Title IX

Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States of America that was passed as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. This is Public Law No. 92‑318, 86 Stat. 235 (June 23, 1972), codified at 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681–1688.

Senator Birch Bayh wrote the 37 words of Title IX.[1][2] Bayh first introduced an amendment to the Higher Education Act to ban discrimination on the basis of sex on August 6, 1971 and again on February 28, 1972, when it passed the Senate. Representative Edith Green, chair of the Subcommittee on Education, had held hearings on discrimination against women, and introduced legislation in the House on May 11, 1972. The full Congress passed Title IX on June 8, 1972.[3] With attempts to weaken Title IX, Representative Patsy Mink emerged as the leader in the House to protect the law, and it was later renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act following Mink's death in 2002.[4] When Title IX was passed in 1972, only 42% percent of the students enrolled in American colleges were female.[citation needed]

The purpose of the Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 was to update Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned several forms of discrimination in employment, but did not address or mention discrimination in education. Contrary to popular belief, the creation of Title IX had nothing to do with sports.