Portrait of a young female student with curly hair, and brown skin standing outdoors on a college campus holding a backpack. Her expression is serious.
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Title IX is one of the most consequential civil rights laws in US history for women. Passed in 1972, it prohibits sex discrimination in education and has vastly expanded opportunity for girls and women in sports, classrooms, and campus life, while also becoming a key protection for students facing harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and other inequities. For more than 50 years, Title IX has helped expand educational opportunities for women and girls.

As Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

On April 6, 2026, however, the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) rescinded provisions of agreements entered into by prior administrations, “freeing schools from the illegal and burdensome enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.”

The History Behind Title IX

Title IX was enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972 and signed into law on June 23, 1972. In its famous 37 words, the law barred discrimination “on the basis of sex” in any education program or activity receiving federal funds.

At the time, opportunities for girls and women in education were severely limited in admissions, scholarships, athletics, and full participation in academic life. One of Title IX’s principal architects, Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first woman of color and the first Asian American woman elected to Congress, authored and championed the law. Mink warned that “we need to be eternally vigilant to protect our rights.” In 2002, Title IX was renamed in honor of Patsy Mink after her passing, honoring both her authorship and her defense of the law against later attacks.

Title IX also emerged from a broader movement for women’s equality that included the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a proposed constitutional amendment designed to guarantee legal gender equality. Only 35 states ratified the amendment by the extended deadline (fewer than the three-fourths or 38 states required by the Constitution). It remains in legal and procedural limbo. The ERA provides a broader constitutional guarantee of sex equality. It remains an unfinished project, but one that continues to shape advocates’ thinking about durable civil rights protection. Although the ERA fell short, the movement behind it helped create the political environment that made Title IX possible.

In 1972, women faced quotas in admissions, fewer scholarships, dramatic inequities in athletics, and widespread indifference to sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. Title IX helped change that. It applies to every part of education receiving federal funding: admissions, scholarships, employment, academic programs, housing, sexual harassment policies, pregnancy discrimination, and protection from sexual violence.

Title IX Facts at a Glance:

  • 37 words — The law’s core guarantee prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs.
  • 32,000 — Approximate number of women participating in college sports before Title IX.
  • 16 — Percentage of college athletes who were women before Title IX.
  • 295,000 — Number of girls participating in high school sports before Title IX.
  • 7 — Percentage of high school athletes who were girls before Title IX.
  • 2026 — Approximately 3.2 million girls participated in high school athletics last year

Source: National Women’s Law Center Facts Re Title IX

Title IX also became a critical tool for addressing sexual harassment and sexual assault on campus. It made clear that discrimination in school is not limited to overt exclusion; harassment and retaliation can also deny equal educational access. For more than five decades, the law has stood for one simple principle: educational opportunity should not depend on gender.

An example of Title IX in action was provided by union lawyer Anita Tanay, an alumnus of the University of Michigan, who filed a Title IX complaint against the University in 1976 for supporting an elite, all-male secret society called Michigamua. The university provided Michigamua—which used racist Native American stereotypes—with networking opportunities and an office in the Student Union (referred to as the “wigwam”). Two women filed a complaint after Vice President Gerald Ford (a Michigan alumnus) dismissed student concerns about the group’s discriminatory nature.

Three years later, the HEW (the predecessor agency to the Department of Education) found the university in violation of Title IX for supporting a male-only honorary society. The group was forced off campus and admitted women two decades after the initial filing.

Recent Presidential Administrations and Title IX

The Obama and Biden administrations moved toward broader protections by interpreting sex discrimination to include LGBTQ-related discrimination in federal civil rights enforcement.

Under Obama, the administration issued guidance and executive actions that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the federal workforce and among federal contractors, while also advancing Title IX guidance on sexual violence and campus obligations.

Biden then built on that approach by issuing an executive order directing agencies to extend sex-discrimination protections to sexual orientation and gender identity and by finalizing Title IX regulations that explicitly covered LGBTQ+ students.

Then the Trump administration reversed course, His Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, issued a 2020 rule that overhauled how schools handle allegations of sexual harassment and assault, narrowing what schools were required to investigate. The National Women’s Law Center wrote that the rule “explicitly seeks a reduction in the number of Title IX investigations” by making it harder for victims to come forward and receive fair treatment.

Since the start of Trump’s second administration, the US Department of Education has rescinded the Biden-era regulations and resumed nationwide enforcement of the DeVos 2020 Title IX rule, tying the definition of sex to biological sex at birth, narrowing the definition of sexual harassment, and limiting a school’s mandated response to reported incidents. This follows President Trump’s January 20, 2025, executive order directing federal agencies to recognize only “two sexes, male and female.”

The Trump administration has prioritized weaponizing Title IX to harm transgender women and girls and has unraveled existing protections. In the National Women’s Law Center’s “Title IX’s 53rd Anniversary Fact Sheet”, they cite three major examples of the administration’s approach:

  • Restricting transgender rights through executive orders that narrowly define sex and seek to exclude transgender women and girls from women’s and girls’ sports
  • Reinstating the 2020 Title IX rules, which critics say make it harder for survivors of sexual harassment and assault to pursue complaints and obtain relief
  • Launching a Title IX Special Investigations Team focused on schools with transgender-inclusive policies

The Center also led a coalition that signed a letter from 170 organizations, almost all of them nonprofits, condemning Trump’s Executive Order 14166, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” Critics argue the order is intended to stigmatize and discriminate against transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people rather than protect women and girls.

Kel O’Hara, senior attorney for Policy and Education Equity at Equal Rights Advocates, warned that the administration’s approach could create a “blueprint for dismantling civil rights protections across the board while flying under the radar.”

Broader Civil Rights Landscape: DEI and Title VII

Trump has also issued executive orders to dismantle DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives across the federal government and beyond. These orders direct agencies to eliminate DEI programs, scrutinize organizations receiving federal funds, and reinterpret civil rights enforcement standards. They matter because attacks on DEI shape how schools talk about equity, inclusion, and institutional responsibility. When DEI is framed as suspect, schools become more hesitant to name disparities, train staff, or invest in compliance systems that help marginalized students succeed.

The main Trump executive orders tied to DEI fundamentally narrow the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil rights enforcement scope by eliminating key legal tools the agency historically used to challenge discrimination. They also redirect the DOJ’s priorities toward attacking DEI programs and protecting a binary, biological definition of sex. Just a few examples include:

On June 18, 2026, the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) moved to delete the agency’s affirmative action rule, which was implemented almost 50 years ago. The rule had allowed the EEOC to consider affirmative action in employment and was seen by the Administration as blocking politicized attacks alleging discrimination against White men.

As reported by The Intercept, the move comes amid the “[d]epartment’s quest to characterize all employer efforts at DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) as illegal race discrimination.” The EEOC has filed lawsuits on behalf of white men at the New York Times and Coca-Cola, as well as investigations into Nike and Northwestern Mutual.

“This proposed rescission is part of this administration’s continued assault on equality for people of color and for women,” former EEOC commissioner Jocelyn Samuels told The Intercept, who added that the change reflects Trump’s “solicitude for the fortunes of White men.”

In addition, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which established a long-standing federal law prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and national origin, is being gutted. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law School, wrote on June 10, 2026, that a stunning opinion from the Justice Department seeks to strip federal protections against employment discrimination. He warned that it would make it much harder to prove discrimination and much easier for employers to avoid liability.

What Nonprofits Can Do

Title IX did not change America by itself. The law became meaningful because nonprofit organizations, advocates, lawyers, educators, students, and community leaders fought to make its promises real. They educated the public, documented discrimination, represented students, filed lawsuits, and pressed policymakers to enforce the law. That work remains essential today.

Nonprofit organizations across the country continue to monitor enforcement, support litigation, educate the public, and advocate for policies that advance educational equity. They are already fighting back:

  • National Women’s Law Center regularly challenges federal policies it believes undermine educational access and civil rights protections.
  • American Association of University Women (AAUW) advocates for robust enforcement of Title IX and adequate resources for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
  • Legal Momentum uses litigation, policy advocacy, and public education to defend Title IX protections and strengthen compliance systems.
  • The Women’s Sports Foundation continues to emphasize the law’s critical role in expanding athletic opportunities for girls and women.
  • Equal Rights Advocates provides legal assistance, policy advocacy, and impact litigation addressing sex discrimination in schools and workplaces.

Most importantly, nonprofits can remind the public that Title IX was never just about sports. It was about whether women and girls would be treated as full participants in American education and, ultimately, American society.

Moving Forward

Nonprofits need to counter the clamor of those who would turn back the clock. Whether on social media, in articles, or in lawsuits, they need to be seen and heard. They should keep the public conversation focused on what Title IX stands for: equal access to education. That means naming discrimination where it still exists, not only celebrating what has already been won. It means defending protections for girls and women while recognizing that LGBTQ+ students, pregnant and parenting students, and survivors of harassment are part of the law’s intended protection. And it means building broad coalitions, because Title IX has always advanced most when advocates, lawyers, educators, and students work together.

“ERA has spent decades defending Title IX protections through groundbreaking litigation and advocacy,” Noreen Farrell, Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates, said in a press release. “We successfully challenged the Trump administration’s attempts to weaken these protections twice before, and we will continue to fight this administration’s efforts to roll back our students’ hard-won civil rights through backroom deals and regulatory manipulation.”

The fight for women’s equality is not only about preserving a legacy. It is about ensuring that future generations inherit a country where opportunity is not determined by gender and where civil rights protections remain meaningful in practice, not just on paper.