30 Years After Title IX, It's Still A Pink And Blue World

Not so long ago in fact as recently as the 1960s and early 1970's students commonly took two different tests to determine their future careers: a pink test for girls and a blue test for boys.

The blue test asked boys whether they would like to be President and the pink test asked girls whether they would like _to marry_ the President. So it should be no surprise that female students were concentrated (and in some cases required to take) courses that were traditionally female, such as cosmetology, child care, and health courses, while males took trade and industrial courses, such as automotive repair, engineering, and construction. Indeed, in 1977, females made up 79 percent of those enrolled in traditional fields for women and only 13 percent of fields that were traditional for males. Many might think that these patterns are things of the past, now that it has been more than 30 years since Congress outlawed sex discrimination in education. And yet, the gender divide in career and technical education has narrowed barely at all. An October 2005 report by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) reveals that career and technical education programs remain concentrated by gender: girls represent more than five out of sex students enrolled in courses leading to traditionally female occupations, and they are less than one of six students in courses leading to nontraditional occupations. The NWLC Report and fact sheets that examine specific data for 12 states around the country contains data that show this fact in bleak detail: high school girls are 98% of cosmetology students, for example, while boys are 91% of those enrolled in automotive classes. ====*Why does this matter?* Well, the dollars-and cents difference in payoff is startling: girls who take up traditionally female occupations can expect to earn half or less what they could make if they went into such traditionally male fields as auto repair, welding or engineering. So students should be informed about, and consider, the wages they can expect to earn as they make career decisions. Make no mistake: the NWLC Report does not argue (and I certainly would not argue) that traditionally female fields are inherently worse than traditionally male fields. Far from it child care providers play a crucial role in society and there is expected to be a strong growth in the health field in the coming years. But the hard truth is that the _highest_ median wage for a traditionally female category ($14.63 for health professions) is still lower than the _lowest_ median wage in a traditionally male field ($16.63 for agricultural management). *How did this happen?* The NWLC Report shows that girls are discouraged from pursuing the more lucrative male fields in some subtle and not-so-subtle ways. A high school student in Michigan said, for example, "My counselor even tried to talk me out of [enrolling in auto body courses]." And the walls of a technology education classroom in Michigan were adorned with pinups of women in bikinis riding motorcycles called "crotch rockets," a mural of male students using a urinal, and a sign boasting "Farm Boys Rule." *Progress is possible.* The news is not all bad, however. People are now aware of this issue, and have started to adopt some promising programs that expose young women to nontraditional training. The even better news is that there are powerful tools that, if fully utilized, can address barriers to which girls are subject and open further doors for girls to nontraditional training. In addition to Title IX (the federal law that prohibits all forms of sex discrimination in federally funded education and provides specific enforcement mechanisms), there are state and local laws that in some cases go even further than federal protections. But even the most comprehensive state and federal laws can be effective only if they are widely publicized and adequately enforced. To assist advocates with enforcing their laws and to encourage proactive measures, NWLC has offered a blueprint for students, parents, educational professionals and advocates in each of the 12 states in the Report to address specific incidents of discrimination; encourage enforcement of state and federal laws to address under-representation; and take proactive measures to improve girls' enrollment and retention in nontraditional fields. The Report and a general toolkit also offer advocates in other states a means to evaluate the provisions of their states' laws and apply them to improve gender equity in career and technical education. It is far past time to ensure that the doors are truly open for girls and women to these lucrative training and careers. I encourage everyone to view the Report, and each of the 12 state-specific toolkits, on the National Women's Law Center's website at "www.nwlc.org":http://www.nwlc.org/details.cfm?id=2462§ion=education. *Contact me at the National Women's Law Center, _fgraves@nwlc.org_, with any questions or to receive a hard copy of the report.* delicious | digg | technorati
Email this page