Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Akron Law Review
Publication Date
2000
Volume
34:1
First Page
209
Abstract
(Excerpt)
Over the past decade, the subject of publicly supported, single-sex education has generated considerable debate in legal and policy circles. Since 1996, much of that debate has centered around the Supreme Court's decision in the Virginia Military Institute case and how that case intersects with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. In VMI, Justice Ginsburg, speaking for the Court, stated that gender classifications must have "an exceedingly persuasive justification" in order to pass muster under the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection clause. That decision has become a key factor in recent efforts by school districts to establish single-sex schools and classes for girls and for minority boys. In the following discussion, I would like to underscore two points: first, that VMI may offer more support for single-sex programs than some political pundits may have originally thought; and second, that VMI and other Court decisions may command some revisions to the Title IX regulations.
But as Justice Ginsburg demonstrated in her lengthy VMI opinion, the legal analysis does not occur in isolation. It involves a complex weaving together of factual data and research from other disciplines, including the history of women's education and the denial of access, the sociology of gender sameness and difference, philosophical notions of equality, and public policy considerations.
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