WASHINGTON, DC — A crusade by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) to use Title IX to try to ensure that more women become plumbers or mechanics is misguided (not to mention sort of silly), according to the Independent Women’s Forum.


The NWLC filed a petition, charging that discrimination keeps women from entering male-dominated fields, with the Department of Education’s (DOE) Office for Civil Rights. In response to the NWLC’s misguided position, the IWF has weighed in with its own petition to the DOE.


The NWLC petition charged that there are fewer women in traditionally male lines of work because of discrimination in vocational-technical schools (voc-tech), creating a so-called violation of Title IX.


Excerpts from IWF’s petition:
NWLC contends that the raw statistical data show a pattern of high schools ‘steering’ girls into courses that prepare them for traditionally female careers…and boys into courses that prepare them for traditionally male careers….NWLC contends that…[this] constitutes sex discrimination….

It is IWF’s view that when the voc-tech data are viewed in this larger context, it becomes clear that women are not being denied equal educational opportunities….


IWF submits that the sex-based disparity in enrollment in and graduation from post-secondary voc-tech institutions is not caused by unlawful sex discrimination, but rather is simply the result of the different choices that men and women make with respect to their education, their careers, and their personal lives.



It is IWF’s view that when the voc-tech data are viewed in this larger context, it becomes clear that women are not being denied equal educational opportunities….


IWF submits that the sex-based disparity in enrollment in and graduation from post-secondary voc-tech institutions is not caused by unlawful sex discrimination, but rather is simply the result of the different choices that men and women make with respect to their education, their careers, and their personal lives.


It is IWF’s view that when the voc-tech data are viewed in this larger context, it becomes clear that women are not being denied equal educational opportunities….


IWF submits that the sex-based disparity in enrollment in and graduation from post-secondary voc-tech institutions is not caused by unlawful sex discrimination, but rather is simply the result of the different choices that men and women make with respect to their education, their careers, and their personal lives.


It is IWF’s view that when the voc-tech data are viewed in this larger context, it becomes clear that women are not being denied equal educational opportunities….


IWF submits that the sex-based disparity in enrollment in and graduation from post-secondary voc-tech institutions is not caused by unlawful sex discrimination, but rather is simply the result of the different choices that men and women make with respect to their education, their careers, and their personal lives.


According to IWF Director of Programs Patricia Reed, “The IWF petition to the Department of Education advances cogent and compelling reasons why this discrepancy is not the result of discrimination.



“Eighty percent of women bear children, and careers such as court-reporting, cosmetology, and nursing offer part-time and flexible schedules that are more compatible with raising a family.


“From early childhood, boys and girls tend to demonstrate different interests.? Those different interests lead boys and girls down different educational and career paths. Many high-minded parents have tried to get their sons to play with dolls and their daughters to play with trucks. Guess what, folks, that’s not going to happen.”


In its petition, the IWF strongly urges the DOE “to consider the extent to which the statistical disparities in the post-secondary voc-tech institutions are not the result of unlawful sex discrimination, but are reflective of the non-discriminatory, legitimate fact that men and women have different career goals, different interests, different life influences.”


The Independent Women’s Forum, founded in 1992, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.