50 years ago. Today, Title nine became law and forever changed the
landscape of education and athletics in this country. Its impact
on improving gender equity has been enormous, but parts of it are
also the subject of debate.
We're going to look at this in two parts. Jeff Bennett will look
at new rules proposed by the Biden ministrations today, but first
on the Nova's starts us off with a look at the legacy of the landmark
legislation and ongoing efforts to level the playing field.
Lady of the United States. Still Biden in Washington on Wednesday
a celebration to mark half a century of progress featuring First
lady Joe Biden and tennis icon Billie Jean King.
Title nine is one of the most important pieces of legislation of
the 20th century.
It is a lot of speaks to the importance of gender equity in this
country.
And stands as a benchmark.
Of global significance.
President Richard Nixon signed title nine into law in 1972, banning
sex based discrimination in schools. Two years later, Democratic
Congresswoman Patsy Mink of Hawaii and author and leading advocate
of the bill reflected on the deep rooted challenges that addressed
so long as any part of our society.
Ah adheres to a sexist notion that men should do certain things and
women should do certain things and then begin to inculcate our babies
with these notions.
Through curriculum development and so forth, then we'll never be
read of the basic causes of sex discrimination. Today, the late congresswoman
was honored with a new portrait unveiled in the U. S. Capitol.
The law that mink helped create was intended to achieve gender equity
in the classroom. And it has had a major impact on education overall
has been especially revolutionary in sports and athletics from elementary
schools to colleges.
Today, Girls participate in high school sports at 10 times the rate
they did 50 years ago in 2020, some 220,000 women competed in college
athletics up from about 32,000 and 1972.
One sport that saw an impact quickly. Soccer title nine paved the
way for the first women's national championship in 1982. From that
came the 1985 formation of the U. S. Women's national team, which
now has won four World championships in the last quarter century.
Yet for all its success, title nine is far from perfectly implemented.
That's according to a new USA Today. Investigation called Falling
short at 50. Rachel Axon is part of that reporting team reporting
showed schools could improve across basically all areas where they
can be measured for title nine compliance.
Just getting on the field is hard enough when we talk about proportionality
87% of schools, not providing enough opportunities to women without
meaningful enforcement, or people being aware of the ways the schools
are. Following short, they're able to to still have these problems
and in many cases, not be complying with the law. It was the right
time for me. Last week at her retirement press conference, W. N B
a legend Seubert looked to the future of Title nine in America.
I would love for there to be a day where we of course celebrated
as part of our history, But we don't have to talk about it in a way,
um, where we're talking about schools getting sued because they're
not giving women an opportunity.
And today, the Biden administration proposed new rules for how schools
must treat sex discrimination under title nine. If approved, the
regulations would reverse Trump era rules that limited the scope
of sexual assault investigations on campuses.
The proposal would also codify protections for transgender students