From the cool chicks at Feministe (including the title which is just perfect) ....
* Women don't really understand Title IX or the variety of ways in which impacts education (not just sports and athletics)
* It is under continuous attack b/c we obviously discriminating against boys
* It hasn't been enforced effectively
* The current administration wants to deep-six it. Surprise, surprise.
The uber-cool Women's Law Project hosted a Title IX seminar a few years ago which your Correspondents attended. It was fascinating for moi as someone who did not really understand it, especially the aspects of gender discrimination underlying anti-bullying programs.
Here's a few tidbits from the WLP website on Title IX things you should know about here in Pennsylvania:
Slippery Rock University - The lawsuit was brought on behalf of twelve student athletes and a coach against Slippery Rock University (SRU). The lawsuit, filed three months after SRU announced it was going to cut three women's varsity sports, claims that SRU provides neither equitable athletic opportunities for its female students nor equitable treatment of female student athletes.
Report - Gender Equity in Intercollegiate Athletics: Where Does Pennsylvania Stand?
Back in the 80's, I decided to join the track team. The women's team had historically been just a goof off team -- they literally had been doing each other's nails at practice. Then the school decided to put the entire track program under one coach, Mr. Shar. That was my first year. We had the same resources, the same commitment, the same expectations. Only three women lettered, including yours truly and I got it b/c I was the only woman on the entire team who showed up for every practice and every event even though I only scored one point the entire season.
My point, aside from bragging about my glory days - ahem, is that a lot of people criticized the rest of the women's team for being uncommitted, undisciplined, lazy girls who preferred to do nails than develop their talents and skills. No one EVER said a word about all those years that these talented women had been shunted off to the side with a do nothing coach, no support, no equipment, nothing. It was like being set up for failure -- they give us the resources and a few of us succeed which proves that the rest of the girls weren't worth the resource invesment. What a load of crap. In fact, I think the fact that I excelled is due to having the best resources from the get go and not having to undo years of second class citizenship.
We've got a long way to go baby.