Law and Gender Commons^™

Title Ix And Social Media: Going Beyond The Law, Emily Suran

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The U.S. Department of Education is currently investigating over eighty colleges and universities for civil rights violations under Title IX. From a punitive standpoint, these investigations likely will have minimal impact. Indeed, since the Alexander v. Yale plaintiffs first conceived of Title IX in a sexual harassment context, the nondiscriminatory principles of Title IX have proven disappointingly difficult to enforce. However, in today’s world of grassroots social activism, Title IX has taken on a new, extralegal import. Title IX has become a rallying cry for college activists and survivors. Despite (or perhaps because of) its limitations as a law, it …

Title Ix And Baseball: How The Contact Sports Exemption Denies Women Equal Opportunity To America's Pastime, Brittany K. Puzey

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Achieving Gender Equity Under Title Ix For Girls From Minority, Urban, Rural, And Economically Disadvantaged Communities, Kenneth D. Ferguson

Faculty Works

Unless middle school and high school girls in urban, rural, and minority communities are given the opportunities to participate in the emerging women’s sports, gender equity is being only facially achieved because Title IX requirements are implemented without specific regard to detrimental impacts on the aforementioned subgroups. This Article will consider the intersection of race, gender, economic status, and community characteristics with sports participation for girls in grades K-12 and will argue that there are two categories of intentional discrimination that are both actionable under Title IX. The first is direct discrimination by a perpetrator of the discrimination — the …

Foreword – Institutional Responsibility For Sex And Gender Exploitation, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

Organizations are increasingly being held accountable for sex and gender exploitation perpetrated by individuals who are associated with them. The idea of litigating toward gender justice by making institutional actors responsible for various forms of sex and gender discrimination unites the articles in this Symposium.

This Foreword begins by tracking the evolution of tort law from its early vindication of isolated individual claims to its much more recent incarnation as an instrument of social reform for collective interests. The second part addresses legal impediments that prevent redress of certain types of gendered harms — ranging from areas that are virtually …

How Masculinities Distribute Power: The Influence Of Ann Scales, Ann C. Mcginley, Frank Rudy Cooper

Scholarly Works

Ann Scales's scholarship on masculinities in relation to sexual assault and militarism prompted us to consider exactly how power is distributed by assumptions about what is masculine. For instance, men privileged by association with hegemonic masculinities — those most dominant and preferred — are sometimes excused for acts of violence against people who are denigrated as unmasculine or excessively masculine. In one set of examples, communities excuse football players for sexual assaults on grounds that "boys will be boys." The implication is that boys should be allowed to act out before taking on adult responsibilities, and that they need to …

Title Ix Feminism, Social Justice, And Ncaa Reform, Erin E. Buzuvis

Faculty Scholarship

This Article discusses social justice feminism as it applies to gender discrimination in collegiate and scholastic athletics in the context of Title IX requirements. Title IX activists today are primarily concerned with securing equal resources and opportunities for women in a college athletic environment. Today, that environment is becoming increasingly commercialized; this presents a Title IX problem because it creates an incentive to invest more athletic department resources into certain men’s athletic programs instead of distributing them equitably to women’s (and other men’s) programs. In addition, the NCAA is presently considering or has recently undertaken deregulation initiatives in a variety …

Empathy And Reasoning In Context: Thinking About Anti-Gay Bullying, Kris Franklin

Articles & Chapters

“Empathy” has negative connotations for many legal theorists, who may conceive of it as subjective, lacking in intellectual rigor, and emphasizing sensitivity over reason. Even those legal scholars who have embraced the importance of empathy in legal work have emphasized its affective dimensions: pointing out that empathy is central to human relations and motivations, and is therefore a crucial lawyering skill. This paper builds on social science literature that identifies both cognitive and affective dimensions to empathy, and recasts empathy as in part a central component to higher-order thinking in law. It draws examples from empathetic reasoning in foundational cases …

A Bibliography Of Title Ix Of The Education Amendments Of 1972, Christine Iaconeta Dulac

Faculty Publications

It has been thirty-five years since the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972. Title IX provides that no person shall be excluded from participation in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding. This legislation is credited with bolstering the participation rates of girls and women in athletics. Although athletics are not explicitly addressed in the statutory language, Title IX requires schools to offer male and female students equal opportunities to play sports, to give male and female athletes their fair share of athletic scholarship money, and to treat male and female athletes equally in …

Title Ix’S Protections For Transgender Student Athletes, Scott Skinner-Thompson, Ilona M. Turner

Publications

This article examines legal authority and policy to determine whether transgender students in K-12 schools must be permitted to participate in athletics according to their gender identity, and without any requirement for medical intervention. The articles concludes that such a policy is consistent with legal authority under Title IX and Title VII and, more importantly, best advances the well-being of already vulnerable transgender youth by helping to incorporate and include such students in activities that are critical to physical, social, mental, emotional development, and health.

Part II of this article briefly details the history of Title IX with respect to …

Eradicating Sex Discrimination In Education: Extending Disparate-Impact Analysis To Title Ix Litigation, James S. Wrona

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Davis V. Monroe County Board Of Education: Setting A Stringent Standard Of Fault For School Liability In Peer Sexual Harassment Under Title Ix-Demanding Responsible Proactive Protection, Lindsay Havern

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

If It’S Broken, Let Them Fix It: Why The Gebser Pre-Litigation Notice Requirement Should Apply To Title Ix Athletics Lawsuits, Zachary Swartz

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Caught Between A Rock And A Hard Place: The Title Ix Generation, Mathematics, And The State Of Feminist Quantitative Social Science Research, Jill R. Williams

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

In this essay I reflect on the fortieth anniversary of the Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act of 1972 (Title IX), which prohibited discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs in the United States and inspired educational programs that encourage girls to pursue math and science careers. I argue that despite the feminist underpinnings of Title IX, in recent years feminism has discouraged the advancement of women in math and science by excluding quantitative research from its publications, quantitative researchers from women's and gender studies programs, and quantitative training from its curriculum. I examine my own experience of …

How The Expressive Power Of Title Ix Dilutes Its Promise, Dionne L. Koller

All Faculty Scholarship

Title IX is widely credited with shaping new norms for the world of sports by requiring educational institutions to provide equal athletic opportunities to women. The statute and regulations send a message that women are entitled to participate in sports on terms equal to men. For several decades, this message of equality produced dramatic results in participation rates, as the number of women interested in athletics grew substantially. Despite these gains, however, many women and girls, especially those of color and lower socio-economic status, still do not participate in sports, or remain interested in participating, in numbers comparable to their …

Revisiting Title Xi's Feminist Legacy: Moving Beyond The Three-Part Test, Deborah Brake

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Parenting And Pregnant Students: An Evaluation Of The Implementation Of The Other Title Ix, Michelle Gough

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits gender discrimination. Although pregnancy has been described as the "quintessential sex difference," Title IX's prohibition of gender discrimination in the context of parenting and pregnant students has often been left out of the discussion, and therefore the understanding, of the implementation of Title IX Regulations. The scholarship discussing the topic shows general agreement that the language and spirit of Title IX has not been given effect thus far by our schools or by some courts. This Article begins by looking to the Title IX regulations themselves and then to the research …

Not Just One Of The Boys: A Post-Feminist Critique Of Title Ix's Vision For Gender Equity In Sports, Dionne L. Koller

All Faculty Scholarship

Title IX as applied to athletics is a high-profile, controversial public policy effort that has opened up the world of athletics to millions of girls and women. Yet as it is both celebrated for the opportunities it has created for women, and decried as going too far at the expense of men, a reality persists that women do not pursue or remain committed to sport in numbers comparable to men. This Article seeks to explore this phenomenon by moving the discourse beyond the debate over whether women are inherently as "interested" in sport as men to examine the conception of …

Student Gladiators And Sexual Assault: A New Analysis Of Liability For Injuries Inflicted By College Athletes, Ann Scales

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article will focus on an issue that was probably not on the minds of 19th century educators, nor primarily on the minds of the legions of present-day academic critics of intercollegiate sports. Namely, this Article explores the ways in which big-time athletics- particularly football-normalize and encourage harms to women, including educational and sexual harms. The author’s theses depend upon acknowledging certain open secrets about college football: that it is a celebration of male physical supremacy (measured by male standards); that it is something that society lets males do and have as their sport, for reasons both good and bad; …

"Bull's Eye": How Public Universities In West Virginia Can Creatively Comply With Title Ix Without The Targeted Elimination Of Men's Sports Teams, Ryan T. Smith

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Umkc Sports Law Symposium: Emerging Legal Issues Affection Amateur & Professional Sports, Kenneth D. Ferguson

Faculty Works

Introduction to the 2007 University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School’s inaugural Sports Law Symposium. The symposium created a forum that contributed to developing intellectual synergies among national sports law scholars, practicing sports law attorneys, athletic directors, coaches, sports industry professionals, and, importantly, student-athletes. The engagements created revolved around the theme of emerging legal issues affecting amateur and professional sports. The symposium featured scholarly presentations in the amateur and professional sports areas. Scholarly inquiry focused on a range of topics, from the economic and legal issues affecting the coaching profession to balancing gender and minority gender equity under Title IX. The …

Gender Equity In College Athletics: Women Coaches As A Case Study, Deborah L. Rhode, Christopher J. Walker

ExpressO

As Title IX celebrates its 35th anniversary, many have noted the positive impact it has had on women sports. But there is also an unintended (and oft-neglected) byproduct: as opportunities for female students have increased, opportunities for female professionals have declined. This Article focuses on the barriers that still confront women in college athletics, particularly those who seek professional positions in coaching and administration. Part I presents a brief overview of Title IX, which makes clear its limitations in securing gender equity. Part II.A discusses the declining representation and lower success rate of women coaches, while Part II.B explores the …

Title Ix - Two For One: A Starter Kit Of The Law And A Snapshot Of Title Ix's Impact, Linda Jean Carpenter, R. Vivian Acosta

Cleveland State Law Review

This article first examines the creation of Title IX legislation. Then the article argues that " Title IX has had a massive impact on America's sport programs. But the debate continues, and perhaps will always continue, as long as there is inadequate funding to make the achievement of equity easy; as long as powerful members of one sex view exclusive access to sport as their chromosomal birth right; as long as administrators favor one sport over providing the benefits of athletics participation to a broader proportion of the student body; as long as the cake is not cut evenly."

Personal Insights And Experiences Regarding The Passage Of Title Ix , Birch Bayh

Cleveland State Law Review

My purpose here today is to look at some of the legislative history of Title IX, and perhaps some of the details that never made it into the Congressional Record, and also to include my personal involvement in it. I do that with some fear and trepidation because it sounds like one is puffing himself up.It is fair to ask, “How can a kid who grew up on a corn and soybean farm, raising pigs and hogs and cattle and calves, chickens, how in the world could he ever get to be a United States Senator, let alone become involved …

Title Ix: How We Got It And What A Difference It Made, Bernice Resnick Sandler

Cleveland State Law Review

This article is a longer version of two speeches, one given at Women Rock: Title IX Academic and Legal Conference held at Cleveland State University on March 30, 2007 sponsored by McDonald Hopkins LLC, and one given in San Francisco at an Equal Rights Advocates fundraiser on June 8, 2007. In this article, the author takes the reader through her personal journey to reach Women's Equality in a world before Title IX. Through these experiences, she has become an integral part in the creation of Title IX legislation.

Worth Fighting For: Thirty-Five Years Of Title Ix Advocacy In The Courts, Congress And The Federal Agencies, Marcia D. Greenberger, Neena K. Chaudhry

Cleveland State Law Review

This article focuses on Title IX and women's continuing struggle to secure equal opportunity on the playing fields. But athletics is not unique. Indeed, the lessons of Title IX in athletics, its importance to women and girls, and how the law has been shaped over the years by advocacy in each branch of government, apply to all the fields of endeavor that still remain only partially available to the young women of this nation. Women and girls continue to lag behind in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, remain clustered in “traditionally female” programs such as cosmetology that …

Title Ix As Pragmatic Feminism, Deborah L. Brake

Cleveland State Law Review

This article examines Title IX as an example of a pragmatic approach to theory, and argues that pragmatic feminism is an approach that holds promise for feminists grappling with the complexity of gender oppression. Part II briefly examines pragmatism as an alternative to foundational theory and considers pragmatism's relationship to feminist legal theory. Part III explores the many forms and iterations of gender subordination in sports. Calls for a consistent, unifying theory of Title IX cannot account for the shifting nature and multiplicity of social and institutional practices that subordinate women in sports. These varied forms of subordination necessitate a …

Reading The Pink Locker Room On Football Culture And Title Ix, Erin E. Buzuvis

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the public controversy that erupted after local media reported on a comment the Author made about the University of Iowa's decision to renovate the football stadium's visiting team locker room entirely in pink. The Author submitted a statement in response to the University Steering Committee on NCAA Certification's request for feedback on a draft report and suggested that the "joke" behind the pink decor traded in sexist and homophobic values. As such, the Author concluded that it belonged in the comprehensive analysis of gender equity that the committee was preparing. The Author immediately received hundreds of hateful …

Put Me In Coach!: Title Ix Has Taken Female Athletes Off Of The Sidelines And Into The Game, But How Can Current Progress Be Advanced In The Future?, Jennifer Passannante

Women’s Law Forum (2000-2006)

Title IX was originally promulgated to establish equal opportunity for both men and women in federally funded programs. Although it was originally enacted for much broader purposes, Title IX is still considered the single most important piece of legislation promoting equal opportunities for females in interscholastic and intercollegiate athletics. Unfortunately, despite Title IX, women still lag behind men in nearly "every measure of collegiate athletic equality." This article will focus specifically on Title IX's progress to date in creating athletic opportunities for women, its inadvertent consequences affecting male athletes, and means of achieving increased success in the future. Part II …

Hands Off Policy: Equal Protection And The Contact Sports Exemption Of Title Ix, Jamal Greene

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The disparity between what the Constitution permits of public schools and what Title IX permits of private ones is unquestionably stark. This Article calls this disparity into question. First, it asks under what circumstances, if any, allowance for sex discrimination in athletics may be justified under constitutional standards. Then, it considers the practical relevance of the disparity between how a school may lawfully discriminate under Title IX and how it may do so under the Equal Protection Clause. Finally, it offers a prescription for bringing into balance the gender equity messages sent by Title IX and the Constitution.

Hands Off Policy: Equal Protection And The Contact Sports Exemption Of Title Ix, Jamal Greene

Faculty Scholarship

Before becoming a poster child for gender equity in athletics, Heather Sue Mercer was an all-state place kicker at Yorktown Heights High School in Yorktown Heights, New York (pop. 7,972). She enrolled at Duke University in the fall of 1994 and decided to become the first woman ever to try out for the Duke football team. Initially she failed to make the team as a walk-on, but the following spring she was invited by the seniors on the team to play in the annual Blue-White scrimmage. She ended up kicking a game-winning twenty-eight-yard field goal. Afterwards, Duke head coach Fred …