GAP 



Accountability • Integrity • Reliability 



United States Government Accountability Office 

 Washington, DC 20548 



July 22, 2004 



The Honorable Ron Wyden 

 The Honorable Barbara Boxer 

 United States Senate 



Discrimination against women in areas such as college admissions, 

 intercollegiate athletics, and employment was widespread 40 years ago. 

 Although civil rights laws in the 1960s barred discrimination in 

 employment, it was not until Title EX of the Education Amendments of 

 1972 that these protections were extended to students and faculty by 

 prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and 

 activities receiving any federsil financial assistance. While researchers 

 would agree that Title IX has contributed to greater inclusion of women 

 and girls in sports programs, some have stated that there is Little 

 awareness that the law applies to academics. 



In the 32 years since Title IX was enacted, women's roles in American life 

 have changed greatly and women have made significant gains in many 

 fields. Despite these gains, much attention has focused on the limited 

 participation of women in mathematics, engineering, and science.' 

 Because of increased interest about women's access to mathematics, 

 engineering, and science, which receive billions of dollars in federal 

 assistance, you asked us to determine what is being done to ensure 

 compliance with Title IX in regard to the sciences. This report addresses: 

 (1) how do the Department of Education (Education), the Department of 

 Energy (Energy), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

 (NASA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) ensiu-e that federal 

 grant recipient institutions comply with Title IX in mathematics, 

 engineering, and science; (2) what do data show about women's 

 participation in these fields; and (3) what promising practices exist to 

 promote their participation? 



To answer these questions, we reviewed the legislation and regulations to 

 identify all areas of compUance relevant to each federal agency. We 



'For purposes of tlus report we refer to all mathematics, engmeering, and science programs 

 as "the sciences" and to Education, Energy, NASA and NSF as "the federal science 

 agencies." 



Page 1 GAO-04-639 Gender Issues 



