Title IX Resolution Clears Senate

On June 20, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a resolution “celebrating the accomplishments of Title IX” and “and recognizing the need to continue pursuing the goal of equal educational opportunities for all women and girls.”

Sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the resolution contains several findings, including:

• Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in the administration of any education program receiving federal financial assistance, including sports, and bars sexual and sex-based harassment, discrimination against pregnant and parenting students, and the use of stereotypes and other barriers to limit a person’s access to a particular educational field;
• Remarkable gains have been made to ensure equal opportunity for women and girls under the inspiration and mandate of Title IX;
• Title IX has increased educational opportunities for women and girls, including their access to professional schools and nontraditional fields of study, and has improved their employment opportunities;
• While Title IX has been instrumental in fostering 40 years of progress toward equality between men and women in educational institutions and the workplace, there remains progress to be made;
• In the 2010-2011 school year, girls were provided 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high school sports than boys;
• Research shows that more than eight out of ten successful businesswomen played organized sports as children;
• For girls who engage in sports, 80 percent are less likely to have a drug problem and 92 percent are less likely to have an unwanted pregnancy;
• Title IX seeks to protect students from sexual harassment and defend pregnant and parenting students from discrimination; and
• Stereotypes and discriminatory barriers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics persist and contribute to the low numbers of women and girls in those fields.

The resolution recognizes the accomplishments of Title IX, also known as the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, “in increasing opportunities for women and girls in many facets of education, including the magnificent accomplishments of women and girls in sports.” The measure also “reaffirms the commitment of Title IX to ending all discrimination against women and girls in elementary, secondary, and higher education, and to equal opportunities for women and girls in athletics” and “recognizes the continued importance of Title IX in providing needed protections for women and girls.”