Updated: June 1, 2024
Title IX Overview
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. Title IX states “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[.]” All federal agencies that provide grants of financial assistance are required to enforce Title IX’s nondiscrimination mandate. The U.S. Department of Education (Department) gives grants of financial assistance to schools and colleges and to certain other entities, including vocational rehabilitation programs and libraries.
Examples of the types of discrimination that are covered under Title IX include but are not limited to: sex-based harassment; sexual violence; pregnancy discrimination; the failure to provide equal athletic opportunity; sex-based discrimination in a school’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and programs; discriminatory application of dress code policies and/or enforcement; and retaliation.
2024 AMENDMENTS TO TITLE IX REGULATIONS
In April 2024, the Department issued a Final Rule amending the Department’s regulations implementing Title IX. The April 2024 final regulations promote educational equity and opportunity for students across the country by strengthening and clarifying protections that address all forms of sex discrimination, including sex-based harassment and sexual violence. The April 2024 final regulations advance Title IX’s promise of ensuring that no person experiences sex discrimination, as well as accountability and fairness, while empowering and supporting students and families. The final regulations restore and strengthen vital protections for students, and provide schools with information to meet their Title IX obligations while offering appropriate discretion and flexibility to account for variations in school size, student populations, and administrative structures. The final regulations also promote accountability by requiring schools to take prompt and effective action when notified of conduct that reasonably may constitute sex discrimination in their education programs or activities. The final regulations also reaffirm the Department’s core commitment to fundamental fairness for all parties, the rights of parents and guardians to support their minor children, and respect for complainants’ autonomy.
The April 2024 Title IX regulation, which is codified in the Code of Federal Regulations at 34 CFR Part 106, is enforced by the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and is effective on August 1, 2024. – U.S. Department of Education
Center for the Women of New York celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX in 2022
June 23, 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. This is an important milestone in the history of both civil rights and higher education in this country, and one well worth celebrating. – Pace University
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. – History.com
How Title IX Transformed Women’s Sports
Before Title IX, few opportunities existed for female athletes. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which was created in 1906 to format and enforce rules in men’s football but had become the ruling body of college athletics, offered no athletic scholarships for women and held no championships for women’s teams. Furthermore, facilities, supplies and funding were lacking. As a result, in 1972 there were just 30,000 women participating in NCAA sports, as opposed to 170,000 men.
Title IX was designed to correct those imbalances. Although it did not require that women’s athletics receive the same amount of money as men’s athletics, it was designed to enforce equal access and quality. Women’s and men’s programs were required to devote the same resources to locker rooms, medical treatment, training, coaching, practice times, travel and per diem allowances, equipment, practice facilities, tutoring and recruitment. Scholarship money was to be budgeted on a commensurate basis, so that if 40 percent of a school’s athletic scholarships were awarded to men, 40 percent of the scholarship budget was also earmarked for women. – History.com
Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act
Title IX, also called Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, clause of the 1972 Federal Education Amendments, signed into law on June 23, 1972, which stated that “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.” In 2002, following the death of its coauthor, U.S. Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink, Title IX was officially renamed the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act. – Britannica
Title IX Frequently Asked Questions – National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
Title IX – Legal Manual – U.S. Department of Justice
The 14th Amendment and the Evolution of Title IX – U.S. Courts
Title IX Protects Students from Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity – U.S. Department of Education
National Women’s Law Center
Education & Title IX
Women in Sports: The Good, The Bad, The Sexist
Know Your IX
Empowering Students to Stop Sexual Violence
Exercising Your Title IX Rights
Title IX Protects Pregnant and Parenting Students – The Pregnant Scholar
What Title IX Means to Women Athletes and Leaders: short video clips – New York Historical Society
New Title IX Rules Protect Our Trans Students – National Center for Transgender Equality
Title IX Protection from Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment and Discrimination – New York City Department of Education
Update on Title IX and Transgender Athletic Participation – National Federation of State High School
Center for the Women of New York
Title IX and Gender Equity in Education – Video – CWNY’s Women’s Issues Think Tank
CWNY’s National Girls and Women in Sports Day Resources
More than four-in-ten women familiar with Title IX say it has not gone far enough when it comes to increasing opportunities for women in sports. – Pew Research Center
What’s at Stake in the Coming Title IX War – Institute for Family Studies
Title IX revolutionized female athletics but advocates say it’s been a constant fight – National Public Radio (NPR)
“A Title IX Conundrum: Women in Coaching” – New-York Historical Society
Women’s Sports Expert Nicole LaVoi Talks Unintended Consequences of Title IX – The Springfield Student: Springfield College Online NewsThe senior woman administrator is the highest-ranking female in each NCAA athletics department or conference office. The purpose of the SWA designation is to promote meaningful representation of women in the leadership and management of college sports. — National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)