those of men in every job category, and they also face inequities in grant funding, lab space, leave policies and other support necessary for their advancement.While some institutions are addressing under-representation of women, more must be done to address discrimination in employment in education.
Sexual harassment is sex discrimination that is prohibited by Title IX, whether the student is harassed by employees such as teachers or coaches, or by other students. Students who have suffered sexual harassment may sue for damages
in court under Title IX, but schools have an obligation to end harassment that goes well beyond their monetary liability.
OCR issued a Sexual Harassment Guidance in 1997, which was revised in 2001, that requires all schools subject to Title IX to maintain an environment that is free of sexual harassment and to remedy the effects of harassment on the victim. However, sexual harassment remains a problem for students in our schools. One study found that four of five students in 8th through 11th grade—both boys and girls—reported that they had experienced some type of sexual harassment in school. A recent survey of sexual harassment on college and university campuses found that 62% of female college students reported being sexually harassed, some severely enough
to make them drop a course or stay away from particular buildings or places on campus. Institutions at all levels of education must address this problem, including by ensuring that they have effective policies and procedures in place to address
sexual harassment complaints.
The last area discussed, single-sex education, focuses on problems with the changes to the Title IX regulations issued by the Department of Education in 2006, which allow schools to provide single-sex programs without adequate protection against stereotyping and other forms of sex discrimination.
The 1975 Title IX regulations allowed some single sex classes and programs for specific purposes such as contact sports, instruction in human sexuality, and for remedial or affirmative activities to decrease sex discrimination. The 2006 changes allow K-12 non-vocational single sex education for many more purposes and do not have adequate safeguards to ensure that sex segregated schools, classes or activities will not increase sex discrimination. They fail to recognize that women and girls have historically been treated inequitably and received fewer resources when programs are separated on the basis of sex. In addition, the 2006 changes do not require that sex segregation be used only if there is adequate justification to show that it will be better than coeducation in accomplishing the desired objectives, such as increasing gender equity in education.
Educators must understand the dangers of single sex programs, and should carefully examine them to ensure that they are not discriminating on the basis of sex and reversing the significant progress made under Title IX since 1972.
Probing beyond the headlines in these six key areas covered by Title IX, NCWGE has found significant progress along with serious enforcement gaps and disappointing
setbacks. Looking forward, it has identified key opportunities to continue improving
women’s and girls’ access to educational opportunities. Policymakers, administrative
agencies and educational institutions all have an important role to play in achieving gender equity, along with students, parents and teachers. Policymakers must increase oversight of Title IX enforcement and continue to provide resources and incentives for research and development of effective gender equity programs.
OCR should rescind the athletics policy clarification on interest surveys and the new single-sex regulations, as well as increase compliance reviews and reporting. Educational institutions should appoint Title IX coordinators, conduct self-assessments and continue efforts to end all forms of sex discrimination,
including harassment, in order to improve women’s and girls’ opportunities in all
areas of education. Implementing these and other items in the action agenda will expand progress toward gender equity in education and change the headlines.
