Press Release
AAUW Applauds Department of Education’s Issuance of New Title IX Athletics Guidance
Action Gives Women and Girls a Better Shot at Fair Play
WASHINGTON – AAUW strongly supports the new Title IX athletics guidance issued today by the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. The new guidance rescinds the deeply flawed 2005 "Additional Clarification of Intercollegiate Athletics Policy: Three-Part Test – Part Three." Under the 2005 clarification, schools could use nonresponses to a spam-like e-mail survey to demonstrate a lack of interest in athletics and to justify cuts to women's programs.
"AAUW is thrilled that this new Title IX guidance returns athletics enforcement efforts to the previous interest and ability standard, requiring schools to consider a number of factors such as athletic participation rates at the secondary school level and interviews with local coaches and administrators," said Lisa Maatz, AAUW director of public policy and government relations. "This comprehensive guidance gives schools a much better road map for compliance and thus will give women and girls a much better shot at fair play."
AAUW is pleased to note that women's athletic participation at the college level has increased more than 500 percent since Title IX's enactment, attesting to the power of this landmark civil rights law, which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities. Better still, these gains have not come at the expense of men, whose athletic opportunities have also increased since Title IX's passage in 1972. Unfortunately, women still receive fewer opportunities to play athletics than men do, making the Department of Education's newly issued clarification both timely and necessary.
"Statistics show that girls thrive when they participate in sports — they are less likely to get pregnant, drop out of school, do drugs, smoke, or develop mental illness. In addition, a recent study found that women who played sports growing up had a lower obesity rate even 20 to 25 years later in life," said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE.
"These benefits are just part of the reason that AAUW continues to be one of the leading voices advocating for vigorous Title IX enforcement," said Hallman. "Together with this commonsense guidance from the Department of Education, AAUW's newly launched program, Title IX Compliance: Know the Score, will help AAUW branches across the country work to ensure that Title IX actually provides the opportunities to girls and women that it has promised for the last 37 years."
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The American Association of University Women (AAUW) advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. Since 1881, AAUW has been one of the nation’s leading voices promoting education and equity for women and girls. AAUW has a nationwide network of more than 100,000 members and donors, 1,000 branches, and 600 college/university institutional partners. Since AAUW's founding 130 years ago, members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political. AAUW's commitment to educational equity is reflected in its public policy advocacy, community programs, leadership development, conventions and conferences, national partnerships, and international connections.