Thursday, April 9, 2015

Title IX

Women have gradually been awarded rights throughout history, but Title IX is, in my opinion, the most important of them all. Stating, “No person in the U.S. 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.”
Even though I am not a female athlete, I would not be the person I am today if I was forbidden to play sports as a young girl. I have never been good at soccer, basketball, lacrosse, or any other hand-eye coordinated sports player for that matter. But at least I had the opportunity to find that out on my own rather than simply being told I could not even try.
The common misconception is that Title IX simply grants women the right to play sports, but the Title gave women the freedom to do so much more than join competitive athletic teams. Women trying to get a job can no longer be denied on the basis of her sex. Women applying to college can no longer be denied on the basis of her sex. Women can no longer be sexually harassed on the basis of her sex. The Title was the key for women to enter the “man’s world,” and protected them enough to give them the opportunity to succeed and excel.

            The “pregnancy schools” OD talked about in her presentation were a prime example of how life would be if Title IX had not been created by strong people like Bernice Sandler and Birch Bayh. They stood up for women, and because of them we are afforded the seemingly simple right to continue to attend school even after childbirth.

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