This Week Marks 50th Anniversary of Title IX, Protects Students from Gender Discrimination in Sports

Before Title IX , few opportunities existed for female athletes

On June 23, 1972, Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 is enacted into law. Title IX prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex.

It begins: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

As a result of Title IX, any school that receives any federal money from the elementary to university level—in short, nearly all schools—must provide fair and equal treatment of the sexes in all areas, including athletics.

In 1906, the NCAA was created and went on to be the governing body of college athletics, but to start, few opportunities were given to female athletes.

Women were not offered athletic scholarships and there were no women’s championships. They also struggled with funding and their facilities, equipment and overall experience was far less than their male counterparts.

The lack of scholarship, championships, recognition and proper equipment, women did not make up much of college athletics.In 1972, 30,000 women were competing in NCAA athletics opposed to 170,000 men participating the same year.
Rep. Patsy Mink sponsored, and with the help of Rep. Edith Green and Sen. Birch Bayh, Title IX was passed in 1972 .

Title IX was renamed the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act after Mink died in 2002. Following her death, she was awarded the Medal of Freedom.

■ The bill was introduced in the Senate on Feb. 28, 1972
■ The bill was passed by the Senate on March 1, 1972
■ The bill was passed by the House on May 11, 1972
■ The bill was reported by the joint conference committee on May 24, 1972, it was agreed to by the Senate on May 24, 1972 with a vote of 63-15 and then by the House with a 218-180 vote
■ Title IX was signed into law by President Nixon on June 23, 1972

Before Title IX, women were overlooked in sports and were not nearly as supported as male athletes were. Title IX aimed to change this narrative and states that no one in the United States will be excluded from programs or denied the proper benefits for programs “on the basis of sex.”

Title IX is a federal civil right law that states:

“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
If an institution does not follow Title IX, the law allows for the termination of financial assistance from federal funding.

 Title IX requires the equal treatment of female and male student-athletes in the provisions of:

(a) equipment and supplies
(b) scheduling of games and practice times
(c) travel and daily allowance/per diem
(d) access to tutoring
(e) coaching
(f) locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities
(g) medical and training facilities and services
(h) housing and dining facilities and services
(i) publicity and promotions
(j) support services
(k) recruitment of student-athletes.

While Title IX is mostly discussed in terms of athletics, it actually applies to all aspects of education. Any school, local or state educational agency and any institution that gets federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education must comply to Title IX. This is around 17,600 local school districts and 5,000 postsecondary institutions, charter schools, for-profit schools, libraries and museums.

Scholarships must be given to male and female athletes proportional to their participation, they must work to expand the “underrepresented sex” and treat all genders equally.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is responsible for investigating cases of discrimination based on gender and provides schools with information on how to adhere to Title IX. Anyone who files a complaint with OAR is kept confidential.

Similar Stories