Victory! Educational Equity Funds Restored

September 13, 2004

by NOW Staff

Advocates for equal education for girls and women have a reason to cheer with the restoration on Thursday, Sept. 9, of funds for the Women Educational Equity Act (WEEA) as an amendment to the Labor/Health and Human Services/Education fiscal year '05 appropriations bill.

For three years in a row, WEEA's modest budget has been zeroed out by George W. Bush and his right wing allies in Congress; each year congressional advocates for women's educational equality have gone to extra lengths to put it back in.

Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif), and Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) offered the amendment reinstating last year's level of $3 million to WEEA, which was agreed to by a voice vote. The elimination of WEEA funding is the result of a focused campaign by right wing think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation, who argue that young women and girls are doing better in school than boys and young men.

In response to these assertions, NOW President Kim Gandy notes that "despite years of effort, we still find sex-stereotyping in both curriculum materials and teaching practices, and of course programs focusing on girls and women are underfunded. Case in point is the paltry $3 million allotted to WEEA."

"Additionally, sexual harassment remains a serious problem," Gandy added. "Girls and young women still have a long way to go in gaining full educational equality."

The Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA), established by the late Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii) in 1974, has been of enormous benefit to women and girls since 2001 when it was last reauthorized as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. WEEA was enacted to promote educational equity for girls and women and to provide funds to help educate agencies and institutions meet the requirements of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Because of WEEA funding, more curricula, training, and other educational materials concerning educational equity for women and girls are available for national dissemination. WEAA funding has also helped to combat sexual harassment in the learning environment, better classroom textbooks and learning materials to reflect the experiences and achievement of women, advance women and girls in math and sciences, and aid in keeping pregnant teenagers in school.