National Women’s History Museum spotlights Title IX
An excellent new online resource from the National Women’s History Museum spotlights the early years of Title IX and the ongoing battle against sex discrimination in education.
I am delighted that museum researches used and cited my book 37 Words as one of the sources for the new exhibit, Educational Equality & Title IX: A History of Women’s Access to Higher Education in the United States. (The top photo in this blog post is a screen shot of the exhibit’s home page.)
Different sections explore the beginnings of women’s colleges, the initial push for Title IX, twists and turns and attacks during the first years of Title IX’s development and creation of its implementing regulations, and how Title iX survived. Take a look, and spread the word.
The museum hosted me and Professor Emerit Eileen Tamura of the University of Hawaii in conversation about Title IX earlier this year.
Elsewhere
Mark your calendar for February 7 — it’s the 38th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day. President Reagan signed a proclamation in 1987 that created the first National Girls and Women in Sports Day to celebrate and promote girls’ and women’s sports. The special day’s creators also intended it to honor Olympic volleyball player Flora “Flo” Hyman and her dedication to equality in women’s sports. Hyman died the year before, in 1986, of Marfan’s Syndrome.
The Women’s Sports Foundation hosts a page highlighting events all across the nation for National Girls and Women in Sports Day. If there is one happening in your area, add it to the map! The Women’s Sports Foundation celebrates its own 50th anniversary this year, inspiring generations of girls and women to play and excel.
Speaking of sports, there’s a unique (so far) effort at Oregon State University to try to stay within Title IX’s rules when it comes to payments to athletes for use of their name, image, or likeness (aka NIL payments). That’s my take on it, anyway. The university is partnering with Toyota; each player on the women’s basketball team will receive financial payments from Toyota. Across the country we’re seeing most NIL money going to men athletes. If an educational institution has any connection with NIL payments, it’s got to get money flowing to women athletes too in order to avoid egregiously violating Title IX.
Lastly, the U.S. Department of Education once again has delayed its expected delivery of final revised Title IX regulations. Now, Education officials say, the regulations will be released in March 2024, perhaps in time for them to go into effect by fall semester of 2024.
