Prison classrooms neglect women

January 23, 2023
Author events Title IX

Prison classrooms aim to help rehabilitate convicts, but it seems they’re mainly designed to help men, a new study out of Texas found. Women behind bars get fewer choices for classes and for degrees and face other educational obstacles.

Women in a prison classroom. (Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons)

When you think of Title IX, do you picture K-12 schools or college and university campuses? It covers these and so much more, including vocational, career, and technical education, as I discussed in last week’s blog post. If there’s a classroom, and it is connected to federal funding, Title IX applies. Including prisons.

How do prison education programs get away with discriminating against incarcerated women? For one thing, there is no agency tracking national data on these programs, most of which are handled by states. And just like in the world outside prison walls, women get shunted to classes and degrees in less lucrative fields while men get more choices among higher-paying careers.

In Texas, for example, incarcerated women in 2018 could work toward an associate degree or certifications in office administration or culinary arts/hospitality, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports. Male inmates could choose from three times as many offerings, including associate, bachelor’s, or master’s degrees or certificates in 21 different occupations ranging from computer technology to truck driving.

This form of discrimination is common in other states too, experts told the Chronicle. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. We need to change that. And in the meantime, we need federal attention to ensure that imprisoned women get the same chance for education as imprisoned men.

Elsewhere

Sexism in the new systems of paying student-athletes for the use of their name, image, or likeness (NIL) was much in the news this week. Some of the nation’s top experts on Title IX in athletics wrote to federal officials imploring them to release guidance to help schools recognize and stop sex discrimination in their NIL programs. Here is an excellent summary of the issue from Ms. Magazine. California legislators also are getting involved.

Michigan State University agreed to settle a lawsuit by women student-athletes and promised to come into compliance with Title IX. A court reinstated a lawsuit against three Utah school districts who have refused to offer girls’ football teams. A Riverside (Calif.) City College women’s basketball coach who demanded equal treatment for women’s teams now fears for her life due to bullying and threats by male athletes.

There are indications that the Department of Education may release a final version of updated Title IX regulations in May. After outcry over plans to allow Florida International University‘s president to teach despite stepping down last year following sexual misconduct, he will instead be working on a research project for his $376,933 salary.

The University of California, Davis fired a professor who sexually assaulted a high school student. A former teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H. pled guilty to sexually assaulting a student for two years and was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison. A student at Andrews (N.C.) Middle School said school officials did not help her when other students retaliated against her for filing a complaint that a high school football player sexually assaulted her.

The five women who accused Ohio Central State University‘s president of harassment and discrimination — which sparked an ongoing investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office — all were prominent leaders at the university, the Dayton Daily News reported. Not that that should matter. Two more women joined a Title IX class-action suit against the University of Montana. A former fraternity president who was expelled by the University of Southern California for sexual misconduct is trying to overturn his expulsions.

A federal judge upheld the right of religious schools to get exemptions from Title IX, in a suit filed by LGBTQ plaintiffs. A student who sued Indiana Public Schools over its ban against transgender athletes has dropped the case after transferring to a charter school. LGBTQ students at Pennridge High School, Perkasie, Penn., said they feel “erased” by a new school district policy that bans things like Pride symbols and “safe space” stickers. Here’s a pretty good overview of wins and losses for LGBTQ students in recent federal lawsuits under Title IX.

Columbia University named its first woman president, bringing the percentage of women leading top research universities to a whopping 28%.

On the up side

The Northern District Court of Illinois ruled that Title IX and other civil rights laws protect independent contractors, not just employees, from discrimination by educational systems. Title IX coordinators in Berkeley (Calif.) Unified School District came and went yearly for 7 years, but the latest coordinator is off to a good start, Berkeleyside reported. The article gives a good overview of some of the challenges that Title IX coordinators face.

Where you’ll find me

Tuesday, February 7, 2023, 7:00 p.m. CT — I’m honored to be speaking at Iowa State University, giving the 35th Mary Louise Smith Chair Lecture hosted by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. I’ll meet with students in the late afternoon and speak at 7:00 p.m. in the Durham Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

Tuesday, March 21, 6:30 p.m. ET — In the first of a series of bookstore events I’ll be doing in March for Women’s History Month, I’ll be at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, N.H., the capitol of the Granite State. We’ll talk politics and education and, of course, Title IX.

Thursday, March 23, 5:30 p.m. ET — I’ll speak and sign books at the wonderfully named Bedlam Book Cafe in Worcester, Mass. Come have a bite and talk books with me.

Saturday, March 25, 2:00 p.m. ET — Meet me at Tatnuck Booksellerand Cafe in Westborough, Mass., and bring a friend!

Sunday, March 26, 3-5 p.m. — As part of the Be The Change series, I’ll be speaking at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass. with special guests from Know Your IX and the Women’s Sports Foundation. Each group will receive a donation equivalent to 20% of book sales during the event. I hope you can join us if you’re in the area. If not, please consider supporting these organizations.

*** Would you like to set up an in-person or Zoom session with me for your organization or book club? Reach me through my Contact page.***

I enjoyed speaking with folks from Equal Rights Advocates in a public Zoom posted on December 13, 2022. The 40-minute event starts with a 12-minute video of ERA’s great work on Title IX issues, then we chat. Check it out:

You also can sit in on my 50-minute conversation about Title IX and 37 Words with Georgia Institute of Technology President Angel Cabrera, part of his “Conversations with Cabrera” series:

More online talks: Check out a video of my 25-minute talk at wonderful Left Bank Books in St. Louis. You can watch my six-minute interview on the Bridge Street morning show on WSYR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Syracuse, N.Y. Or, watch the video of an October 19, 2022 online conversation about Title IX and 37 Words hosted by the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Women in Law; find it here.

The Nation magazine published an excerpt from my chapter 5, which introduces Title IX’s application in the movement against sexual violence. I published an article in the Washington Post’s Made by History section, this one on “The true mother of Title IX. And why it matters now more than ever.” The Christian Science Monitor included 37 Words in two articles — a cover story on “Title IX at 50” and a sidebar examining the racial gap among women athletes in colleges. Read about the Supreme Court’s history of curtailing Title IX and other civil rights laws in my article in The Washington Post Made by History section. The Washington Monthly gave 37 Words a fine review — check it out. See other previous appearances and media coverage of 37 Words listed here.