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For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Contact:
Administration’s Single-Sex Regulations Violate Constitution & Title IX
(Washington, DC) Based on an announcement today by the Department of Education, final regulations on single sex education will allow schools to exclude young girls – or boys – from educational opportunities based solely on their sex, the National Women’s Law Center said today.
“Although the Department’s announcement claims to enhance schools’ flexibility to improve education, in reality the regulations will distract attention from true educational reform,” said Marcia D. Greenberger, NWLC Co-President. “The regulations will disadvantage all students by allowing vastly expanded sex-segregation in our nation’s schools without proper safeguards against discrimination and stereotyping.”
Greenberger added, “Single-sex education can have important benefits in some cases, but today’s action makes clear that these proposals will abandon critical protections to make sure that harmful stereotyping and more limited opportunities do not result. The Department’s single-sex regulations will allow and even encourage harmful sex-stereotyping and authorize a separate and unequal education system for girls in our public schools.”
The Constitution and Title IX provide ample flexibility for schools to pursue single-sex programs where they are appropriate – where they are compensatory and will help to overcome barriers to equal educational opportunity and historic gender stereotypes. The law contains strong legal protections to ensure that single sex programs do not, even with good intentions, perpetuate harmful stereotypes that limit girls’ or boys’ opportunities.
Today’s action makes clear that the new regulations will allow school districts to exclude girls or boys from classrooms based on classic stereotypes – for example, that girls cannot learn in a fast-paced competitive environment or need to be isolated as the only way to protect them against sexual harassment or teasing. Women and girls have historically received and continue to receive fewer resources and opportunities when they have been relegated to all female programs. But the regulations ignore this danger and will put women’s and girls’ progress at risk by allowing them to receive separate and unequal educational opportunities.
The Department of Education received more than 5,000 comments after it proposed the rule changes over two years ago. Approximately 96 percent of them – including those by the NWLC – opposed any changes to the regulations as unnecessary. Despite strong opposition by the public and many experts, however, the Department’s final rules will not reflect the fundamental concerns expressed and instead violate Title IX’s clear protections.
“It’s ironic, to say the least, that an Administration that has consistently undermined affirmative action and challenged programs that advance desegregation efforts and help disadvantaged students is now issuing rules allowing segregation throughout our nation’s public schools,” said Greenberger.
“In fact, without the safeguards in place that the Department’s regulations will eliminate, boys can miss out on options seen as ‘unmanly’, and girls can get less experienced teachers, fewer class resources, and miss out on challenging classes seen as better for boys. These regulations are bad news for all our nation’s students – both boys and girls.”
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