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Title IX has affected virtually every aspect of education since its
implementation: courses including vocational training and
career-planning options, student employment, financial aid,
extra-curricular activities, student employment, financial aid,
facilities, housing, health services, admissions recruitment,
counseling, testing, and athletics (Haber, 1980).
To say that Title IX changed the face of women's sports programs is an
understatement. Athletic scholarships were not longer to be restricted
only to males; they were now to be offered proportionally to women as
well. Equipment, facilities and resources, as well as the athletic
interests of both men and women would need to be provided for (Haber,
1980). In athletics, as well as all of these areas, it was now clear
legally, as well as philosophically and morally, that woman has the
right to educational equity.
Unfortunately the legal battle was not the only battle to fight. The
impact of sex-bias is not as clearly tabulated on government figures as
sex discrimination is. While the legal implications of opening up all
sports teams and opportunities to women is measurable, the director of
sports programs in a high school who makes it extremely difficult for
women to take advantage of new opportunities is not. The term sex bias
refers to "a mental bent, inclination or tendency, a prejudice or
predilection." (Funk & Wagnalls). Bias describes concepts within a
person's mind that can lead them to be discriminatory.
In addition to Title IX, another law was passed soon after to help
combat sex bias. The Women's Educational Equity Act of 1974 states the
need for this law in part:
"The congress hereby finds and declares that educational
programs in the United States (including its possessions),
as presently conducted, are frequently inequitable as such
programs relate to women and frequently limit the full
participation of all individuals in American society."
-The Women's Educational Act of 1974
(US Statutes at Large, 1976)
The WEEA legislation provided grants and resources to explore bias and
discrimination in the school systems, and to help establish sex-fair
teaching practices. Funds were allotted to check development,
evaluation and distribution of curricula and textbooks; preparatory and
in-service training for teachers and guidance counselors to combat sex
bias; research, development and education activities designed to
advance awareness of educational equality; development of
non-discriminatory standardized testing practices; and increasing
opportunities for adult women (both unemployed and re-entry women). It
ensured expansion and improvement of non-discriminatory practices in
vocational education, career education, physical education and
education administration (US Statutes at Large, 1976). At this time an
advisory council was established through the Office of Education to
implement and monitor the laws against bias.
Obviously, the sphere of impact for these two laws alone is extremely
large. An incredible wealth of information is available concerning any
one of these areas: sports, testing practices and textbook evaluation
are three areas that have undergone a great deal of speculation for
sex-stereotyping evaluation over the past 15 years. The National
Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs (the advisory council
appointed by congress) did a report to the President determining the
greatest needs at the time of the committee's conception. In the eight
recommendations that had been presented, the council listed vocational
education as one of the needs to be addressed: "Vocational education
should be amended to require plans to overcome sex stereotyping, and to
give women a larger role in planning and implementing vocational
education programs" (Sandler, 1975).
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Sex-role stereotyping begins to affect us the day we are born. From
birth, babies are treated differently: from the way they are cuddled,
to what color they may or may not be wrapped in, according to their
gender. It is obvious that biases and expectations of families have a
substantial impact over everything children do, and their perceptions
on careers are no different. Major research as recent as 1983 shows
that sex differences in psychosocial and cognitive factors are
determined more by environment than by genetic factors (Haber, 1983).
More specifically, research after Title IX shows that high school girls
based career choice decisions on three variables: intelligence,
self-evaluation and parental occupational thinking (Fortner, 1970).
For example, if a woman grows up in a family that believes,
"Construction is a man's job," "Women shouldn't be taking those jobs
away from men who have families to support," or "No daughter of mine
will ever be an auto mechanic!", she is likely to perceive
non-traditional careers as not desirable for women. However, the
opposite of this is also true. A young woman who grew up in a
contractor's family may feel that helping her father and brothers with
the work is perfectly acceptable. Likewise, a young man who grew up in
a military family may be surprised to find out that clerical office
positions are traditionally held by women (Haring-Hidore and
Begard-Tyler).
The second obstacle an individual faces in forming views free from
sexism is education itself. Title IX and WEEA implemented change in
teaching practices from preschool to post-graduate programs.
Textbooks, playground activities, teacher training manuals - virtually
every area of education, beginning with elementary classrooms, began to
be evaluated, changed, recommended or discarded. Textbooks were some
of the worse offenders in sex-discrimination. They literally
illustrated that women are not as important as men; studies show that
stories, examples, and illustrations choose men and boys as subjects
more frequently than women and girls. When they were shown, females
were "represented as helpless, frightened or stupid people usually
doing housework, or watching, or being rescued by males" (Sandler,
1975).
Equally damaging is the reinforcement to the stereotypes provided by
teachers and guidance counselors at all levels. Whether deliberately
taught or unconsciously transmitted, the authority that teachers and
counselors have over children affect what students think. Counselors
tend to perpetuate conventional patterns of behavior. It has been
proven in psychological studies that unconventional goals are often
looked upon by counselors as "non-conforming" and even "deviant"
(Hawley, 1972).
The facts therefore clearly show that children are directly affected
both by traditional family perspectives and sex-role limitations
imposed either consciously or unconsciously by school systems. To see
the implications of this is to understand that approximately half of
all individuals in our society are affected for a lifetime by
traditional perspectives that are transmitted from a young age. One
area of particular concern is an area known as "math anxiety". In a
1979 study of elementary school students, researchers found that sex
differences in attitudes toward math began as early as the third grade,
and that elementary-age boys and girls both felt that math was a "boys'
subject" (Haber, 1980). Girls are socialized even at this young age to
believe that math is "unwomanly" or "inappropriate". Statistically,
girls are less likely to take math and science courses, particularly
accelerated level programs, even if they are talented in these areas
(Sadker and Sadker, 1985).
The implications for this early conditioning can be devestatig.
Sex-differential plans for the study of mathematics have a lifelong
impact on their participation in math-related occupations (Pedro,
Willeat, and Fennema, 1980). Women are first prevented from further
career training at the college level. Lucy Sells conducted a
sociological study in the early 70's to gain statistics on math
anxiety. "92% of women entering the University of California at
Berkeley were *automatically* excluded from ten out of the twelve
colleges and from 22 out of the 44 majors because they did not have
four years of high school mathematics (as opposed to only 43% of the
men not meeting that requirement)" (Woman's Annual 1980). The fact
that these abilities are not *genetically* sex related is show clearly
in the evidence that girls start out doing better in math and verbal
skills than boys do (Sadker and Sadker, 1985).
Additionally, statistics show that women are more capable math students
when their confidence level is supplemented. Recent research and
testing has shown that the programs which are most successful in
increasing female participation in math and science are predominantly
accomplished through multiple strategies to increase motivation and
self-esteem through confidence-building exercises (Haber, 1983). The
problem of American girl students is unique. What other group starts
out being ahead - in reading, in writing, and even in math - and after
twelve years is socialized to believe they are incompetent? What a
waste of valuable talent and possible contributions to society.
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If we look at women's involvement in the workforce over the past
hundred years, it is very obvious that women's career choices are
predominantly determined by the sexual stereotypes our society has
established. These stereotypes have changed at different times to meet
the needs of society as a whole. At different times, it has been not
only accepted but required that women work in the home, work in
agricultural pursuits, work in clerical positions, and work in either
traditional or non-traditional occupations depending on society's "need
of the hour". In 1833, Oberlin College first opened its doors to
women, allowing higher education to be an option for women. As a
result of new avenues opening up, the percentage of women in the work
force tripled in the thirty years between 1870 and 1900 (Senate
Committee Hearing, 1986). At this point, things began to change as far
as opportunities for women. In August of 1918, a New York Times
article reported:
"The woman wage worker is a particularly modern product;
Women...have long worked in the home and on the farm and
outside of the home as voluntary nurses and helpers to
neighbors and relatives, but as workers for wages outside
of the home, whether in factories or in business or in the
professions, they present a comparatively new problem."
Looking back on women and their work, it seems that women worked in the
thousands according to whatever society dictated that they should at
that time. For example, at the beginning of World War I, numbers of
women were called into some of the factories to take over production as
men went off to war. Results show that the women learned skills as
quickly as men, and in some cases were even more efficient (Janeway,
1973). By 1932, still a very small proportion of women were working
compared to the total female population. Bureau of the Census
occupation statistics showed that 23 million women were "engaged in the
work of keeping in their own homes", while a pitiful 10,000 women over
age ten were "gainfully employed" (Janeway, 1973). Only a handful of
these women worked in non-traditional occupations. The statistics show
that among them were 80 women hunters, trappers and guides; 209
fisherwomen and oysterwomen; 15 foresters and forest rangers; 95
lumberwomen; one plumber; and five tinsmiths. Still, women choosing
traditional occupations were the norm: the top two occupations that
employed working women were domestic servants and school teachers
(Janeway, 1973).
From the period of the Depression through World War II, statistics show
that women's careers are the victims of society's changing values.
Prior to the war, times were hard; many people were out of work.
Massive male unemployment brought for the demands that married women be
dismissed from jobs in order to spread work. The government also
enacted laws that did not allow women to work in any capacity for the
government unless her husband's salary was under a fixed amount
(Janeway, 1973). However, society's needs changed as men went off to
war. In one year, 53000 female clerical workers were hired in
Washington DC - women who either lived there or moved there - to manage
the paperwork that the men had left behind in 1940 (Janeway, 1973).
World War II also brought women into non-traditional occupations that
perhaps 50 years before society would have frowned upon as improper.
"Rosie the Riveter" put down her mixing bowl and took up an electric
drill to help her country during the war. These women proved that
women were not only competent at working with heavy machinery, but also
that they enjoyed this type of work. it also gave them a new economic
freedom: traditional jobs didn't pay like this! But after the war was
done, society's needs changed again, and women were expected to return
home. One year after V-J day, two million women had left their jobs in
heavy industry, some voluntarily, others not. Women married earlier
than ever before and began to have children and stay at home, as
society now expected them to do (Janeway, 1973).
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Unfortunately, despite the fact that even historically women are
competent to handle non-traditional jobs, they are still limited in
career choices. Fifty years after the Depression, the Census Bureau
reports that out of an existing 441 occupations, the majority of
working women are listed in only twenty of them (Weiser and Arbeiter,
1981). Today, most women work because they support themselves.
Two-thirds of the women in the labor force are single, divorced,
separated, widowed, or married to men who earn less than $15,000
annually (Senate Committee Hearing, 1986). The combination of these
statistics shows a discouraging report: most women work because they
need to for economic reasons, but because they are limited by society
to traditional occupations, they cannot make the amount of money that
would help them rise above a potential or existing economic rut.
Title IX and WEEA have made an impact on our society. There are
success stories that show it is a necessary and essential part of
changing society's views. For example, the Alaskan Pipeline employed
upwards of 2,500 women in construction (or about 11% of the total
construction workforce (Haber, 1980)). But looking at the results over
the past fifteen years, the statistics show only a creeping rise in
female participation in non-traditional areas. Figure 1 (which
follows) shows a sampling of random traditionally "male" and "female"
occupations and related entry earnings. The percentages show that women
are still limited by sex-role stereotyping and conditioning that our
society both creates and allows. Figure 2 shows the wide range in
salaries offered in ten occupations for men and women.
This is not to say that Title IX legislation has not been effective.
It has. Programs that are legally open to women that were not fifteen
years ago are beginning to open more career doors. In other areas
besides vocational career planning, some tremendous changes have been
made. For instance, female students rose in participation of school
sports from 7% in 1971 to 35% in 1981. In 1974, only 1% of all
athletic scholarships were awarded to women vs. 22% in 1981 (Haber,
1983).
Unfortunately , snags and barricades still exist for women who have
non-traditional career goals. Barriers to women who want to enter the
workforce of a non-traditional shop include dealing with sex
discrimination in schools, receiving potentially inadequate preparation
in school, and sexual harassment on the worksite. The labor-market
statistics as shown in the attached charts are only the beginning: in
"no occupational category of the labor market do men's and women's
earnings reach parity, even in those occupations in which women
predominate" (Senate Committee Hearing, 1986).
Plato said it plainly 2,000 years ago, "Nothing can be more absurd than
the practice which prevails in our country of men and women not
following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind,
for thus the state instead of being whole, is reduced to half". It
will require more than documenting discrimination policies and
examining textbooks to count pictures of Dick and Jane to crack open
every opportunity for career and economic satisfaction for both men and
women. Women make up slightly over half of our society today. By
limiting this group from living up to their talent, their potential,
their dreams, we limit society from achieving what it could achieve.
It is a destructive and dangerous thing for a society to prevent the
full growth of each member within the group. The continuation of laws
like Title IX and further education for everyone in society in
overcoming sex bias will break down the harmful effects of sex-role
stereotyping in career choices over time.
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Bibliography
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Pedro, Joan Daniels, Patricia Wolleat and Elizabeth Fennema. "Sex
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(continued in next reply)
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Figure 1 - US Dept of Labor Statistics, March 1982
Job Males Females % Female Hourly Wage
Air conditioning 166,000 1,000 0.6 8.37
appliance repair 90,000 5,000 5.2 7.88
auto mechanics 808,000 6,000 0.7 7.13
auto body and fender 136,000 1,000 0.7 7.38
carpentry 689,000 10,000 1.4 8.13
electrical 589,000 10,000 1.7 10.48
masonry 87,000 0 0 10.00
plumbing, pipefitting 376,000 0 0 9.43
paint, construc, maint 248,000 10,000 3.9 6.87
electric power, cable 121,000 1,000 0.8 10.23
welders 643,000 35,000 5.2 8.35
radio/TV repairs 80,000 4,000 4.3 8.40
childcare workers 11,000 72,000 86.7 3.78
clothing mfg/textiles 24,000 710,000 96.7 3.93
cosmetology 29,000 163,000 85.3 4.48
dental assistants 3,000 95,000 97.9 4.58
filing clerks 37,000 192,000 83.5 4.80
food service workers 76,000 163,000 68.2 4.12
practical nurse 6,000 256,000 97.3 5.68
bank teller 28,000 436,000 94.0 4.73
typists 29,000 772,000 96.4 5.33
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Figure 2 -
percentages and wages from US bureau of labor statistics 1982
Occupation % female Average Weekly Salary
Electrical Eng. Techs 9.7 $660
Secretaries 99.3 $370
Drafters 18.0 $500
Child care workers 86.0 $250
Carpenters 1.5 $450
Cashiers 85.0 $240
Practical nurses 97.4 $307
Plumbers, pipefitters 1.0 $520
Hairdressers, cosmetol. 85.0 $280
Machinists 3.6 $460
(end of report)
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