Statement of Senator Barack Obama on the Anniversary of Title IX

[Hope And Change]

Statement of Senator Barack Obama on the Anniversary of Title IX

By http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/person/gGNnYR">Amanda Scott - Jun 23rd, 2008 at 4:55 pm EDT


Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement to commemorate the 36th Anniversary of http://www.dol.gov/oasam/regs/statutes/titleIX.htm">Title IX...

Thirty-six years ago today, America took a bold step forward on the long march toward justice and equality when Congress enacted Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, banning gender discrimination in all education programs that receive federal money. When Title IX was passed, many schools had formal or informal policies that suggested no young women need apply. High school girls were routinely barred from vocational education classes. Girls who wanted to play sports were told it was too dangerous, too unfeminine.

But thanks to Title IX, we have made much progress. Women now make up more than half of the students in our nation's colleges and universities. American dominance in women's sports on the world stage is a testament to the door that Title IX opened for young female athletes - and we know the women on the U.S. Olympic Team will make America proud this summer.

But even as these facts speak to the progress that we've made, we know that too many of America's daughters grow up facing barriers to their dreams. Women's sports still often get short shrift in high school and college. High school vocational courses still tend to guide women toward lower-paying occupations. And when Americans need new skills to compete in this 21st century economy, still make up fewer than one in five of our engineering graduates, and the number entering computer and information sciences programs is on the decline.

When I'm President, I'll fight to make sure our female students have equal opportunities from pre-kindergarten all the way through graduate school. I will strengthen Title IX enforcement at the Department of Education. I will support the High School Sports Information Collection Act, which directs schools to make information on equality in athletic programs publicly available, as it is at the collegiate level. And I will direct my Department of Education to help schools take proactive steps to fulfill their Title IX obligations in both the sports and academic arenas.

I am the father of two young girls who are growing up playing sports and who are beneficiaries of the doors Title IX opened. I'm running for President to make sure that the American Dream is within reach for every young girl in this country. That, after all, is what Title IX is all about – fulfilling our founding promise of equal opportunity for all. And that is the America we can build together – an America where our daughters have the same opportunities as our sons.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/amandascott/gG5hRV">Link

[texastoast]

1. The Aggies were PISSED!

Big hoo-hah over that one.

The sad part is we still got a long way to go, baby.

[blondeatlast]

2. Mr. McCain, where's YOUR statement? I benefitted from Title IX.

in HS.

Gad, was it that long ago? Yeesh...

Good on ya, Sen, er, President Obamama! :toast:

[Igel]

3. Title IX mostly good.

But I've watched 3 universities deal with the punitive effects it had on men's sports.

In one case the athletics dept. put up posters, sent out people to dorms and depts. to try to get more women involved. They hired coaches and PR folk to try to get them involved. They restricted the announcement about sign-up for men's teams to a small notice in one issue of the newspaper. The percentage increase of women didn't even match the percentage increase of women on campus. They had minimum-sized women's teams and packed men's teams to reduce the number of them. Men's interest dropped off as they became less aware of the teams, but the drop-off wasn't nearly enough.

Then the requirement wasn't funding, but bodies. The trick failed as the yardstick changed.

The result? They axed half a dozen men's intramural sports and some NCAA mens teams. A vice-chancellor in one meeting was anguished over it and asked the women present if they knew about the teams. They all said yes, they'd seen presentations or ads or posters. Then they were asked why they didn't sign up. "Not interested."

The standards for enforcement kept getting tougher. From near parity in terms of men/women interested, to parity in funding, to parity in bodies, to parity in the number of hours. Women as a group were not as interested in sports as men as a group.

Title IX hearkens back to the days when inequality in outcome was prima facie evidence of inequality in process. To ensure an equitable process, equal opportunity, equal outcomes were necessary. In the '90s, this was held to be more true than ever.

Come the '00s, the number of women on many campuses exceeded their percentage of the population. The "inequality in outcome --> inequality in process" argument was raised, and scoffed at. Even if there were more women, it just meant that men weren't as interested; or it was just, because of underrepresentation by women for so long. But as the %age of women increased, the Title IX pressure on men's sports increased, and so more men's teams were cut.

The 3 universities I've been affiliated with since the mid-90s have all bent over backwards and gotten as much female buy-in as they're going to get. The process is biased towards women, and can't produce the necessary outcome.

It's time to declare victory and go home, as far as collegiate sports are concerned, as well as in other areas where it's fairly convincingly shown that cross-cultural human behavior simply doesn't conform to what some advocates clearly think it should be.