Title IX Gender Equality

On June 23rd 1972, Title IX was enacted to get rid of barriers in federal education environments regarding gender. It begins, “No person in the United States 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.” Title IX corrected the original imbalances among the school place that barred many from participation, and available opportunities due to sex including athletics. Since then the representation of sexual orientation has grown and progressed to express a many and diverse range of gender, orientation, and preference (1). Yet Title IX falls short of full adaption of the currently changing

This is defined as knowing infraction of a victim’s health and safety and conscious disregard of consequences by their acts or omissions. Many violators can avoid serious prosecution by lack of obvious deliberate indifference or union protections and victims do not reach valid relief. Furthermore, recent federal reversals of Title IX withdrew interpretations of sex discriminations to exclude sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds of expression. With these setbacks in place, many students fail to see proper prosecution of their violators and face heavy subjugation based solely on their identity. Current interpretations and actions in federal school environments is facing a regression rather than progression of student’s

It is found that from the years 2009 to 2013, a documented 63,000 children were reported as victims of sexual abuse or harassment. Statistically, it is also found that every eight minutes, Child Protective Services find evidence or claims of child sex abuse. The effects of this abuse can be long-lasting and consequently affects the mental health of a victim. It is found that victims who encounter sexual harassment are four times as likely to develop drug abusiveness, post traumatic stress disorders, and three times as likely to develop anxiety or depressive episodes (Children and Teens: Statistics). The consequences of sexual abuse are not only found to be confined to the times of incidents but develop lasting effects on the victims long after the incident occurs. Furthermore, it is found that 93 percent of case, the victim knows their perpetrator while 7 percent are strangers, 34 percent are members of family, and 59 percent are acquaintances. It is also found that one in nine girls and one in fifty-three boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault at the hands of an adult. These statistics highlight the dwelling insecurity of the environment of children including school, with holes in their protection encouraging such cases. In 2016, the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE), had been sued over sex assaults occurring in the school place (HNN: Exclusive). One of