Womenstake, NWLC's Blog

What Title IX Means to Us

Posted by | Posted on: February 06, 2008 at 01:00 pm

by the Education Team
National Women’s Law Center

Today is National Girls and Women in Sports Day — a time to celebrate female athletes and to demonstrate our support for Title IX, the federal law that requires schools to provide equal opportunities for girls in the classroom and on the playing field. Staff members here at the National Women’s Law Center considered the influence Title IX has had on our own lives.

I was supposed to be a boy. At least that’s what the ultrasound technician told my parents. Although there were a few adjustments (I was not named “Thomas” after my father, or even “Thomasina” as he requested), my parents often laughed when people expressed their sympathy that my poor, former-football-playing father was stuck with three girls and no sons. Who would play sports? they’d ask. Well, thanks to Title IX ... all of us. I may not have played football, and I’m no Serena, but I still play tennis competitively and occasionally take on (and beat) my husband, who did play football. Not too shabby. — Fatima

I was 5’9” when I was eleven. What are you supposed to do? So I played center for my middle school’s basketball team. I wasn’t good, but I was still voted co-captain of the team. But that was only the beginning. I continued with soccer, softball, lacrosse, field hockey, and track. It built my confidence and leadership skills and helped me stay out of shenanigans. It also helped me stay focused on school and learn to prioritize. Without Title IX and the advances women’s sports have made, my options might’ve been very limited. And everyone knows I would’ve made a really bad cheerleader. — Melanie

I went to school before Title IX, but I have two daughters who played sports in high school and college, and I have seen what a tremendous difference it has made in their lives. We have to keep working to make sure that girls’ and women’s opportunities to play continue to increase, and that female athletes are not treated like second-class citizens. — Dina

The power of education to lift people up and transform their lives is something I have seen in my own family, and it continues to guide me personally and professionally. My parents came here from India looking for a better life, and their educational foundation allowed them to provide me with opportunities of which they might only have dreamed. That they valued education so strongly is no coincidence — in India, there is a goddess of education, Saraswati, and everything associated with education (books, teachers, etc.) is to be accorded the utmost respect. These personal and cultural influences have fueled my desire to fight for equal educational opportunities for all, and Title IX is a critical tool in that fight. — Neena

I was one of the kids in school who took every opportunity. I played two sports — basketball and volleyball — and was extremely active in clubs and organizations. I think it was my years playing sports, five in all, that had the most impact on who I am today. I was co-captain of my J.V. team and that same year I received the M.V.P. award. I chose to play sports, but the choice was easy and available at my school. Now, at 24, I remember fondly all our team chants and the rhetoric of my coaches and can honestly say that I got my first lessons in perseverance from playing sports. I didn’t learn about Title IX until I was in college taking a Sociology of Sports course, but I definitely reaped the benefits ... short- and long-term. There are so many advantages for students under Title IX, and it’s still important today that we increase the opportunities for females to play sports in school. — Princess

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Discrimination Against Male Athletes? Really?

Posted by Taryn Wilgus Null, MARGARET Fund Fellow | Posted on: February 05, 2008 at 01:58 pm

by Taryn Wilgus Null, MARGARET Fund Fellow
National Women’s Law Center

Over 35 years after Title IX was passed, misconceptions about Title IX’s implications for school sports still abound. Sometimes, unfortunately, these misconceptions turn into lawsuits. Yesterday, the National Women’s Law Center filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a case alleging that Title IX discriminates against men.

First, here’s a little background on what the law actually says. Title IX requires schools to treat male and female sports teams equally and to provide students with an equal opportunity to participate in athletics, regardless of their sex. Department of Education policies state that a school can show that it is providing female students an equal opportunity to play sports in any one of three ways – that is, through the famous “three-part test.” The test is flexible and fair, and has been found to be lawful by eight of the eight federal circuit courts that have considered it. 

Despite these facts, the drumbeat of unfounded allegations – that Title IX results in discrimination against men – has continued for Title IX’s whole history. The most recent foray into the field is the effort by the misnamed “Equity in Athletics” organization to challenge a decision made in September 2006, by James Madison University (JMU) in Virginia, to eliminate three women’s sports teams and seven men’s teams. 

We’re truly sorry that JMU opted to make its athletics program “lean and mean,” rather than making broad-based opportunities available to both men and women on campus; we wish it had decided differently. But Title IX is simply not the culprit here. 

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The Last Bush Budget: Missing the Boat on Early Care and Education

Posted by Helen Blank, Director of Child Care and Early Learning | Posted on: February 04, 2008 at 09:02 pm

by Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy
National Women's Law Center

An increasing number of governors and state legislators around the country, recognizing the importance of the early years to children’s development and their futures, are supporting new investments in early childhood programs. Yet, with the budget proposal he has released today, it is clear that the President is refusing to join with these state leaders.

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Tags: Child Care, Head Start, Education & Title IX, Poverty & Income Support, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

Weekly Round-Up

Posted by Mary Robbins, Program Associate | Posted on: February 04, 2008 at 03:25 pm

by Mary Robbins, Program Assistant
National Women’s Law Center

The Christian Science Monitor questions why false perceptions of female fragility still shape gender segregation in athletics.

Suzanne at BlogHer addresses the need for better support for child care workers.

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Tags: Child Care, Athletics, Education & Title IX, Employment, Health Care & Reproductive Rights, Poverty & Income Support, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

7 Questions with NWLC's Chad Newcomb

Posted by NWLC, Intern | Posted on: February 01, 2008 at 01:00 pm

by Jessica Lauredan, Outreach Intern
National Women’s Law Center

This post is part of a weekly series profiling our blog authors.

Chad Newcomb is a Senior Policy Analyst who works on family economic security issues here at NWLC.

Q: What motivated you to get involved in women’s rights and economic justice?
Chad: I’ve always been sensitive to social hierarchy and discrimination. While I was in college, a student gave a speech on domestic violence and her personal experience as a target. She inspired me to start volunteering at a local women’s shelter, and I was amazed and saddened by the prevalence of this injustice. It was like uncovering Americas best-kept and silently tolerated secret. Over time I realized that we need people working on the “big picture” of women’s rights, including economic equality, through policy and research. 

Q: What brought you to NWLC?
Chad: Doing internships with state government agencies in Minnesota, it didn’t take me long to realize that many problems were coming from the federal, not state, level. I came to D.C. during the Clinton administration with a desire to provide good information to policy makers through research. 

Then Bush came along.

His administration brought a complete deterioration of federal policy. And ironically, it was not so much due to ideology as to a general disinterest in research and facts. At that time, NWLC was one of the groups working to better policy based on good information, so it was really a perfect fit.

Q: How to you manage to write such interesting blog posts about issues that some might consider not that interesting — tax policy, for example?
Chad: The topics themselves are not boring per se, they are just hard to discuss outside the realm of numbers and charts, both of which can get very boring, very fast. I think the trick is to use analogy and tie the subjects into things that people deal with in everyday life. I tend to use sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humor — but that seems to work much better in blogs than ... say, press releases.

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Tags: Poverty & Income Support, Tax & Budget | 1 comment

Women and Health Reform — Making It Personal

Posted by Lisa Codispoti, Senior Counsel | Posted on: January 31, 2008 at 06:53 pm

by Lisa Codispoti, Senior Advisor
National Women’s Law Center

This post is part of a weekly series on Women and Health Reform.

For me, like for many others, the fight for health reform is personal. While my own health challenges that I have faced for the last 25 years have always made me a health reform advocate, a close family member drove home that point for me again: last week, my sister was diagnosed with pre-cancerous breast tissue, which puts her at a greatly increased risk of developing an invasive, aggressive form of breast cancer.

During this incredibly difficult time, an emotional roller coaster of uncertainty amidst decisions she faces about her treatment options, I am hugely grateful for one important thing: my sister is lucky to have good, stable health insurance so that she can focus on the important decisions about her treatment — without having to worry about whether she can afford one option or another.

Sad to say, there are far too many others who face this and other health battles with an additional burden that no one should have to face: not having enough health coverage, or having no health coverage at all. Like a dear friend of my sister’s who faced her own breast cancer battle some years ago. She bore that very burden when her husband was laid off a month after her diagnosis, and faced losing her health coverage. Like the woman an oncologist told me about who came to her for cancer treatment with only $2,000 of health “coverage.” Like Houston janitor Ercilia Sandoval, who was uninsured because her employer didn’t provide health insurance, and who was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer a year after the onset of symptoms that should have taken her to the doctor — if she could have afforded to go.

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Congress Introduces Civil Rights Act of 2008

Posted by Fatima Goss Graves, Vice President for Education and Employment | Posted on: January 30, 2008 at 03:48 pm

by Fatima Goss Graves, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

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Tags: Employment, Judges & the Courts | 1 comment

Familiar Language in the State of the Union

Posted by Julia Kaye, Health Policy Associate | Posted on: January 30, 2008 at 02:19 pm

by Julia Kaye, Program Assistant
National Women’s Law Center

Monday night’s State of the Union address felt strangely familiar. A president’s final year in office is typically a series of last-minute attempts to implement controversial policies, secure an attractive legacy and ensure the long-standing impact of his (or her) ideological agenda. As if the new make-up of the Supreme Court doesn’t already – ominously – promise that President Bush’s influence will last long past next January, his speech Monday night made it clear that this year will not, in fact, be the year in which the tradition of final-year partisan appointments and contentious regulations is broken.

The President’s address deserves a comprehensive analysis, though I will only touch upon the content here.  He began with an appeal to the Senate to avoid “the temptation…to load up the [stimulus] bill...which would only delay or derail it.” Yes – far be it for the Senate to “derail” the bill by adding in effective and just provisions targeted at the women and low- and moderate-income individuals and families who need them most, such as expanded unemployment benefits, increased food stamp benefits and a restoration of the funding cut from child support enforcement. The President went on to promise that the budget he will put forth next week “terminates or substantially reduces 151 wasteful or bloated programs, totaling more than $18 billion” – much like, presumably, the administration’s 2008 budget, which also helped relieve “bloated” programs…and in doing so, decreased access to health care, family planning services, child care and education, child support enforcement services, food assistance and education and training opportunities for low-income women and families.  Once again, he urged Congress to extend tax cuts that mostly benefit the very wealthy – and will cost the nation over $4 trillion over the next 10 years (stay tuned for an analysis of the 2009 budget!).

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Tags: Health Care & Reproductive Rights, Tax & Budget | 1 comment
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