What is Title IX?

posted by kacileigh, a Women Talk Sports blogger
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 7:03pm PDT

About kacileigh:

It seems pretty simple. Girls should have the same opportunity to play sports as boys.

But that's not all there is to Title IX. The first thing to know (that I'll admit I didn't really realize before) is that in the 37 words that make up the federal law of Title IX, there is no mention of sports. Take a look...

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be subject to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."

That is Title IX. And, on June 23, 1972, President Richard Nixon signed it into law. The law applies to all areas of education, but the focus has been athletics. Eventually it was realized that "any education program or activity" includes drama, sports, band and others. And once that happened, everything changed. Of all those activites, it's impacted sports most because that's where there was a huge difference between guys and girls. A year before Title IX only 1 in 27 girls were playing sports, while today 1 in 3 girls play sports.

A big argument when it comes to Title IX is the idea that it sets quotas. Which it does not. There aren't preferences or timetables for the law. It doesn't tell schools what to do. Title IX allows schools to choose how to accomplish gender equity.

The law also prohibits all forms of sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions, including sexual harassment, discrimination in admissions and counseling, discrimination against married or pregnant students, etc.

So, in a nutshell, that's Title IX. I'll post again tomorrow, on the actual anniversary, in more detail... but I wanted to first cover what exactly Title IX is for those who didn't know.

View kacileigh's Profile

Filed Under:
Sports, Discrimination/Title IX

Calendar

38th Anniversary of Title IX

There is 1 comment on this post. Join the discussion!

thespiritzone

Who knew? Thought it was always about athletics....

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 12:45pm PDT

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