Title IX

Yesterday I got to see how local government can provide tools to help fight for a level playing field in athletics. Together with the Sankofa Project, the Center was proud to be recognized for their work on a bill introduced by D.C. Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie with unanimous Council support.

The proposed legislation would require D.C. public schools to disclose certain key athletics equity data by gender on an annual basis, such as

• enrollment and sports participation numbers by gender and race;
• coach-to-athlete ratios;
• compensation, qualifications and duties of coaches;
• funding sources and spending;
• scheduling and post-season play;
• training and academic support; and
• quality of facilities and equipment.

Under the bill, all of this information would be required to be publicly available on the city’s website. Read more »

Here at the National Women’s Law Center, we hear stories about problematic school policies all the time. But this story out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is particularly egregious: a charter school’s policy around hairstyles left seven-year-old Tiana Parker feeling alienated and her father with no choice but to transfer her to a new school.

Tiana Parker was sent home from Deborah Brown Community School due to her dreadlocks.  According to the school’s policy, “hairstyles such as dreadlocks, afros, mohawks, and other faddish styles are unacceptable” because they might “distract” students.  It’s not clear to me why dreadlocks and afros are considered “faddish” – these are common natural hairstyles in the black community that have been worn for centuries.  What is clear to me is that this school may need some education about the federal laws prohibiting programs that receive federal funding from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin – Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.  And let’s not forget Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in education.  Read more »

When it comes to protecting the rights of pregnant and parenting students, the National Women’s Law Center’s work is never done. It was not too long ago that we settled a complaint against the CUNY system in New York City on behalf of Stephanie Stewart, whose professor did not excuse her pregnancy-related absences. Today, we are filing another complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, this time on behalf of Brandi Kostal, a student in a joint Masters of Science in Nutrition and Doctorate of Chiropractic program at Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis.

When Brandi had an emergency c-section in the middle of last term, one of her top concerns was finishing her courses so she could stay on track and graduate on time. But Logan College’s absence policy is incredibly strict: absences are only excused for jury duty or military service, and for many classes, missing just 2 sessions would push her into “attendance failure.” Brandi was doing well in her doctorate classes and did not want to withdraw or be penalized for her absences, which were the only options she was given. So she returned to her hectic class schedule just 11 days after her complicated surgery. She was in great pain, could not take her pain medications so she could drive, and had to stop breastfeeding her 11-day old infant. Read more »

As an alum of Swarthmore College who looks back on my years there with halcyon nostalgia, nothing could be more disheartening to me than to learn that my alma mater had been covering up reports of sexual assault, misreporting campus crime statistics, and turning a cold shoulder to survivors looking for support and justice. But after students filed Clery Act and Title IX complaints against the college last spring, I was forced to acknowledge that while Swarthmore gave me the educational foundation and friends to last a lifetime, other students—survivors of sexual assault—received so much less than the college promised and than they deserved.

Swarthmore took an important step last Thursday in restoring my confidence in the school and, more importantly, the safety of the students currently enrolled. In an open letter, President Rebecca Chopp detailed the initial actions Swarthmore will take to respond to the “sea change” in the law addressing sexual assault and harassment at America’s colleges and universities. From a number of new policies the college will roll out as soon as this summer, it’s clear that Swarthmore would rather surf the wave than drown. Read more »

Yesterday ESPN aired the first of nine films celebrating Title IX in its “Nine for IX” series. The first one, “Venus Vs.,” is about Venus Williams’ fight for equal pay for women at Wimbledon. While it is a triumphant story in many ways, I couldn’t help but be struck (and frustrated), as I always am, at the slow pace of progress.

The fight for equal pay at Wimbledon, much like the fight for equal pay for women in general, has been going on for decades. In tennis, Billie Jean King started the effort that Venus helped bring to fruition.

Similarly, on the playing fields of our nation’s schools, the battle for gender equity rages on. Over forty years after Title IX was passed, girls are still not receiving equal chances to play or equal benefits when they do. Read more »

Girls in the District of Columbia are being shortchanged when it comes to opportunities to play sports and benefits such as coaching, facilities and equipment, in violation of Title IX. That's what we said in a complaint filed yesterday with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR). 

Information provided by DCPS pursuant to a FOIA request shows disparities of over 10 percentage points and as high as 26 percentage points between girls' enrollment and the share of athletic participation opportunities provided to them in the majority of the district's 15 public high schools. These gaps mean that DCPS would need to provide almost 700 additional athletic opportunities to girls to provide parity. The Center's complaint requests that OCR investigate all District public high schools and require them to treat girls fairly. 

Check out the following snippets from the Washington Post, which published a story about the NWLC complaint: 

• Daja Dorsey, who graduated from Ballou in June and played basketball, volleyball, softball and ran track, said the boys' football and basketball teams got more intensive coaching, more attention from recruiters and scouts and more college scholarships than the girls' teams. "It was a whole different approach for the boys," she said. "I wouldn't have minded that." 

Happy 41st birthday, Title IX! Title IX, the federal law banning discrimination based on sex in federally-funded educational programs, turned 41 this past Sunday, June 23. Around this time last year, we were gearing up for the 2012 Olympics, widely hailed as the “Title IX Olympics” for the success of women athletes. Yet, the stories about girls and sports in the news this week show us how much more work needs to be done before the promise of Title IX can be fully realized. 

Last week, Abby Wambach — a member of the 2012 Olympic Gold-winning American women’s soccer team — scored her 160th international goal in a game against South Korea. In breaking Mia Hamm's previous record of 159 career international goals, Wambach became the world leader, for both men and women, in international goals. One might expect such an achievement to be splashed across the sports headlines of major newspapers, right? Wrong. Her story has been relegated to secondary status, when it has been covered at all. I was lucky to watch an ESPN documentary about Abby’s career, and her commitment to women’s professional soccer opportunities in the U.S. is remarkable. Even if major newspapers aren’t #chasingabby, I’ve been inspired to follow her career more closely. 

Next up to bat: Madison Baxter of Georgia. Madison, 12, has been playing football for years as a starting defensive tackle. She was looking forward to going out for the team when she enters the seventh grade next year, but her school told her that she would no longer be allowed on the team, because her male teammates “would begin lusting after her.” Madison had a separate locker room and changing facility, but the school’s decision has cut short her dream of becoming one of the first college-level female football players. She is fighting back via a Facebook page, “Let Her Play.” 

Of course, while these examples are disappointing to say the least, Title IX covers much more than sports. Read more »

"I graduated high school because of my son," said Amber Anderson this morning, describing how giving birth to a child during her sophomore year of high school motivated her to take her education seriously and get on track to graduate. 

Although the most common social narrative is that when a high school student gets pregnant, her life is over (which people tend to apply to high school moms but not necessarily high school dads, I might add), stories from students like Amber turn the stereotype on its head. As she and other young mothers shared at today's Hill briefing, sponsored by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education, teen parents can and do succeed — especially with a little support. Each young woman agreed that having a child pushed them to finish high school. 

The briefing, held in honor of the 41st anniversary of Title IX, was called "Title IX, Pregnant and Parenting Students, and ESEA: Supporting Young Parents to Achieve Their Educational Goals." It brought together teen parents, advocates, and service providers to explore the promise of Title IX's protections for pregnant and parenting students and to explain the implications of the currently pending Pregnant and Parenting Students Access to Education Act ("PPSAE Act"). Read more »

Last week, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced the Strengthening America’s Schools Act of 2013, a bill to reauthorize (fancy word for “update and fix”) the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind.

The “mark-up” of the bill—when the HELP Committee votes on amendments and hopefully sends the bill to the full Senate—starts tomorrow.

The National Women’s Law Center supports http://www.nwlc.org/resource/letter-help-committee-support-strengthening-americas-schools-act this bill, and urges the Senate HELP Committee to further strengthen it during tomorrow’s mark-up. Read more »

Source: IMDb

There may be no crying in baseball, but the lack of athletic opportunities available to girls in secondary schools across the country is definitely something you should be upset about. Just yesterday, the National Women's Law Center filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit in Ollier v. Sweetwater, a case brought by high school girls challenging their school's failure to provide them with equal athletic opportunities and the retaliation they faced after lodging a complaint. The brief supports the district court's ruling that the school failed to meet any part of Title IX's three-part participation test and that it retaliated against the class of girls when it fired their coach among other actions. The school district appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit.  Read more »