by D’Aysia Jackson, Warren Central High School

Title IX is the only law that has given women the equal rights as men in the entire country. This law has been in place since June 23, 1972, but many people have no clue what it is. According to Associate Prof. of Sports Media Dr. Lauren Smith, unfortunately 87% of Americans have no idea what Title IX is or what it protects.

This law protects people from any discrimination based on their sex or gender identity in education programs or activities that are funded by public money. Given the circumstances in the country, Title IX is the only law that grants women equal rights to men in schools and sports. It’s important for people to educate themselves no matter what gender to know how protected they are in any situations like equal access to higher education, sexual harassment, equal access to sports and more.

High school football games have higher attendance than most other sports, male or female. Photo by Kristine Brown

Many people may not realize that their school follows Title IX’s rules and regulations, it’s important to ask as a student and, or athlete if one’s school uses Title IX. Title IX is required by staff and coaches to study and look over, but is not for students and athletes to study. This is why many people have never heard of Title IX.

 This law doesn’t only protect students, but faculty and guests. According to Smith there are eight general rules to Title IX. All schools and their sports have to follow them or it is considered violating the rules and guidelines. According to Smith this is good to know just in case someone is being discriminated against in any kind of way, one can know their rights and they will get justice from the situation.

Given that this is the only law protecting women’s equality in the country, there are often people who want to hurt the law rather than strengthen it. According to https://www2.edc.org/, if Title IX was abolished women would not be able to have the choice to choose certain courses to take, stay out past midnight on campus, allow women to enter through the same doors as men and more.

There are still unfair advantages that men have over women, like making more money in sports than women. According to Smith, because of the law people often think that this means everything is equal, which is a big misconception. The main reason for this is women get less corporate sponsorships and less viewership in their sports.

Cases of violating Title IX’s regulations have been discovered many times before. According to Lansing State Journal the most known case of violation of Title IX is from Michigan State, which the school had handled a sexual harassment case unprofessionally, which ended in the school facing trouble. This is why it is alway good to ask as many questions before joining schools, sports so one will know that they are being protected at all times no matter what gender, race or sex.