Gender Based Discrimination in Education

The Issue of GenderBased Discrimination in Education

Gender equality emerged as a salient political and legal issue in the United States in the 1960s (Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 62). The issue of gender equality was not new at the state government level, as state law historically had "defined the political and civil rights and the legal capacities of women" (Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 63). What was new was federal initiatives with respect to the issue of gender equality with the enactment federal laws such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Title IX of the Education Act Amendments of 1972.

Gender equality, or the reverse side of the coin, genderbased discrimination, as an issue, emanates from the social subordination of women. The social subordination of women in society has occurred through the process of social learning. The subordination of women provides both the philosophical basis for a justification by a patriarchal society and a basis for economic practices that facilitate the development and maintenance of societal inequities between females and males within a society (Barry, 1979, p. 9). In an economic context, a major problem in capitalist societies is the

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of the Texas Constitution to apply only against governmental infringements on gender equality ("Junior Football Association v. Gaudet" 71). Males have frequently cited the gender discrimination prohibition in the Texas Constitution as a basis for challenging other laws that use genderbased language in defining crimes, such as the crime of rape (Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 63). Texas courts have ruled, however, that defendants may not use Article I, 3a of the Texas Constitution as a shield against prosecution for criminal behavior ("Finley v. State" 553). Since the Texas Constitution was amended in 1972 to prohibit genderbased discrimination, the state legislature has acted to bring other state statutes into line with the provisions of Article I, 3a of the constitution (Vernon's Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated 8). Among the laws that have been revised are those dealing with education. Texas statutes now require equality of opportunity in education on the basis of gender with respect to both access and funding. The requirement to provide equal funding to both female and male athletic programs has proved to be a vexatious issue in Texas. While Texas courts have enforced equality of access and fundin
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Approximate Word count = 2138
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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