Presented By:
Jamie Carpenter
Greg Hutchings
Bronwyn MacFarlane
Holly Richard
Power Point
Presentation On Gender in Education
Travis Burns
Antoine Hickman
Patricia Kern
Shelly Nowacek
Power Point
Presentation On Special Education
Webmaster:
Jamie Carpenter
The Emergence of Gender Issues in American Education
Until this century, gender issues would not have been an issue due to the relatively recent practice of allowing females to pursue the same educational opportunities as males in the United States. Historically, girls had less formal education than boys and it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that it became acceptable for women to receive some form of higher education (Boumil et al, 1994, p. 172). This coincided with the civil rights movement beginning in the 1950’s and the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, ending the “separate but equal” doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson.
While the “separate but equal” policy had been overturned for racial discrimination, however,
gender discrimination was still very much a part of the American educational system (Boumil et al, 1994, p. 175). One of the earliest challenges
to single-sex higher education arose in Heaton v. Bristol, in which two female plaintiffs sought admission to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A & M) because the women’s colleges were too far away. When they were denied admission, the court granted mandamus compelling the womens’ admission to the school (Boumil et al, 1994, p. 173).
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Title VI: prohibiting racial discrimination
Gender in Education
• Title VII: prohibiting sexual discrimination
• Higher Education Act
• Title IX (1972): prohibiting gender discrimination in education; providing
access to higher education and to athletic opportunities for women
• 1975: First set of proposed amendments to Title IX (Boumil et al, 1994, pp. 181 – 184).
The enactment of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 had a significant impact on women’s access to higher education. This broad ban on sex discrimination was patterned after the Civil Rights Act prohibiting racial discrimination and impacted all institutions receiving federal aid (Boumil et al, 1994, p. 184) and states that:
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.
The ruling included public institutions of higher education, vocational and professional education, but excluded institutions controlled by religious organizations, those training for military service, and those that had admitted students of only one sex from their establishment (Boumil et al, 1994, p. 179).
The first regulations for enforcement of Title IX were enacted in 1975, first under the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and currently under the Office of Civil Rights (Boumil et al, 1994, p. 180). Implementation of these regulations provided opportunities for challenges to single sex education and the existing limited athletic opportunities for females at public schools and universities. In the case of Vorchheimer v. School District of Philadelphia and Matthew W. Costanzo, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, a female high school student prevailed in her attempt to gain admission to an all-male high public high school in 1976. Two significant cases decided by the United States Supreme Court following the enactment of Title IX were United States v. Virginia, 518 U. S. 515 (1996) and Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, 458 U. S. 718 (1982). In both cases, the court held that the policy of single-sex education violated the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution and therefore must be discontinued (Federal Register, 2002, p. 3). Later cases such as Franklin v. Gwinnett County (1988) clarified that compensatory damages are available to victims of intentional sex discrimination under specified circumstances (Boumil et al, 1994, p. 190).
