On October 3, in the third of a series of hearings on women in math, science, technology, and engineering, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space focused on the enforcement of Title IX.
Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 prohibits gender discrimination in all schools and institutions across the country. Cosponsored by former Reps. Edith Green (D-OR) and Patsy Mink (D-HI), the legislation languished in a House-Senate conference committee for several months, while negotiators worked out 250 differences between the House and Senate education bills, 11 of which were gender-related. President Nixon signed it into law on June 23, 1972.
Subcommittee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) opened the hearing stating, “Congress may not be able to legislate away the entrenched attitudes of the math and science establishment, that women are somehow second-class scholars in these fields, but I am determined to see the Title IX statute fully enforced to give women equal opportunity in science, engineering and math education.” He added, “Making sure that Title IX protects women in and out of the sports arena is more important now than ever before, as the Administration fires up a commission to review and possibly revise Title IX rules.”
Former Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN) was a chief sponsor of Title IX and told the subcommittee that significant progress has been made in opening classroom doors to women in the last 30 years. Despite this progress, “unacceptable elements of discrimination continue to exist,” he stated. “In the high tech world in which we are living, we as a country cannot tolerate the underutilization of more than half of our population which happens to be women,” he stressed.
Sen. Bayh told the subcommittee that, in his opinion, the problem cannot be solved “by Congressional awareness or by passage of legislation.” Instead, “the problem must be addressed first at the breakfast and dinner table where mothers and fathers need to understand that equal opportunity should be expected for their daughters as well as their sons,” he explained. He also stressed the importance of role models “which help women to focus and develop self-esteem.” He cited Chamique Holdsclaw, Cynthia Cooper, and Mia Hamm as role models in athletics. “Who are the role models in the academic area?” he asked.
Todd Jones of the Department of Education also hailed the accomplishments of Title IX and cited the progress that women have made in the sciences since its passage in 1972. He pointed out that, in 1972, only 9 percent of medical degrees went to women. Today, women earn 43 percent of medical degrees. In 1972, only 1 percent of dental degrees went to women. Today, 40 percent of dental degrees are earned by women.
Margaret “Digit” Murphy of Brown University described her experiences as the head coach of the women’s hockey team. “The world of sport used to look like the world of math and technology, all boys and no girls,” she said. “It is interesting to note that there has been an 847 percent increase in girls participating in high school athletics since 1972,” she added.
“If Title IX is weakened, it will not only have a profound impact on athletics but will send a message that maintaining and progressing opportunities for our daughters in all program areas is not a priority,” she added.
Marcia Greenberger of the National Women’s Law Center testified that despite the progress, “we are not seeing steady improvement across the board. These problems do not improve on their own.” She told the subcommittee that “there has been a downward trend in the number of women receiving undergraduate degrees in the computer and informational sciences, which reached a high of 37 percent in 1984 and dropped to 28 percent in 1999 to 2000. And while the Department of Education official rightly pointed to the progress of 1 percent to 17 percent in engineering from the passage of Title IX to today, who could be satisfied with the 17 percent figure?”
Ms. Greenberger also expressed her concerns about “the gap between the median salaries of women and men in science and engineering that has increased over time.” She said that, “in 1999 women made $14,000 less than their male counterparts as compared to $10,000 less in 1993.”
“Do you disagree with that, Mr. Jones,” asked Sen. Wyden. “Do you continue to believe that the news is good? How would you respond to the comments of the other panelists?” he added.
“I’m actually not aware of those numbers,” responded Mr. Jones. “But the progress is significant and substantial,” he said. “Today 7 percent of boys complete Advanced Placement (AP) calculus and 6 percent of girls do,” he continued. “Yet when we look at statistics in the early 80s, there were twice as many boys completing AP calculus,” he said. “That’s progress,” he stressed.
“Yes, 17 percent is not a substantial proportion, but the difference between 17 percent and 1 percent is substantial progress,” he argued. “There are two issues at play when we look at the number of degrees completed,” he said. “One is an issue of discrimination, the other issue is of self-selection,” he added.
Ms. Greenberger suggested, “There may be something wrong with the environment.” She noted, “That’s the job of the Office of Civil Rights.”
Mr. Jones responded that his office gets 6,000 complaints each year. “We take action in many of those cases,” he said.
