Hello, my name is Neena Chaudhry and I'm Senior Counsel at the National Womens Law Center. I'd like to talk to you today about Title IX and the Education Amendments of 1972.
On Screen: Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is the primary federal law barring sex discrimination in all federally funded education programs.
When most people hear the words "Title IX," if they think about anything, they think about women and sports. And it's true that Title IX is a law that covers women and sports. But it's also a law that address much more. It was passed in 1972 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in all federally funded education programs. That includes the areas of sports, but it also includes things like career and vocational education. It prohibits things like sexual harassment and discrimination again pregnant and parenting students, and a whole host of other types of discrimination. I want to take you through a little bit of why Title IX was and is still necessary.
On screen: In 1972, prior to the passage of Title IX, women earned just 7% of law degrees and 9% of medical degrees. In 2007, women received 47.5% of law degrees and 491.1% of medical degrees.
When Title IX was passed, girls and women were not allowed into schools in many instances, and I think people forget that. People think that now that women and girls are almost half of the college population and represent large majorities in graduate schools that that was always the case. In fact, before Title IX, women and girls were routinely denied admission to colleges, to graduate schools, solely because they were women. So Title IX opened the doors to education broadly speaking for women and girls. Prior to Title IX, girls and women were also tracked into fields like home ec, cosmetology, while some of the more technical fields were really reserved for boys and men.
On Screen: In 1971, 7% of high school varsity athletes were young women. By 2007, 41% of high school varsity athletes were women. The number of college women participating in competitive athletics is more than five times the pre-Title IX rate.
In the area of athletics, Title IX has made a huge difference for women and girls. Before Title IX, women and girls were not playing sports at the rates they are now, there were virtually no athletics scholarships available to them, and they were receiving hardly any of the budgets in athletics departments. Now, they are playing at much greater rates.
On screen: Participating in sports has created benefits for women and girls including:
Greater Academic Success
Improved Self-Esteem
Significant Health Improvements
Reduction of Risky Behaviors
Enhanced Personal Skills
The numbers for women and girls are roughly around a little over 40% at both the high school and college levels, and they're reaping the great benefits that come with participating in athletics, which include greater academic success and better health, lower rates of risky behaviors like smoking and early sexual behavior and a while host of other things, like improved self esteem and leadership and team-building skills. So Title IX has had an immense impact on women and girls in the area of sports, but there's still a lot of room for progress. We continually hear from parents and students about problems that women and girls are still facing in sports.
On Screen: While 53% of the students at Division I colleges are women, female athletes receive only:
37% of total athletic expenditures
32% of the dollars spent to recruit new athletes
45% of total athletic scholarship dollars
For example, we hear about girls who want to play sports that aren't offered b their schools, despite the fact that they're still not getting as many opportunities as the boys are. And we hear about things like softball fields being vastly inferior to baseball fields. Not having dugouts, not having batting cages, having rough debris over the fields or just not being generally maintained as well. And things that really effect girls' ability to benefit from the sports that they're trying to ply, and also make them feel that they are not as important as the boys. In addition, we hear from coaches who are being retaliated against because they are complaining on behalf of their team and their girls. And we also hear about athletic scholarship discrimination, and the fact that women are still not receiving their fair share of athletic scholarship dollars.
And in other areas as well, there is still a lot of room for progress. In the pregnant and parenting students arena, for instance, we have reports of girls being kicked out of school when they are pregnant, or being treated differently than any other student with a temporary medical disability might be treated. And Title IX has specific rules and regulations for pregnant and parenting students, which is another thing that a lot of people don't realize.
On Screen: A 2005 study found that girls represent only 15% of students taking classes in traditionally male, and higher-paid, fields. This statistic is virtually unchanged from their representation in trade and industrial classes in 1977.
In career and vocational education, we still see the clustering of women and girls in a traditionally female, lower paying jobs and a lot of barriers, such as sexual harassment, or other subtly and not so subtle ways such as discouraging women and girls from going into the higher wage fields.
Thanks for watching. If you are interested in learning more about Title IX, please check out our website at www.nwlc.org and www.titleix.info
On screen: What You Can Do
Learn more about whether your school's athletic programs treat both male and female students fairly:
Check It Out: Is the playing Field Level for Women and Girls at Your School?
Download our legal guide to asserting Title IX claims challenging athletics discrimination: Breaking Down Barriers
Visit our site to learn more about how your school can provide better support for pregnant and parenting students
Get more information about how to combat sexual harassment in schools in NWLC's report: When Girls Don't Graduate, We all Fail: A Call to Improve High School Graduation Rates for Girls
Learn more about how career and technical education programs are an important way for women and girls to gain the skills they need to get good jobs with good pay:
Putting the Law on Your Side
Tools of the Trade
The National Womens Law Center's video series, What's at Stake, offers insights into many of the issues facing women and families today.