Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 ( 20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) (in this Act referred to as title IX ) and the implementing regulations of title IX prohibit sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities. Although title IX requires that schools treat students equally with regard to athletic participation opportunities, athletic scholarships, and the benefits and services provided to athletic teams, female participation rates, especially for girls of color, lag far behind male participation rates.
Currently, only 2/3 of Black and Latina girls play sports, and barely over 1/2 of Asian-American girls play sports, compared to more than 3/4 of White girls. Female student athletes have been found to have higher levels of self-esteem and to be more likely to graduate from high school than female students who do not play sports. Although the availability of athletic scholarships facilitates access to higher education, many schools fail to award proportional athletic financial aid to women, which can affect their long-term employment outcomes and economic security.
Although title IX ensures gender equity in career and technical education, women are severely underrepresented in fields nontraditional to their gender. A recent study by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education indicated that women make up more than 80 percent of workers with training or certification in historically women-dominated occupations that pay less than $30,000 per year, including child care, early childhood education, home care, and cosmetology. Women represent less than 40 percent of workers trained or certified in high-paying and historically male-dominated fields, including transportation, advanced manufacturing, and construction.
Although title IX ensures gender equity in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (in this section referred to as STEM ) education, women are disproportionately lost at nearly every stage of the STEM pipeline. A recent report by the National Center for Education Statistics showed that women earned only 32 percent of all STEM degrees in 2017, and nearly 1/2 of these women were White. Women of color earned about 12 percent of STEM degrees in that same year.
Furthermore, in STEM fields where women are particularly underrepresented, such as computing and engineering, women earned an even smaller percentage of degrees, including only 19 percent of computing bachelor's degrees, and 21 percent of engineering bachelor's degrees. Although title IX prohibits sex discrimination in employment in federally funded education programs, a recent report by the American Association of University Women found that women comprise only 36 percent of tenured faculty and 30 percent of university presidents.
A similar study by the National Science Foundation confirmed that women only hold 34 percent of all tenured and tenure-track positions, and 27 percent of full professor positions in STEM fields. Furthermore, Black and Latina women, together, hold only 4 percent of all tenured and tenure-track positions, and barely over 2 percent of full professor positions in STEM fields. Asian-American women hold around 5 percent of all tenured and tenure-track positions, and less than 3 percent of full professor positions in STEM fields.
Although title IX protects against sexual and sex-based harassment and violence, more than 50 percent of girls and 40 percent of boys in grades 7 through 12 experience sexual harassment each year, and approximately 10 percent of high school students experience dating violence each year. A recent GLSEN report indicated that 87 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (referred to in this section as LGBTQ ) students have experienced harassment or assault based on a personal characteristic, and nearly 66 percent have experienced LGBTQ-related verbal harassment at school based on sexual orientation.
Research has shown that LGBTQ students who experience harassment at school are more likely to experience depression and anxiety, to engage in unhealthy and antisocial behaviors, and to have more unexcused absences from school. Although title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or parenting status, the limited availability of accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions, including medical absences, and the limited access to school-related activities for pregnant and parenting students, are the leading reasons that parenting mothers drop out of high school.
A recent report by the National Women's Law Center indicated that only 1/2 of teenage mothers earn a high school diploma by the age of 22, compared with 89 percent of women who do not have a child during their teenage years, and that 1/3 of young mothers will never get a diploma or GED, further limiting continuing opportunities for education and employment. Although title IX protects against discrimination based on stereotypes of actual or perceived sex (including sexual orientation or gender identity), many people carry implicit or unconscious biases that can unintentionally influence attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and decisionmaking processes.
Research has shown that unconscious biases can impact classroom environments, teaching methods, student evaluations, disciplinary practices, and career and counseling guidance, particularly for students who are pursuing nontraditional fields.
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