This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a piece of legislation that is fundamental to gender equity in the United States that reads “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.“
That is, “No person in the United States may, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation, not receive benefits, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
Bernice Sandler, a devoted women’s rights activist known as the “godmother of Title IX” for her role in creating the legislation, argued that Title IX was probably the most important law passed for women in Congress since women gained the right to vote in 1920.
The law ensures that all educational programs and activities that receive federal funding protect students and employees from discrimination based on sex, and it prohibits many aspects of gender inequality that had previously been tolerated or neglected in education. Despite continued attempts through legislation, enforcement actions, and lawsuits to reduce its effectiveness, Title IX continues to provide these protections today.
In fact, this law, in addition to considerably improving women’s access to higher education, also requires that university institutions offer women equal opportunities and benefits in sports activities compared to men. In this way, universities are obliged to offer the same number of scholarships to both sexes in order to guarantee equal treatment in provisions such as equipment, scheduling of training and matches, travel arrangements, access to academic tutors, coaching staff, changing rooms and gyms, accommodation and catering, in medical services, advertising and promotions, and much more.
While we tend to take all of these things for granted these things these days, it’s good to remember that this equality has been achieved thanks to the actions of brave women who have been fighting for gender equality since 1972.
Although many steps forward have been made, the battle is not over yet. In fact, exactly 50 years later, there are still numerous causes that women are fighting for. The most followed in recent years in the United States is the story of the women’s national soccer team that on February 22 entered into an agreement with the American Soccer Federation that will undertake to pay men and women equally in all future friendlies and tournaments including the World Cup. won by the Americans in the last edition in Paris.
