37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination

With this detailed work, Boschert (Plug-In Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America) puts a human face on Title IX, the law that revolutionized gender equity in U.S. education when it was passed in 1972. Beginning with the early days of the movement for the amendment, she describes some of the people who faced discrimination in schools and academic hiring and who lobbied for change. Later chapters delve into two of Title IX’s most significant areas of impact, equity in sports and campus responses to sexual assault and harassment, focusing especially on Fresno State and Yale but also discussing the major impact and advocacy at colleges and high schools across the country. Boschert illustrates connections between Title IX and the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements and shows how its reach has extended deep into American culture and social change. However, she stresses that while a long history of activism and sacrifice made Title IX possible, the battle for educational equity still has a long way to go.