From Schools to the Olympics, Women and Title IX Score New Victories
Four school districts have agreed to ensure thousands of girls
are given equal athletic opportunities after gender
discrimination complaints were filed with the U.S. Department of
Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Title IX, the 1972 federal law banning gender discrimination in
schools, applies to all campuses that receive public funding. In
2010, the National Women’s Law Center
filed complaints against a dozen districts nationwide
alleging that girls were not being given equal opportunities to
play sports.
Back in May, I asked Neena Chaudhry, the NWLC’s senior counsel for education
and employment, how the organization selected the 12 school
districts. Chaudhry told me they were chosen not because their
Title IX violations were necessarily the most egregious but
rather because they were a representative sampling of urban,
suburban and rural campuses. By picking a cross-section of
districts, the scope of the problem could be better illustrated,
Chaudhry said.
The agreements announced Monday by the Education Department were
reached with Deer Valley Unified in Phoenix, Ariz., Wake County
Public School System in Raleigh, N.C., the Houston Independent
School District and Ohio’s Columbus City Schools. Eight of the
original 12 complaints filed by the NWLC are still pending.
“Even as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the passage of
Title IX, we must still remain vigilant in our efforts to ensure
equal opportunity for girls in education,” said Russlynn Ali,
assistant secretary for the Office for Civil Rights, in a
statement. “The agreements reached in these four cases are
representative of the important Title IX work that OCR continues
to do, and should provide assurance to the thousands of girls in
these school districts and across the nation that fundamental
fairness on the playing field and in all areas of education is
within their reach. OCR will continue to vigorously work to
ensure equal opportunity.”
The NWLC, using data submitted by the four school districts to
the Education Department, determined there was an 11 to 14
percentage point gap between how many girls were enrolled and the
share of athletic opportunities available to them. As part of the
agreements, the four districts will conduct assessments to
determine how to correct the inequities, including surveying
students to identify areas of athletic interest that are not
being met, and adding opportunities accordingly.
The announcement of the agreements comes at an interesting time.
The London Olympics start later this month, and for the first
time the United States’ delegation will likely have more females
than males. In an interesting twist, the June 23 anniversary date
of Title IX is also known as “Olympic Day,” marking the start of
the modern Olympic Games.
As of Monday, it was expected there would be 10 more women than
men among the athletes, although the qualifying events are not
yet complete, said Patrick Sandusky, chief communications officer
for the U.S. Olympic
Committee. Also for the first time, the United States will
have women competing in every sport at the Summer Games.
The increase in female athletes is the result of a combination of
factors, including new sports for women being added, such as
boxing, as well as more events being added to existing
competitions including cycling, Sandusky said. Additionally, some
women’s teams, such as field hockey, qualified for the London
Games. At the same time, some of the men’s teams that had
qualified in the past, such as soccer, fell short this time
around.
Adding more spots on the teams is only part of the equation.
Girls and women also have to be encouraged and supported in their
efforts to reach for those athletic goals. While the playing
field isn’t yet level, the increase in participation and interest
in girls’ and women’s sports nationally is a direct result of
the impact of Title IX.
Regardless of their gender, the overwhelming majority of students
will obviously never reach elite athlete status. But that doesn’t
negate the benefits – academic, social and societal – of playing
sports. And it also doesn’t undercut the reality that for
millions of children, public school athletics programs are often
their only opportunity to participate in organized sports of any
kind.
“The many benefits of girls’ participation in sports go beyond
even the playing field and lead to higher academic achievement
and graduation rates, lower teenage pregnancy rates, and overall
better health,” said Marcia D. Greenberger, the NWLC’s
co-president said in a statement Monday. “Our findings and OCR’s
investigation underscore the urgency to treating girls fairly and
putting these schools on the path toward compliance with Title
IX.”
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