The Effect of Title IX on Gender Disparity in Graduate Education
44 Pages Posted: 22 Aug 2017 Last revised: 12 Feb 2019
Date Written: February 2019
Abstract
This paper examines whether Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which banned sex discrimination in admissions, was successful in reducing gender disparity in graduate education. I find a sharp convergence of female and male graduate-degree fields coincident with Title IX's passage. This distributional change occurred as women moved into male-dominated fields and does not seem to be driven by gender-specific preferences. Alternative explanations including the end of the Vietnam War Draft, increased access to the pill, abortion legalization, changing female attitudes, and the strengthening of anti-discrimination labor laws are also considered but do not explain the discontinuity.
Keywords: Title IX, gender inequality, education
JEL Classification: I24, J16, J18
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation