On June 23, the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the Biden administration proposed new rules on sexual harassment and assault, reversing the Trump administration’s 2020 rollback of survivors’ rights. The new rules restore the Obama administration’s broad definition of sexual harassment and require schools to take prompt and effective actions to end sexual assault and harassment. The proposed rules also extend discrimination protection to LGBTQ students and clarify protections for pregnant and parenting students.
Tag: Education Equity
Title IX Reverberates Through Three Generations
When Title IX was passed 50 years ago this month, it helped girls gain access to spaces that they were not able to enter.
In my own family, Title IX changed the course of the lives of my activist grandmother, Silicon Valley executive aunt and my student-athlete cousin.
Teen Poet Reframes Justice System Through Incarcerated Voices
Anouk Yeh, Santa Clara County’s 2021-2022 inaugural youth poet laureate, is proud of the megaphone she’s given to incarcerated youth through weekly poetry workshops on Zoom.
Now More Than Ever, It’s Time for Universal Menstrual Education for Gender Equality
Ninety-two percent of high school students reported needing a new pad or tampon during school. Yet, period poverty, a lack of access to menstrual products due to economic circumstances, impacts students’ ability to safely address menstruation.
“Some girls find out about their periods when they actually get them. It’s just never talked about in schooling.”
It’s Time To Close the Gender Gap in Education Leadership—and Give Women What They’ve Earned
Massive turnover among school superintendents and the corresponding gender equity gap in district leadership is simply staggering. But the issue is not just that turnover is happening; it’s that men are replacing women at alarming rates. From coast to coast, the gender gap is worsening dramatically in education leadership.
Ranked-Choice Voting Brings Record Number of Women Elected in Australia: Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: The historical impact of Title IX extends far beyond the reaches of sports; ranked-choice voting leads to a record number of women elected in Australia; the importance of women in addressing the climate crisis;
The Feminist Legislator Behind Title IX
One of the visionaries behind Title IX—the federal legislation passed in 1972 that mandates gender equality in education—was a fierce and fearless congresswoman from Hawaii, Patsy Takemoto Mink. As Congress’s first woman of color and a 1972 presidential aspirant, Mink served 24 years in Congress, from 1965–1977 and then again from 1990–2002. Mink broke traditional gender boundaries, championed peace, the environment, equality and social justice, and never wavered as an advocate and ally for social change.
Demystifying Cybersecurity: Author Zinet Kemal Is Paving the Way for Young Immigrant Women in Cyber
It will take a paradigm shift to defend our national security moving forward. Women and people of color should be at the forefront of this effort. Demystifying Cybersecurity, a #ShareTheMicInCyber and Ms. magazine monthly series, spotlights women from the #ShareTheMicInCyber movement—highlighting the experiences of Black practitioners, driving a critical conversation on race in the cybersecurity industry, and shining a light on Black experts in their fields.
This month, cybersecurity professional and children’s book author Zinet Kemal describes her path to entering the tech industry, and why more young, Black and Muslim women should have a voice in cybersecurity.
Colleges Must Fill the Sex Ed Gap Left by High Schools
When it comes to preparing youth to lead healthy, sex-positive lives, we know that the state of sex education in our middle and high schools is dire. And although teaching sex ed is often considered the responsibility of middle and high schools, colleges often end up dealing with the fallout related to this lack of education.
Many first-year U.S. college students enroll in a college in the state where they live, so it’s especially important for states with lackluster high school sex ed to address it at the college level.
Baltimore Teens Fought To Provide Communities With Fast and Reliable Internet
When school went online during COVID lockdowns, Kimberly Vasquez’s unreliable WiFi started to hinder her schoolwork. Her grade point average dropped but her family could only afford the low-cost plan that wasn’t suitable for remote learning.
Vasquez, joined by Yashira Valenzuela and Aliyah Abid, organized to petition Comcast to make their plans faster and more economical for low-income families. After rallying at Comcast headquarters, the city’s largest provider made the most affordable option for internet run at twice the speed.