What is Title IX?
“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.”
-From the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
Scope of Title IX
Title IX applies to schools, local and state educational agencies, and other institutions that receive federal financial assistance from the Department. These recipients include approximately 17,600 local school districts, over 5,000 postsecondary institutions, and charter schools, for-profit schools, libraries, and museums. Also included are vocational rehabilitation agencies and education agencies of 50 states, the District of Columbia, and territories of the United States.
A recipient institution that receives Department funds must operate its education program or activity in a nondiscriminatory manner free of discrimination based on sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity. Some key issue areas in which recipients have Title IX obligations are: recruitment, admissions, and counseling; financial assistance; athletics; sex-based harassment, which encompasses sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence; treatment of pregnant and parenting students; treatment of LGBTQI+ students; discipline; single-sex education; and employment. Also, no recipient or other person may intimidate, threaten, coerce, or discriminate against any individual for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by Title IX or its implementing regulations, or because the individual has made a report or complaint, testified, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in a proceeding under Title IX. For a recipient to retaliate in any way is considered a violation of Title IX. The Department’s Title IX regulations (Volume 34, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 106) provide additional information about the forms of discrimination prohibited by Title IX.
Read more about Title IX and its creators:
Patsy Takemoto Mink
- Patsy Takemoto Mink’s Title IX Legacy
- How Patsy Takemoto Mink, the First Woman of Color in Congress, Helped Craft Title IX
Edith Louise Starrett Green
Birch Bayh
Bernice R. Sandler
Donna Lopiano
Billie Jean King
- Title IX (from Billie Jean King's website)
- 50 Years After Title IX, the Struggle for Gender Equity Continues—in Sports and Beyond
Alexander v. Yale (1977 - first use of Title IX in charges of sexual harassment against an educational institution)