Claire R.'s List: Title IX

• Title IX is a law that says any school receiving federal funding must provide equal opportunities for girls.
• K-12 teacher – Is your school aware that Title IX applies to science and technology classes? Look up some of the resources in the timeline below and share them.

• The U.S. Department of Education gives grants of financial assistance to schools and colleges. The Title IX regulation describes the conduct that violates Title IX. Examples of the types of discrimination that are covered under Title IX include sexual harassment, the failure to provide equal opportunity in athletics, and discrimination based on pregnancy.
• Comparing the 2003-04 data to the 1991-92 data reveals notable increases in the proportion of female student-athletes. In Division I, the proportion of female student-athletes rose from 31 to 44 percent. In Division I-A, the proportion increased from 29 to 44 percent. In Division I-AA, the change was from 30 to 42 percent in 2002-03, and in Division I-AAA the proportion of female student-athletes increased from 36 to 51 percent. There has been a nine percent increase in the proportion of female student-athletes in Division II (32 to 41 percent) and a seven percent increase in Division III (35 to 42 percent). .

• In the 2007-2008 school year, girls made up 49% of the high school population, but females only accounted for 41% of the participants in athletics. (Lakowski, T. & Lerner, P. (2009). Play Fair: A Title IX Playbook for Victory. Women’s Sports Foundation.)
• Female athletic participation is still increasing, but the rate of growth is slowing
• Source: Women's Sports Foundation. Play Fair: A Title IX Playbook for Victory
• Girls who participate in some kind of sport experience higher than average levels of self-esteem and lower levels of depression.
• Athletic participation can teach valuable life skills that will be useful later in life. Women will learn to collaborate with others, dedication, and perseverance.
• Female athletes have better grades and higher graduation rates than non-athlete females. In high school, athletic participation can lead to college scholarships.
• In 2006 only 42.4% of women’s teams (and less than 2% of men’s teams) were led by a female head coach — the lowest level of representation ever, down from more than 90% when Title IX was enacted. (
• Collegiate Sports Positions by Gender in 2006

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• Title IX, Sports, and You

• Schools can now use a new e-mail survey to demonstrate that they are fulfilling the requirements of the law, according to the new guidelines, which were posted with little fanfare on the Department of Education's Web site late last week. Schools will be considered in compliance with Title IX legislation, which forces all schools that receive public funding to provide equal opportunities for men and women, if survey responses suggest there is insufficient interest among women students to support a particular sport.
• Department of Education officials defended the new guidelines, arguing they conform with existing practices and do not represent a policy change.
• But Eric Pearson, chairman of the College Sports Council, a group of college coaches that wants restrictions on Title IX, praised the department's move. "We are now passing an important milestone toward protecting athletes from the ravages of the artificial quota system called 'proportionality,' " Pearson said.

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• A school must pass one of these Title IX tests: Its male and female athletes are proportionate to enrollment; it has a history and continuing practice of expanding opportunities for women; it can demonstrate that the interests and abilities of female students are fully and effectively accommodated.