Academic

Title VI, Title VII, Title IX - What?s Missing?

By David S. Cohen

I feel like I should know the answer to this post, but I don’t.  Here’s the question:  Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race in federally funded entities.  What about discrimination based on sex?  Why isn’t there a Title VI equivalent for sex discrimination?  Or, why hasn’t Title VI been amended to include discrimination based on sex?

There are certainly statutes that fill some gaps.  Title VII prohibits discrimination based on sex in employment.  Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex in federally funded educational institutions.  And, the Equal Protection Clause prohibits (subject to intermediate scrutiny) discrimination based on sex by state actors.  But, there’s a gap here - federally funded entities that are not educational institutions or state actors who discriminate based on sex in non-employment decisions.

If Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race in those situations, shouldn’t there be a federal law that discriminates based on sex in those situations as well?  Am I overlooking something obvious?  Have there been attempts that have been unsuccessful?  If so, why?  If not, why haven’t there been attempts to add to the federal law?

- David S. Cohen

Full post as published by Feminist Law Professors on June 13, 2008 (boomark / email).