Today marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. This is an important milestone in the history of both civil rights and higher education in this country, and one well worth celebrating.
Title IX is best known for transforming collegiate athletics in the United States—and, from there, all of sports. But that was not its original goal. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as it is formally known, was designed to open doors for women across higher education. And by doing that, it didn’t just transform athletics; it also helped create new opportunities for generations of women in America.
Before Title IX, women were often excluded from certain high-status educational programs, like medicine or law. Women college students received fewer scholarships than their male counterparts. Women faculty were denied tenure at a greater rate than men. And in 1970, before Title IX was passed, only 8 percent of adult women in the United States were college graduates, compared with 14 percent of men.
Today’s higher education landscape is entirely different—thanks to Title IX and the leaders and advocates who fought for its passage. In 2020, 38 percent of adult women in the United States were college graduates, compared to 37 percent of men. And in 2018, women were 47 percent of all full-time faculty members in the United States, and 54 percent of part-time faculty. Today, women are the majority of college graduates, and earn the majority of PhDs.
And then, of course, there’s sports. Women were only 15 percent of NCAA student athletes in 1971; today, they’re 44 percent.
But the changes driven by Title IX extend well beyond colleges and universities. Girls’ participation in high school sports has grown exponentially. It is no exaggeration to say that without Title IX we wouldn’t have the four-time World Cup-winning US women’s national soccer team, the WNBA, or countless other women’s athletics triumphs. And Title IX’s success has enabled equity across our society: Before the pandemic, women held slightly more than half the non-farm jobs in the United States.
While this is all excellent news, we know there is still much work to be done. Women left the workforce during the pandemic because they faced more burdens; they remain more responsible for childcare and housework than men. There are ongoing equity issues for other communities in sports, especially for transgender people. We are in a moment when rights seem at risk of being rolled back, especially for women and marginalized communities. And we know that Title IX’s guarantees against sexual and gender-based harassment are not yet effectively delivering on that promise.
For today, let’s celebrate the success of Title IX. Let’s applaud the generations of women who fought to take advantage of its guarantees. And let’s pledge to continue the fight for equity for everyone.
