Title IX ensures equal rights and representation of women in education in the US. It states that any federally funded school or program cannot exclude a person from gender-based activities. Title IX applies to all aspects of educational programs, with exceptions for fraternities, sororities, and public school sex education classes. The “three-pronged test” is used to ensure compliance, which requires a proportionate number of programs available for each gender. Critics claim it promotes reverse discrimination, while defenders believe it offers equal opportunities.
Title IX is part of the Education Amendments of 1972 in the United States that is concerned with ensuring equal rights and representation of women in education. While the language within the amendment deals specifically with gender in general, the use of this and other aspects of the 1972 Education Amendments primarily involved women’s rights. This amendment basically states that any school or educational program that receives federal funding cannot exclude a person from gender-based activities. Title IX has no specific reference to athletics, although it was primarily used to ensure gender equality in school and college athletic programs.
Also referred to as Title Nine, and renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act after the Congresswoman who drafted and proposed it, Title IX deals with educational institutions that receive federal funding. The language used in Title IX specifically states that “No person in the United States, on the basis of gender, shall be barred from participation, denied benefits, or subjected to discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving financial assistance.” This has been written in a way that allows it to be applied to a number of different aspects of educational programs, although it has generally been applied to athletics.
One of the key ways Title IX has been interpreted and supported since its passage is in the decision that if federal funding is received for any part of a program, the entire program must comply with this law. This means that if a school receives funding to pay tuition or books, other non-federally funded departments, such as sports or the performing arts, must still comply with Title IX. While this law only states that educational programs receiving federal funding must comply with these regulations, several US states have passed laws requiring compliance for educational programs within the state.
There are several exceptions allowed by Title IX, including fraternities and sororities and segregated but always the same programs, such as public school sex education classes. The test used to ensure compliance, called the “three-pronged test,” typically requires a school to have a proportionate number of programs available for each gender, programs increasing for the underrepresented gender or to meet the interests of the underrepresented gender. Critics of Title IX often claim that these tests only consider the underrepresented sex, which ultimately promotes reverse discrimination against the majority. Defenders of this law, however, believe that the law does not require the deletion of programs; just that enough programs are offered for both genders.
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